In the animal rights movement, cruelty-free is a label for products or activities that do not harm or kill animals anywhere in the world. Products animal testing or made from animals are not considered cruelty-free, since these tests are often painful and cause the suffering and death of millions of animals every year.
History
The term cruelty-free was first used in this way by Lady Dowding who persuaded manufacturers of
to use the label
Beauty Without Cruelty and went on to found the charity Beauty Without Cruelty in 1959.
The term was popularised in the US in the 1970s by
Marcia Pearson who founded the group Fashion With Compassion.
Then, in 1998, the United Kingdom started a trend by banning all testing on animals. Many other countries followed their lead soon after.
Campaigns
In 1957
Charles Hume and W. M. S. Russell introduced the concept of the three R's in their book
Principles of Humane Experimental Technique. These techniques to reduce animals used in tests and their suffering include: replacement (eliminate an animal test altogether), reduction (fewer animals used in test by using statistical analysis) and refinement (making tests less painful).
In 1991 the European Center for the Validation of Alternative Methods (ECVAM) was established "to promote the scientific and regulatory acceptance of alternative methods which are important to the biosciences and which reduce, refine or replace the use of laboratory animals."
In 2012, British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection joined forces with New England Anti-Vivisection Society and the European Coalition to End Animal Experiments to create an international organization to campaign against animal testing. BUAV supporter Ricky Gervais
Tests
Animals such as
,
,
mice, and
are sometimes forced to eat or inhale substances, or have a
cosmetics ingredient rubbed onto their shaved skin, eyes or ears every day for 28 or 90 days to see if they have an allergic reaction. Then they are killed and cut open to examine the effects the ingredient has on internal organs. These tests are also done with pregnant animals who, after much suffering, are killed along with the fetus. In more prolonged
carcinogen tests, rats are force-fed a cosmetic ingredient over two years, monitored for
cancer, and then killed.
, , such as the Beagle, and are used for invasive experimentation as well. Many laboratories use these species to test drugs, chemicals, and diseases, whether old or new.
Alternatives
As technology developed, outdated
animal testing is being replaced with quicker, cheaper and more accurate methods. Critics point out that humane alternatives can be slow to implement, costly, and test only one compound at a time.
Alternatives have shown positive results. For example,
reconstructed human epidermis—which uses human skin donated from cosmetic surgery to replace the rabbit
Draize test skin test—is more relevant to human reactions. Other methods replace the
Draize eye test by using
in vitro (test-tube) human tissue. Computer-based systems allow for isolation of a select tissue or organ to conduct tests in an extremely controlled environment. These tests not only reduce animal testing, but are more precise and accurate at protecting humans from toxic substances.
Another cruelty-free option is using ingredients that have already been established as safe, such as the 20,000 ingredients in the
European Union database.
Products
Companies now offer a wide range of cruelty-free products such as cosmetics, personal-care products, household cleaners, clothing, shoes, condoms (which are sometimes processed with casein), and candles (which usually use
paraffin wax or
beeswax). Organizations such as
PETA, Choose Cruelty Free, Coalition for Consumer Information on Cosmetics, British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection, and its offshoot organization Cruelty Free International have released lists of cruelty-free products and cruel products to boycott. Since the 1990s the
Leaping Bunny has been the only international third-party cruelty-free certification program.
It is important to distinguish between cruelty free and Veganism products because while it is common for people to use these two terms interchangeably, there are several key differences.
Events
National Cruelty-Free Week is an event in the
United Kingdom every year arranged by the
BUAV. The 2006 event was from 17 to 23 July. Other, similar, events include:
National Vegetarian Week,
UK Vegan Week and
World Vegan Day, which takes place each year on November 1.
Criticisms
While some manufacturers have begun to label their products as "not tested on animals", "we do not conduct
animal testing", "never tested on animals", "against animal testing" or "cruelty-free", these labels are confusing and potentially misleading, since there is no clear legal definition as to what they mean.
Two organizations, Cruelty Free International and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, use rabbit icons to verify products as "cruelty-free", resulting in some manufacturers using rabbit icons to intentionally deceive customers into believing that their products do not use animal testing. The symbol of a rabbit is commonly understood by consumers as verifying a product as "cruelty-free", but most consumers cannot easily distinguish the CFI and PETA rabbit logos from other rabbit icons.
See also
Further reading
External links
