Categories - Fighting Animal Testing (clear)
Nominations open for the 2013 LUSH Prize!
It's that time of year again - nominations are now open for the 2013 LUSH Prize.
“The goal of the LUSH Prize - to encourage the scientific, regulatory and campaigning communities everywhere to focus their attention on animal-free safety testing - is still as important as ever. The 2012 winners were inspiring and ground breaking across all categories. We hope that this year's awards will be able to build on that momentum”. - Katy Brown, LUSH Prize
Every year, it is estimated that more than 100 million animals – including mice, rabbits and rats – are used in testing laboratories around the world. In our continued fight against animal testing, we want to support organizations working to replace testing on animals with scientifically valid alternatives. A partnership with Ethical Consumer; the awards are judged by an independent panel of expert judges from the scientific, academic, and campaigning communities.
2012 was the inaugural year of the LUSH Prize, and we're proud to say that it's the biggest international annual prize in the non-animal testing sector. Last year, £250,000 was distributed to 13 groups across eight countries. Winners included scientists in Italy and the USA, campaigners in Japan and India, young researchers in Denmark and the UK, and a filmmaker in Canada. A further...
Your Cruelty-Free Shopping Guide
We're proud to be cruelty-free at LUSH.
We test all of our products on very willing human participants, instead of subjecting animals to shampoo in their eyes or soap down their throats. Sounds reasonable, right? Unfortunately, animal testing is a cruel, irrelevant practice that is still commonplace for many companies. Tens of thousands of products lining the shelves of your local drugstore, supermarket or department store are regularly tested on defenseless animals.
How do you know if a company tests on animals? Read the labels! Our packaging says 'Fighting Animal Testing', but other brands will state their message simply, like 'Not tested on animals' or 'We do not test on animals'.
Don't be too quick to judge- if the label doesn't state either way, it doesn't necessarily mean the company tests on animals. The best way to be sure is to contact them directly and ask about their policy. If they do test on animals, ask them why and let them know that you're concerned as a customer. If you're a longstanding customer who won't be buying their product anymore because of animal testing, tell them that too! It's a powerful message, and one that more companies need to hear in order to change their policies.
Here are the top five products you regularly purchase (and might not know are tested on animals):
Cosmetics
Okay, this may seem like an obvious one, but many people don't know that the term 'cosmetics' extends beyond mascara and nail polish. It also includes soap, shampoo, facial cleansers, body lotions- anything you put on your skin for cosmetic purposes.
How We Test for Safety: No Animals Required
LUSH has been fighting against animal testing for over 30 years.
We've been forthcoming and sometimes downright controversial about our no-nonsense views on animal testing and our policy of testing our products on humans. We often get questions from our customers who are curious to know how we do test our products. We merge scientific analysis with human experiences to ensure that every product is safe and effective.
Our commitment to remaining animal testing-free begins at the product development stage. Our LUSH product inventors are content to work with the amazing ingredients that nature provides, as well as a small palette of synthetic ingredients with a safe history of use in humans. This limited selection of ingredients already have heaps of historical safety data to draw from, so there's no need to test them before we're able to use them safely in our products.
Because we keep our recipes simple, we're never on the lookout for the next fad or "miracle" chemical because those ingredients often have not historically been used on humans and require rigorous testing (some of which is likely to be performed on animals) before they are considered safe for human use. Conversely, many of our ingredients have been used by humans for cosmetics since ancient Egyptian times. Isn't that more appealing than a brand new chemical whose long-term effects on humans and the environment are still questionable? We think so!
An argument we often hear from companies defending their choice to continue testing on animals is that without animal testing, they are unable to use new and novel ingredie...
Let's Be Cruelty-free in North America
On March 11, we celebrated a tremendous victory in the fight against animal testing. The European Union became the world's biggest cruelty-free market - banning the sale of newly animal tested products and ingredients.
Unfortunately, we're falling far behind in Canada, the United States and the rest of the world. Unlike in Europe, companies producing and selling cosmetics in North America are still allowed to perform cruel and unnecessary tests on animals. At this very moment, there are thousands of animals trapped in laboratories across our countries. They're being subjected to painful toxicity tests; substances forced down their throats, smeared on their skin or dripped into their eyes.
There's no excuse for animal testing, and it's our responsibility to speak out on behalf of the voiceless animals locked away from public view. We've partnered with HSUS to continue our fight against animal testing, and now it's time to end animal testing in North America. Enough is enough.
HSUS
The Humane Society of the United States is the nation’s largest animal protection organization, rated the most effective by its peers. Since 1954, The HSUS has been fighting for the protection of all animals through advocacy, education, and hands-on programs. We rescue and care for tens of thousands of animals each year, but our primary mission is to prevent cruelty before it occurs. ...
Emotional Brilliance: Cruelty-Free Color
When Emotional Brilliance launched in July 2012, our exciting new range was noted for its imagination and the expansion of the concept on what makes us feel beautiful.
Using EB taps into a kaleidoscope of thoughts and feelings and how they play out in colors. It doesn’t hurt there may be dry ice swirling around you as you select your colors. What we hope isn’t lost in the smoke is how Emotional Brilliance is totally cruelty-free!
The range is 100% vegan with zero animal testing anywhere in its supply chain. Emotional Brilliance assures that ethics don’t have to be scrapped for beauty. LUSH has offered beauty without cruelty through our entire history. Even farther back in previous companies and ventures along the way, our LUSH founders were advocates for the end and banishment of animal testing practices—and cleverly coming up with their own way of doing things.
There were two choices made early on in LUSH kitchens:
1. Use reliably safe ingredients, with a recorded history of safe use in cosmetics.
2. Test on humans, not animals.
Along the way, the range evolved to use hundreds of such safely recorded ingredients, and enlisted countless human volunteers during various stages of production. Meanwhile, our policies with supplies ensuring their supply chains are cruelty free have grown alongside the rest of the business. We ...
