How to spot an animal testing company - Case Study: lavera (natural cosmetics)

I was doing research for a friend about a company called Lavera who make comsetics and this is what they had to say on their website.

Q17. Statement Animal Testing

Ever since the foundation of the laverana company we have neither been conducting animal testing nor have asked others to do so. Being a manufacturer of natural care products animal testing is certainly incompatible with our company philosophy!

Of course, laverana makes every effort not to use any raw material which was tested on animals - as requested by the German Society for animal protection. laverana's suppliers are expected to prove by means of spot check their non-animal testing.

Unfortunately, lavera as a producer of natural care products cannot give legally valid guarantee for the products of its raw material suppliers. Recently skin irritations have occurred more and more frequently. Now we have to find out whether raw materials that were tested 20 years ago today are still well tolerated by human skin. At the same time the urgency of the use of innovative raw materials becomes more and more obvious. For lavera this means that test periods of established ingredients may be 20 years ago, for innovative products this period most likely is much shorter.

In addition, laverana is a member of BDIH. This is an organization the members of which vouch for following the strict guidelines of "Controlled Natural Cosmetics". These guidelines include the requirements of societies for animal protection.

It all sounds good, doesn't it? Especially the bit where they say 'Ever since the foundation of the laverana company we have neither been conducting animal testing nor have asked others to do so. Being a manufacturer of natural care products animal testing is certainly incompatible with our company philosophy!'

But then you get to the paragraph where they say 'Unfortunately, lavera as a producer of natural care products cannot give legally valid guarantee for the products of its raw material suppliers.'

In other words, they can't guarantee that the raw materials in their cosmetics have not been tested on animals. Why not when they claim they check?

The other part that should immediately have alarm bells ringing that this isn't a cruelty free company are - 'Recently skin irritations have occurred more and more frequently. Now we have to find out whether raw materials that were tested 20 years ago today are still well tolerated by human skin. At the same time the urgency of the use of innovative raw materials becomes more and more obvious. For lavera this means that test periods of established ingredients may be 20 years ago, for innovative products this period most likely is much shorter.'

In other words, because of 'recent skin irritations' their ingredients may now be tested on animals. See how they skirt around the issue and don't actually say that they are tested on animals, but infer that they are. This is another way to tell if a company uses animal testing - they will be sketchy about the details.

Note - there is a way to test if products or ingredients will irritate human skin - do skin patch test on human volunteers. Scientists can also grow human skin in test tubes. There is NO excuse for animal testing. None whatsoever and if they say there is they are lying. Human volunteers are more reliable than animals. They will tell you when it starts to sting or burn. Animals cannot. All they can do is sit there in pain.

Many of their products are also not suitable for vegetarians when they contain carmine (the foundations do not and are labeled as 'vegan', but some of their lipstick do contain carmine for instance). On the same page, under Carmine (also known as cochineal) they say this - Q14. What is Carmine? Click here and here to read more.

"Carmine is a natural colourant, derived from insect source. It is commonly used to achieve bright reds and pinks in lipsticks. The synthetic alternative to carmine can irritate lips, dry lips out and are very problematic. Many synthetic colours are also known to be carcinogenic." 

I don't know about you, but I fail to see what's natural about a colorant derived from insects that are picked out of trees, boiled alive and then dried out and made into a colorant.  

As it's a colorant derived from insects, it's not suitable for vegetarians far less vegans.

Note - The one thing that Lavera are to be congratulated on is for using full disclosure when it comes to saying what ingredients are in each product, including saying whether things are vegan or not. Whilst their cruelty free credentials may be a bit dodgy, at least unlike so many other companies they actually list ingredients allowing buyers to make an informed choice.

Now if only they could be a certain about saying their products are cruelty free.

For more information, check out Living Cruelty Free: Life a more Compassionate Life, available now on Amazon on Kindle and in paperback. Click here for more details.