Natural and cruelty-free cosmetics and hair-care products
Do you Really know whats in your Cosmetics?
Authors: Geri Anne Fennessey
Sure, you buy your vitamins from the natural food store. You buy your eco-friendly dishwashing detergent there too. But would you buy a berry-colored lipstick with your organic strawberries? A haircolor from the same aisle as homeopathic remedies?
When it comes to beauty products, most of us make a beeline for the drugstore or department store. We're used to seeing a lab-coated "advisor" who daubs us with eye makeup and babbles about "microbubbles." We're accustomed to boxes of magical chemicals that promise to transform lackluster locks into "champagne blonde." What does a natural food store have that can compete with riches like these? Plenty.
While natural food stores may lack the glamour of department stores or the variety of a drugstore, they sell more of what you're looking for: REAL beauty. If you know what to look for, you can color your hair without damage, paint your face without looking painted, pamper yourself without polluting the environment and test a few eyeshadows that were never worn by bunnies.
The ABC of labels
The term "cruelty-free" may be catching on with mainstream cosmetics companies, but it's not a new one in the natural products industry. In fact, one natural products company not only popularized "cruelty-free" -- it invented it.
"Beauty without Cruelty (BWC) has always maintained a cruelty-free and vegetarian ethic since its inception in 1959," observes Wendy Rogel, spokesperson for Petaluma, Calif.-based BWC. "Founded by Muriel Lady Dowding, BWC started as a charitable trust to promote animal rights and to provide sanctuary for animals in need. When Lady Dowding learned that animal testing and animal ingredients were being used in the cosmetics industry, she worked hard to persuade industry leaders to change their policies. When her efforts went unnoticed, Lady Dowding took action and started the Beauty without Cruelty cosmetics company."
As the idea of cruelty-free, natural beauty caught on with consumers, the cosmetics industry began to notice the marketing benefits of labels proclaiming products "natural" and "cruelty-free." The problem is that these words have been misused, rendering them virtually meaningless to the consumer.
"The word 'natural' has become a buzzword," says Rogel. "But not all 'natural' ingredients are necessarily vegetarian ingredients. The meat and fish industry byproducts, as well as cruelly obtained animal and insect ingredients, such as musk, civet and carmine can be justifiably called 'natural,' but these substances are not vegetarian. And 'natural' ingredients may have been tested on animals."
Some efforts have been made to standardize claims like "cruelty-free." Robyn Wesley, the cruelty-free product campaign coordinator for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) located in Norfolk, Va., says several animal protection organizations, including PETA and the American Anti-Vivisection Society (AAVS), have banded together to develop their own consistent beauty product labeling system. In November of this past year, the Coalition for Consumer Information on Cosmetics was born and so, too, was a uniform method for identifying cruelty-free beauty products.
With many beauty companies including The Body Shop, John Paul Mitchell Systems and Kiss My Face already signing commitments to adhere to the new coalition's guidelines, product labeling should soon be more standardized and easier to understand no matter where you shop for beauty products. Even more important, the new labelling system will take the previous definition of cruelty-free one step further. "The new standard is much tougher. It says that manufacturers [cosmetic companies] may not purchase any ingredients from suppliers that conduct or commission animal testing," says Martin Stephens, vice-president for Animal Research Issues, The Humane Society of the United States based in Washington, D.C. If cosmetic companies comply with this standard and sign a written agreement, they will be issued a cruelty-free standard by the coalition and will be allowed to place a cruelty-free label on product packaging.
The bad news is that the new, tougher standard does not specify that a cosmetic be free of animal byproducts to gain the cruelty-free label. What can you do if the new, tougher standard isn't tough enough for you? Head for a natural food store and read labels until you find products that meet your standards. If you're not sure what you're reading or you doubt some of the claims made on the labels, call the companies and demand answers.
"We always encourage consumers to research companies, including our own,
to assure that claims made are in fact what they want and expect," says
BWC's Rogel.
Other Pages
Cruelty
Free Products 1
Cruelty Free Products 2
Cruelty Free Products 3
Cruelty Free Products 4
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