Linda McCartney and L'Oréal

[Pansypuss]

I'm not sure where this post should go. I just read in Linda Mccartney's biography that "in Paris, L'Oréal had just stopped their animal tests, and Linda had been a big part of that campaign."
Am I missing something here? I was under the impression that they still test on animals. The fuss when they bought the Body Shop and the fact that they are certainly NOT on any of the v*gan sites as animal friendly surely indicates that they are not a firm to purchase stuff from?

[RedWellies]

When I contacted them about a year or two ago, they told me they didn't test on animals. I don't know if someone else tests for them. Their products aren't vegan in content though.

Here's the mail they sent me.....

Dear Madam/Sir,

I write in response to your recent query and would like to reassure you with regard to our policy on animal testing.

L'Oreal uses derivatives of starting materials of animal origin in restricted quantities, such as honey, beeswax, lanolin and lanolin derivatives, fish derivatives (collagen and oil), and poultry derivatives (eggs and keratin from feathers).

In accordance with the Group's ethical principles, these ingredients are obtained from materials derived from the agricultural and food processing industry. In no case do we use ingredients coming from rare or endangered animal species.

Our pledge is to make innovative products that are safe for customers and the environment. To this end, we have invested considerable time and effort for over two decades in developing and validating alternative safety testing methods. Moreover, we have also co-operated with our competitors in this common objective.

As a result, L'Oréal voluntarily stopped animal testing on its entire range of cosmetics products in 1989.

Thank you again for contacting us and giving us the opportunity to respond.

Yours sincerely,

L'Oréal UK
Corporate Communications

[Kiran]

Here is a communication someone (on another AR board) received from PeTA regarding L'Oreal's animal testing.


Thank you for your inquiry. L'Oreal signed PETA's Statement of Assurance in 1993, declaring an end to all animal tests. Rumors later led us to question whether L'Oreal had truly renounced animal tests on ingredients. As L'Oreal would not clarify this issue for us, we put a notation on our published lists of companies that do not test on animals. Up until the fall of 2000, no documentation had come to light that indicated that L'Oreal was conducting animal tests, so the company remained on our "don't test" list (with a notation so readers would be fully informed and could make their own decisions).

In November 2000 we were provided with evidence that L'Oreal has requested animal-test data on at least one ingredient from an ingredient supplier, as well as other L'Oreal statements in which it confirms only that it does not test finished products on animals, with no mention of ingredient testing.

It also came to our attention that an animal rights group in England, Naturewatch, had started a L'Oreal campaign because of the possible testing of ingredients on animals. After twice faxing the company regarding these documents, we received no response. While we have no definitive evidence that L'Oreal is indeed testing ingredients, its silence coupled with the information we have lead us to believe that L'Oreal is probably not cruelty-free. We therefore decided to remove L'Oreal and all of its companies (Garnier, Lancome, Matrix Essentials, Maybelline, Ralph Lauren Fragrances and Redken) from our cruelty-free lists.

L'Oreal has been moved the "Do Test" list. I hope this information is helpful. Thank you for caring and all that you do for the animals.

[Pob]

One thing to bear in mind is that any newly invented ingredients have to be tested by law. This usually means animal tested.

Therefore any cosmetic company that is trying to be at the cutting edge, and developing new ingredients, will be testing ingredients on animals.

[angelamc]

That sucks. :mad: I hope they stop testing, they have a new eyeshadow out that I was very tempted to buy today but I abstained. The least they could do is be honest about it, those sneaky sneaks!!

[eve]

pob, can you please quote where your information comes from that any newly invented ingredients have to be tested by law, and that usually means animal tested?

[Pob]

Bottom of the first page in this RSPCA PDF (http://www.rspca.org.uk/servlet/BlobServer?blobtable=RSPCABlob&blobcol=urlblob&blobkey=id&blobwhere=1144060333413&blobheader=application/pdf) file covers it pretty much. I don't know the exact laws, but chemicals have to be shown to be safe before they can be used. There are moves afoot to test 30,000 chemicals (mostly on animals) that are in common usage that have never been subjected to "rigorous" testing.

I'm not sure that a ban on testing cosmetic ingredients on animals will achieve much unless there are alternative tests that are accepted by the EU. Testing for industrial use is a way round it I would think.