Animal Testing Deception at L'Oreal

Okay, so I buy nail polish and I don't want to keep spending my consumer dollars on products that I know rely on animal testing. So, as a consumer, I started some research on who really does and who doesn't conduct animal testing on its products.

I immediately run into the L'Oreal mess. I visited their website and did a search for "animal." According to a terse one-line statement, "The L'Oréal Group has not conducted animal testing since 1989."

Hmmmm....but, in fact, while L'Oreal does not conduct testing, it includes ingredients that have been tested on animals. Therefore, it is neatly sidestepping the issue with the above statement.

Sneaky!

Here is a good web page by that has a letter from L'Oreal posted which addresses their animal testing policy. NatureWatch from England makes the following good points...

* At first sight L'Oreal's animal testing policy might seem ethical; however, EU legislation requires that all newly developed cosmetic ingredients have to be tested on animals to assess safety, until validated alternatives are available.

* Any development of alternatives to animal testing is welcomed, however over the past twenty years, alternatives have been found and validated for only 4 tests. Tests for which there are presently no alternatives include toxicity tests and skin irritation tests, until alternatives to these tests do become available, these tests continue to use animals.

* In citing European legislation, and the legal requirement for compulsory safety testing of chemical substances, the letter sidesteps the real issue, that by not including new ingredients, the need to test new substances on animals would be eliminated.

So, out with L'Oreal and their products. No nail polish for me from that company!