Living Cruelty Free

Wow,

I have received some irate emails about my last post. I really didn’t think it would be that controversial. I feel I should clarify my position on why I call some companies “50%-cruelty-free” and others “100%-cruelty-free.”

Basically, I believe that PETA has a list of cruelty-free companies that are 50%-cruelty-free, whereas the CCIC has a list of cruelty-free companies that are 100%-cruelty-free. (PETA asks companies to promise 1) to never commission any tests on animals. The CCIC asks companies to 1) promise to never commission any tests on animals, AND 2) to promise to ask their suppliers to promise to never commission any tests on animals as well. That sounds complicated, but it really isn’t. It’s only 2 things — ingredients and final products.)

So here is an analogy: I feel that if PETA and the CCIC were organic certifiers certifying organic tomatoes that have a growing season of six weeks, PETA would allow companies to buy tomatoes grown in pesticide-laced soil for three weeks, ripen them in an organic environment for three weeks, and sell them with an “organic” label. Would these tomatoes really be organic? No. The tomatoes spent the first three weeks of their lives in pesticide-laced soil. The fact that they spent the last 3 weeks of their lives in organic soil doesn’t make them 100%-organic. I would describe those tomatoes as just 50%-organic. Half their lives are spent in pesticide-laced soil, half in organic-soil – 50%-organic seems like a good description to me. Whereas the CCIC would only certify tomatoes that had spent all six weeks in organic soil.

(I feel really guilty bashing PETA this way — I absolutely adore PETA and think it’s done numerous wonderful things for animal rights. I realize many people don’t like PETA and think its methods are too radical, and I can understand why they feel that way, but I think it’s great that an organization like PETA is out there making the world a better place for animals. I am actually very surprised that PETA’s cruelty-free list is so lax — I usually think of PETA as being extraordinarily radical about ridding the world of animal testing.)

If you are a company with a passionate devotion to making cruelty-free products, please don’t freak out that I have you on my 50%-cruelty-free list. It’s very easy to move off of it — just register with the CCIC and send me an email when you get that confirmation email. I will be honored to put you on my 100%-cruelty-free list. I think companies that are certified Humane Cosmetics Standard followers are the real stars of the cruelty-free movement for providing caring people with cruelty-free products. What would we do without you? We would be absolutely sunk. We’d have to buy products from (God forbid) Procter & Gamble.

Here is the exact wording PETA and the CCIC use – you can see how PETA is 50%-cruelty-free, but the CCIC is 100%-cruelty-free:

PETA certified cruelty-free companies must pledge that:

“Companies listed either have signed PETA’s statement of assurance or provided a statement verifying that they do not conduct or commission any nonrequired animal tests on ingredients, formulations, or finished products and that they pledge not to do so in the future.” (PETA website)

My notes: Do you notice how PETA’s wording does not mention suppliers of ingredients? It just asks that the final company not commission any tests on animals – not that it make sure its ingredients are cruelty-free as well.

CCIC-certified cruelty-free companies must pledge that:

Companies must make “a voluntary pledge . . . to clear animal testing from all stages of product development. The company’s ingredient suppliers make the same pledge and the result is a product guaranteed to be 100 percent free of new animal testing.” (CCIC website)

My notes: The important thing to notice in this statement is that both the final company that makes the final products, and the suppliers who supply that company with initial ingredients are mentioned. Both must pledge to not use animal testing. This provides consumers with products that are 100% free of animal testing, unlike PETA’s cruelty-free pledge.