Animal testing

Both Mr JAEG and I are animal lovers, we have pets that came from a shelter and like to think we look after them very well. We also like to donate to various animal charities and appreciate the good work these charities do. We know that animals don't have a voice , we have to be their voice and take a stand against animal cruelty. With that in mind I started to look at my beauty products and whether they have been tested on animals.

I proceeded to open a can of worms................

There is an European ban on animal testing for cosmetic and toiletry products and ingredients in place since March 2013. However as gocrueltyfree.org state "The ban means that companies are no longer able to animal test new cosmetic products and ingredients on sale in the EU. However, companies can still carry on animal testing cosmetics outside the EU where these cosmetics are also sold outside the EU. There are a number of issues for companies selling their products on the global market. For example, at present, before new products can go on sale in China, they must be submitted for testing to the Chinese authorities, which normally involves a range of animal tests." (accessed 17 February 2014).
So in other words if a company wanted to do business with China then their products would need to be tested on animals.

I dug a bit further, PETA inform via their website that "Chinese officials are in the process of accepting the first-ever non-animal tests for cosmetics, thanks to guidance from scientists funded by PETA US"

I dug even more as I want to make good choices, I was pleased to read the following from allure.com "it was mandatory that every cosmetics product manufactured in China be tested on animals before gaining approval to enter the market. The Humane Society International calculated that as many as 300,000 rabbits, mice, and other animals are subject to testing each year in China alone, but now there's some good news for our furry friends.
China's FDA announced plans to remove the requirements beginning in June 2014 for companies producing "non-special use cosmetics," like shampoo and fragrance. (The not-so-great news is that "special-use" cosmetics like hair color, deodorant, and sunscreen are still required to test.)" (accessed 17 February 2017).

Until then testing still goes on in China and to remember that even after June there is not a complete ban on animal testing of cosmetics. If you are interested in knowing if your cosmetics are cruelty free then the following web sites help:
www.ethicalconsumer.org/
www.leapingbunny.org

I also was pleased to see I was not alone in the blogging world in questioning the ethics of animal testing in a quick search I found the following 2 blogs that were of interest:
makeupguineapig.blogspot.com
looweezbx.blogspot.com

Crueltyfreeinternational.org only award the Leaping Bunny certification to companies who have decided not to enter the Chinese market, they also have stacks on information to help people make an informed choice before making purchases.

A last note to say that in school we help educate year 7 students about animal testing, we give a balanced view showing both sides of the animal testing argument. It is important to educate on the for and against arguments of animal testing, there are always 2 sides to this argument.
This post is not me preaching on what you should do but I wanted to put it out there that I wanted to see what I could do and I know I wont always get it right. I wanted to show there are ways of us as consumers could find out information that was important to us.