Re: Animal testing question

[Guest guest]

Hi Deb

> I sincerely hope that I do not offend anyone with this question, but I do

have customers that

> will not use products that have been developed with animal testing, so

here goes...

Legitimate questions shouldn't offend anyone.

> On many product labels, it says " No animal testing " ... Does this mean

that the company that

> made the final product did no animal testing OR does it mean that all of

the ingredients

> contained within the final product were manufactured without testing on

animals?

Actually if you look at your first sentence and the way it is written, you

have the answer. Any time you read cosmetic labeling, you need to take what

they say literally, and not the way that you think it reads.

Above you said you have customers that won't use products that are developed

with animal testing. If you develop a product I assume you will not use

animal testing, but let me assure you that the chances are practically 100%

that some if not most of the ingredients you use has been at some time

tested on animals. Even regular normal oils have been tested on animals at

some time.

While

> reviewing the information for the Germaban products I noticed that tests

were done on animals,

> so if I used this in my lotions and stated that no animal testing was

done, would I be

> misrepresenting my products? Is there any type of preservative, or other

ingredient available

> for usage that did not undergo animal testing?

There is no preservative that has not been used on animals first at some

time. This does not mean that they continue to test that ingredient on

animals, it just means that when it was in the development stage it had to

be tested on animals before it could be used on humans. If people would only

stop to think before they claim they won't use products that in some way

have resulted in animal cruelty they would see that it is practically

impossible to do in this society.

If you say that your product was developed without animal testing, are you

telling the truth. As long as you don't test it on animals, yes. The actual

Germaben you have in it hasn't been tested on animals any more than any of

the other chemicals you have in your product. Everything in your product is

a chemical. When you start thinking like that you will realize that

chemicals usually come from a chemical manufacturer, and if they want their

products safe for humans, chances are that they will be tested on animals.

Of course the same can be said for practically everything in common usage.

Food, paints, building materials, the gas you put in your car, etc. etc.

Pat.

Peace, Joy, Serenity

House of Scents tm. Body Oils, Fragrance Oils, Incense, Candles, Soap, Etc.

pat@...

www.houseofscents.com/

www.yourhealthandbody.com

[Guest guest]

>On many product labels, it says " No animal testing " ... Does this mean that

the company that

>made the final product did no animal testing OR does it mean that all of the

ingredients

>contained within the final product were manufactured without testing on

animals?

Here's the FDA's perspective on animal testing:

Although the Food, Drug & Cosmetic Act does not specifically mandate

animal testing for cosmetic safety, FDA strongly urges cosmetic

manufacturers to conduct whatever tests are appropriate to establish

that their cosmetics are safe. In the United States, manufacturers bear

a responsibility to ensure their products are safe for consumer use. In

fact, cosmetic products that have not been adequately tested for safety

must have warning statement on the front label which reads,

" WARNING--The safety of this product has not been determined. "

FDA continues to work with other governments and private organizations

to develop validated alternatives to animal testing in assessing

cosmetic safety and considerable progress has been made in some areas.

Nevertheless, until a method has been proven to be reliable and

accepted by the scientific community, FDA believes that the use of

animals remains necessary to ensure the safety of cosmetic ingredients

and products.

http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/cos-205.html

Some cosmetic companies promote their products with claims such as

" CRUELTY-FREE " or " NOT TESTED ON ANIMALS " in their labeling or

advertising. The unrestricted use of these phrases by cosmetic

companies is possible because there are no legal definitions for these

terms.

Some companies may apply such claims solely to their finished cosmetic

products. However, these companies may rely on raw material suppliers

or contract laboratories to perform any animal testing necessary to

substantiate product or ingredient safety. Other cosmetic companies may

rely on combinations of scientific literature, non-animal testing, raw

material safety testing, or controlled human-use testing to

substantiate their product safety.

Many raw materials, used in cosmetics, were tested on animals years ago

when they were first introduced. A cosmetic manufacturer might only use

those raw materials and base their " cruelty-free " claims on the fact

that the materials or products are not " currently " tested on animals.

http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/cos-226.html

------------------------

Maurice O. Hevey

Convergent Cosmetics, Inc.

http://www.ConvergentCosmetics.com