Clean Beauty | cruelty-free

At -417, cruelty-free means not tested on animals.

In Europe, the cosmetics industry is the only one that has a ban on animal testing. Animal testing in the European Union has been prohibited for cosmetic products since September 2004 and for cosmetic ingredients since March 2009.

“The FDA has not approved a legal definition that binds this term to a certain set of criteria. However, in addition to the final product, most advocates for cruelty-free beauty agree that none of the ingredients used in the production of the cosmetics can be tested on animals in order to be cruelty-free. The types of tests performed on animals include acute toxicity testing, eye and skin irritation testing, skin sensitivity testing, carcinogenicity testing and re-productivity and developmental toxicity testing. Numerous studies have shown that the effectiveness of these tests is limited, and valid alternatives exist for many of these tests.

Brands can make broad claims about their products without repercussions because there are currently no hard-and-fast mandates on animal testing in the United States (except in California). And while the cruelty-free designation might be technically true for a final product, the reality is that most animal testing happens at the ingredient level. A lot of companies skirt the issue by getting their raw materials from third parties or outside labs who do test on animals.”