PRESS RELEASE
EMBARGOED UNTIL 10th SEPTEMBER 2020 – 06:00
8th September 2020
There’s a brand-new online guide to help compassionate shoppers make informed choices about what they buy. It’s packed with truly cruelty-free products and it’s free, both for shoppers and for the brands featured in it.
UK-based animal welfare charity Naturewatch Foundation has published a fully updated and meticulously researched 15th edition of its celebrated Compassionate Shopping Guide.
The new edition, launched on 10th September, offers high street and online alternatives to cosmetic, personal and household cleaning products that may have been tested on animals during production. It’s live now, with a condensed printed version also available.
The Compassionate Shopping Guide uses the strictest endorsement criteria of all cruelty-free lists, looking closely at all brands under the same ownership, including the parent company. If a subsidiary company has a Fixed Cut-Off Date (FCOD) animal testing policy in place, it will only be endorsed if the parent company shares that policy.
Naturewatch Foundation was the first organisation in the UK to make this information available to the public in 1993. Companies can only feature in the guide if they follow a cruelty-free policy across their whole range, which means absolute confidence for shoppers that they are buying from brands that are genuinely cruelty-free.
Naturewatch Foundation Chief Executive, Caroline Ruane, says: “Putting the 15th edition of the Compassionate Shopping Guide online has been a mammoth task. Our researchers have approached thousands of brands offering them FREE entry, if they meet our strict cruelty-free criteria. We’re delighted that savvy, cruelty-free shoppers can now quickly consult a smartphone to check whether a product is linked to animal testing or if it’s cruelty-free from top to tail!”
The ethos behind the guide
Naturewatch Foundation believes the use of animals in experiments is ethically wrong, Caroline continues: “The torture of innocent animals in the UK and worldwide must be stopped. Science has moved on, replacing cruel and unnecessary animal experiments with innovative and effective, modern non-animal tests, including using human cells and tissues and computer-based techniques.
Currently, if a make-up brand chooses to export to China, it’s agreeing for its products to be tested on animals! We think cruelty-free shoppers will want to know whether a company is exploiting markets and putting profit before the welfare of animals.”
While animal welfare campaigners demand that governments pursue openness and transparency about animal testing, consumers can take direct action today by using the Compassionate Shopping Guide to make informed shopping decisions.
To celebrate the launch, a range of endorsed companies are offering discount codes for brands featured in the cruelty-free guide. Go to www.compassionateshoppingguide.org to find out more.
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NOTES:
Naturewatch Foundation’s Compassionate Shopping Guide:
The Compassionate Shopping Guide has been in print since 1993 and is now on its 15th edition. It’s packed with cosmetics, personal care, pet care products and household cleaners from a variety of companies that measure up to the charity’s strict endorsement criteria. Previously only available in print, Naturewatch Foundation now offers a free online guide to cruelty-free shoppers – https://compassionateshoppingguide.org/
Fixed Cut-Off Date (FCOD) animal testing policy:
Naturewatch Foundation’s Compassionate Shopping Guide ONLY endorses brands that have ZERO ties to animal testing.
● The FCOD animal testing policy is recognised as the benchmark for cruelty-free cosmetics/toiletries and household cleaning products.
● Virtually all ingredients have been tested on animals in the past and testing new ingredients for these products is an ongoing activity in many countries.
● Companies that employ the FCOD policy won’t use any ingredient tested on animals after their FCOD, and will insist that their suppliers comply with this.
● Any brands subsequently purchased by a parent company that doesn’t adhere to an acceptable FCOD will have their endorsement revoked by Naturewatch Foundation.
More information about animal testing in the UK:
• Animal testing for cosmetics is banned in the UK and the EU, but some ingredients in household cleaning products are still tested on animals, as well as chemicals used in industry, farming and medical research.
• Every year, the UK government publishes basic data about how many animals have been used for research. In 2019, 3.4 million procedures were carried out in Great Britain involving 3.3 million live animals, according to UK Government statistics published on 16 July, 2020.
• During 2019, 160 establishments carried out animal testing with 3,043 different projects in the UK – the majority being universities and medical schools. Of the 3.4 million animals mentioned above, mice were the species of choice with 2.9 million mice used in experiments. In a nation of dog lovers, over 2,700 dogs were used – mainly the placid Beagle. Over 10,000 rabbits suffered as chemicals were applied to their skin and eyes.
• In November 2015, the UK government implemented a policy ban on the testing of household products on animals, but the watered-down policy only served to ban testing finished household products. The individual chemical ingredients that make up those products can still be legally tested on animals.
• The EU REACH Directive also mandates the testing of chemicals, including on animals only as a last resort, to fulfil information requirements for registration https://echa.europa.eu/support/registration/how-to-avoid-unnecessary-testing-on-animals.
OTHER INFORMATION:
About Naturewatch Foundation
Naturewatch Foundation is a registered charity that has been speaking out on behalf of animals for over 25 years by:
● Publishing the Compassionate Shopping Guide (since 1993)
● Campaigning peacefully against animal abuse
● Lobbying to improve animal protection legislation
● Raising awareness through education
● Supporting the World Animal Day movement to raise the status of animals around the globe
49 Rodney Road, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire GL50 1HX | www.naturewatch.org
Contact information (Naturewatch Foundation)
Sarah Carr, Campaign Manager
Cristina Popa, Marketing Manager/Guide Editor
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: +44 (0)1242 252871
IMAGES:
Naturewatch Foundation logo and cruelty-free graphics – http://ow.ly/hmez50Bk2ZD
Naturewatch Foundation
49 Rodney Road
Cheltenham
Gloucestershire
GL50 1HX
01242 252871
[email protected]