A History of Animal Testing
It’s official: We’re leaping bunny certified! What does it mean?
Hands up if you think bunnies are cute! *Raises hand* Us too.
Those floppy ears, twitchy noses and big fluffy tails. Adorable, right?
Now, hands up if you look for a little bunny logo when you’re buying your cosmetic products? Hopefully your hand is in the air.
If not, let us give you a quick insight as to why you absolutely should.
That little bunny on your cosmetics is not just cute, it’s actually a guarantee that the product you’re buying is cruelty free, meaning it wasn’t tested on animals.
Here at Bella Botanicals, we believe that cruelty, animal or otherwise, is anything but sexy. Abusing animals for mascara? It’s a no from us!
We want you to feel confident in your gorgeous skin day in and day out, and feel confident that our products do good not just for you, but for our environment and the animals that live on it, too.
That’s why we formulate and manufacture our own formulas in house, so that we have full control over what goes in them, and how. But for many beauty and skincare brands out there, that isn’t the case. Even within huge corporations, there’s a devastating truth that keeps being swept under the rug: animal testing is still happening.
For all us brands committed to keeping the animals safe, there are organizations to verify that we’re walking the walk, not just talking the talk, and here in the US and in Canada, there’s a Corporate Standard of Compassion for Animals: Leaping Bunny.
It’s a globally recognized logo for products that meet the criteria. But actually, it’s pretty darn tricky to get that little bunny to hop on over to a product label. More on that in a moment because…
We’re ecstatic to say that our Anti-Ageing Eye Roller has now officially been Leaping Bunny Certified!
Let’s back things up: why do we strive to achieve a Leaping Bunny logo on our products?
A brief history of animal testing
As heartbreaking as it is, animal testing has been around in some shape or form since as far back as 2nd century BC, with scientists using animals as a way to understand behaviour and biological systems.
By the time it got to the 1930s, cosmetics companies had been using animals as a way to test out their products before releasing them for human use, but reports of testing a mascara made from coal-tar (yes, tar!) showed that animals were being severely injured, with many turning blind from the exposure.
This (rightly so) caused many members of the public to speak up, meaning the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) realized that there needed to be some regulation for product safety.
However, this meant that The United States Food, Drug & Cosmetic Act came into force, requiring cosmetics brands to prove that they were taking measures to ensure their products were safe for human use. Sadly, many brands turned to animal testing to do that.
To make things worse, in 1944 John H. Draize and Jacob M. Spines, toxicologists from the FDA, developed a toxicity test named Draize. During the tests, chemicals to be used in products are put into the eyes of rabbits, while they’re very much awake, and left for up to 24hours to see the effects.
Of course, this causes horrific pain and suffering for the rabbits and many of them end up going blind, before being either killed or used again for more tests!
Horrific, isn’t it? But the worst part is that it’s still in use today to test many pesticides that are sold in the US, even though the results are inconsistent and often completely inaccurate. In fact, it was considered a gold standard for cosmetic safety assessments for decades, until around 1979.
Since then, and more so since the 1980s, things have very slowly started to improve, as many activists and authorities have started protesting this barbaric process. The Humane Society has a brilliant timeline here if you want to learn more.
We do now have The Humane Cosmetics Act as a legislation working to phase out the use of animal testing across the country, but there are some states that still haven’t banned the use of animal tested products completely. This is where that bunny comes in…
How did we get Leaping Bunny Certified?
The Leaping Bunny logo is a globally recognized symbol of a 100% cruelty free product, operating mainly across the US and Canada.
But getting it is not so easy! They’ve got a rigorous set of criteria (rightly so) that brands need to meet, and a 4 stage application process, meaning approval takes time.
What makes the Leaping Bunny certification unique, is that it guarantees cruelty free at all stages of a product’s development, the whole way through the manufacturing chain, and not just the final product.
And that’s why we did it. We want you to feel confident that our products are 100% cruelty free through and through!
We know they are, but having that little bunny on our sustainable packaging gives you peace of mind, and us official recognition. It might not be on every one of our skincare products just yet, but you bet we’re working towards it.
Sustainability and cruelty free processes are at the heart and soul of our brand. We couldn’t imagine things any other way!
We’re part of the solution, not the problem
So here’s our pledge to you: we will always strive to make sure that everything we do, does good. For your gorgeous skin, for our gorgeous earth, and for those gorgeous animals.
How did this make you feel? Let us know if you’ll be looking out for the Leaping Bunny more now that you know this, by tagging us on Instagram @mybellabotanicals!