Over the past 6 months I have put myself and my suppliers
through what can only be described as turmoil.
Upon my contact with Cruelty Free International I was given
a rundown of requirements, which needed to be met in order to gain the leaping
bunny symbol for use on my packaging.
I was informed that every single ingredient had to be
certified by not only the supplier/distributor, but also by the manufacturer.
Ok, no problem.
I set about getting all of the papers filled in and sent off
the requirements and papers to each of my suppliers.
Now, if you like me, use local supermarkets for certain
items (oils, spices, herbs etc) then you will know what a bind it is to write
to all of them for the MSDS, let alone a certificate to state that no animal
testing was carried out on any one of the ingredients.
Well I did just that.
I wrote to them all, be it in the form of an email or in the form of an
actual letter sent in the post.
I got certificates back and sent them right over to the lady
who was helping me with my application.
This long, laborious process took me longer than I care to
remember and used up a ridiculous amount of man hours, which could have been
used to deal with more pressing matters, such as getting orders packaged,
making more product, etc.
Literally, hours have been spent pursuing this.
Imagine my absolute dismay then, when after I’d sent over
the papers from British Sugar to Cruelty Free International for them to turn
around and say,
“Thank you for
sending this over. We don’t actually need
declarations for food grade ingredients (Natural Agricultural Ingredients), as
they are not subject to animal tests”.
At first, I was relieved after reading this statement, but
then I cast my mind back over the past however long it has been, and realised
what I’d gone through and how many hours I’d put into something which was not
required.
This has angered me more than I care to mention. I probably should have asked the question,
but them being so powerful and professional (?) you may wonder, like I did why
they kept such a vital piece of information from me in the first instance.
It is stated in their standards that Natural Agricultural Ingredients need not be certified, but in my eyes this could be seen as hay for all I care! They could have at LEAST told me that most of my soaping ingredients wouldn't need to be certified since they are FOOD GRADE - this would have been much clearer than a one line entry in a paper with so many points to take in.
There’s more.
Firstly, when I applied I was told that I would need
certificates from my suppliers and from the manufacturers stating that a ‘finished
product’ must not be tested on animals.
I got in touch with one supplier of a base I use in my Sugar Buff scrubs
and got confirmation that the finished product was not tested on animals.
I sent over the declaration to Cruelty Free only to be told
it wasn’t acceptable.
The manufacturer who supplies the ingredients to the
manufacturer needed to also fill in the forms.
This was NOT what I was told to start with. I was told that only the supplier/distributor
& the manufacturer had to sign papers.
Not the manufacturer’s manufacturer!
As a result I began the process of discontinuing my Sugar
Buff formula as it stands, putting all of the stock I had on sale (it is still
on sale btw and will be for a short while longer) and informing my customers
that a new formula would take its place in due course. I realised that if I was serious about this
whole process that I would have to reformulate any product if they incorporated
any ingredient, which couldn’t be 100% certified.
However, now it seems we are into goal post moving. Just how far back do they
expect you to go here? Well, all the way
back basically. The requirements have
been so vague, and to be honest I feel like many of them have been made up as
we’ve gone along.
Important note:
In July 2013, the new cosmetics laws will come into
place. Within the EU, animal testing is
banned. This doesn’t just mean that anybody
within the EU cannot test on animals, it also means that any imported ingredients,
which may originate from outside of the EU must not have been tested either.
So, my thought process completely turned around as I thought
about what difference the ‘leaping bunny’ logo could actually mean to my
business now that all animal testing is banned here. How can Cruelty Free International continue
on with a viable organisation/business?
The statement on their website reads: Although companies cannot
now animal test new cosmetics products and ingredients for sale in the EU, they
can still carry on animal testing for cosmetics sold outside the EU. The
Leaping Bunny is a global standard and applies to all of the operations and sales
of companies, not just those for the EU.
Yes CF, yes….but
what about the fact that the any person within the EU will not be able to import and use any
ingredient from outside of the EU, which may have been tested on animals because it is now ILLEGAL?
I have never
and will never test on animals for any product sold anywhere and neither have
my suppliers.
If I were a
super giant company this ruling may make sense, but I’m not. I’m small fry, I
am a one woman operation at present and I work from a little workshop at the
back of a beauty salon with no animals around at all, other than the birds!
Honestly, the
only thing I have gained more of throughout this whole process is
knowledge. At the very
least I am very happy with every single supplier I use and can safely say that
going forward we can all remain safe in the knowledge that no animals will come
to any harm as a result of my products being manufactured and put up for sale.
So overall, my
scrubs will be available in the same formula they are in now, along with every
other product I make. There will be
no formula change at the moment. If I
decide to change it up a bit in the future, it won’t be because a component has
been tested on animals, it will be because I want to make it better in some
way.
No other
products will be discontinued, which has been a worry this past week.
I thought that
if I couldn’t get the fragrance oils certified then scents, such as Rook &
Raven would be discontinued along with any other product I make where I use
fragrance as opposed to essential oil or even both.
As a result of
all of this, I could have ended up with a product line so restricted that it
would have been pointless carrying on with FuturePrimitive Soap Co.
I have made my
decision wisely. I have taken my time
thinking about it all and I spent time discussing the issues with Matt, whilst
at home. We both agreed that since the
organisation cannot offer me or my business something, which would be viable
now and in the future there really was no point in putting money into their
hands, just for a logo.
So, thanks
Cruelty Free, but no thanks.
