More Questions Than Answers?
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More Questions than Answers? The testing of household products on animals MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS? The testing of household products on animals Published by OneKind. March 2015 CONTENTS 1. Chemicals by the dozen 3 3. Tests by the million 20 What’s the problem? How much animal testing takes What is a household product? place in the UK? Which common brands and How is animal testing regulated products are on the market? in the UK? What ingredients are in these How does EU law affect animal products? testing? CHEMICALS BY THE DOZEN What do these chemicals do? Are there any alternatives to What’s the problem? Are they tested on animals? animal testing? The UK public spends millions of pounds every week on household products, What is toxicity testing? Is it possible to find genuinely cruelty-free products? with supermarket shelves and kitchen cupboards dominated by products 2. Animals by the thousand 11 What should consumers and from a small number of multinational giant manufacturers. They come in citizens do? What sort of animal tests have attractive packaging, they smell nice and they have a job to do. been used? 4. Incomplete proposals are 26 We may not associate these products with animal already available to the industry for formulation and Do tests like these go on today? no solution welfare problems, because they don’t appear to reformulation of product ranges. This means that any have animal tested or animal derived ingredients. At animal test currently required by law only becomes What are the company policies? What should be covered by new present, however, animals can still be subjected to “required” when a company wants to develop a new legislation? painful and distressing experiments so that we can ingredient. access ever more ‘new and improved’ products to In practice, almost no animals are used nowadays to Can government use its licensing clean and decorate our houses. powers to end animal testing? test “finished” household products in the UK, although Household products are useful and in many ways such use remains legal. In 2010, 24 animals were Note on research necessary and their safety to consumers is of used in procedures for the testing of substances used paramount importance. However, the use of animals in the household. In 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2013 no in painful tests for ingredients such as new lemon animals were used in procedures for the testing of fragrance in dishwashing products is of great concern substances used in the household1. Whilst this seems to the public. In the wake of the long-awaited reassuring, substances which have been tested under European ban on the testing of cosmetics on animals other categories (for example in 2013 in the UK, and the marketing of animal-tested cosmetics, many 29,950 animals were used to test substances simply consumers now question the ethics of animal testing categorised as for ‘Industry’) may ultimately be used on any “non-essential” products. Also important in household products. to note is that there are thousands of ingredients The views expressed in this publication are those of OneKind charity. Original research by Claire Palmer, with acknowledgment to the late Dr Christine Brock. OneKind is grateful to LUSH for generously supporting the research contained in this report. 1. Experiments: Animal Answer to Written Question by Adrian Sanders MP 181214 2 More Questions than Answers More Questions than Answers 3 In 2002, the Boyd Group2 published a discussion • Detergents and other products for use in laundry degreasers, air freshener, antibacterial floor cleaner, We found that the labels on these products tend paper3 on the use of animals in testing household (including stain removers) and dishwashing cleansers, rim block and aerosols. to show fairly short lists of ingredients, described in products. Even then, the low number of animals being (including rinse-aids, dishwasher cleaners) generic terms for chemicals, such as “ionic surfactants”. It was noticed in the supermarkets visited by OneKind used to test finished products was noted, and the • Household cleaners for ovens, baths, toilets, that many of the ‘new and improved’ products had All ingredients used in cosmetic, toiletry and perfumery Group produced a statement of principle, which to surfaces, windows, cars and similar only a slight variation in composition from apparently products must be listed on a website as part of the some extent reflected the direction that the testing older products on shelves. For example, some of these requirements of the EU detergents regulations5 industry was already taking: • Air-fresheners, toilet blocks and similar products differed only with regards to a fragrance. although full details do not need to be made publicly “Members believe it is unacceptable to use animals in • Polishes for furniture, cars, shoes and similar available. Excluding supermarket own brands, the major developing and testing new products that are widely • Paper products such as infant nappies, sanitary companies manufacturing household products sold To access ingredient lists, most labels require perceived to be convenience products for which there towels, tissues and hand-towels (some products in in the four supermarkets were Procter & Gamble, consumers to put in a code to their websites to obtain is little potential need because similar non-medicinal these categories may also be considered cosmetic Unilever, S.C. Johnson, Colgate Palmolive, Jeyes Ltd., data sheets. It was necessary to follow up on these products with adequate efficacy are widely available. or personal care items) Reckitt Benckiser LLC and Roche. websites to find more specific information, and then The consensus within the Group is that animals should to do more research to gain an understanding of the not be used in tests on another variety of infant nappy, • Paints, glues (and removers), and other furnishing What ingredients are in these nature and purpose of the ingredients. another washing powder, or any other kind of finished and DIY products intended for use in the home products? ‘household product’ and that such tests ought not to • Household pesticides (which are mostly milder re- As a rule, each ingredient is described by its common be allowed in the UK.” formulations of agrochemicals that have already OneKind sampled products available on supermarket or International Nomenclature of Cosmetic shelves, aiming to read the labels (the consumer’s only Ingredients (INCI) name (a common naming system More Questions than Answers? explores the scale of been tested according to regulatory requirements, 4 guide when out shopping), identify the ingredients agreed by the industry in order to avoid the public the household product market and the type of tests and so should not require further testing)” and – if possible – trace any testing on animals that having to know ingredient names in many different that have been carried out on household product would have been involved in the history of producing languages). Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) for the ingredients over the last six decades. This history Which common brands and products the item. It seemed to us that such information should products are also provided6. documents many horrors inflicted on animals. Some are on the market? be readily available to allow consumers to make will argue that their suffering was unavoidable in The more detailed lists showed that the number of To determine which household brands and products informed choices. the name of human safety. Many will disagree, are on the market, a survey of the ‘big four’ major ingredients in individual products varied hugely. Some particularly in view of the number of tests that were supermarkets - Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Tesco The questions that OneKind set out to answer were: products contained a handful of ingredients while others had dozens. repeated for very similar purposes. was carried out by OneKind. These four companies had • Which common brands and products are on the OneKind believes that now, in 2015, enough is a combined market share of 73.6% of the UK grocery market? Overleaf are some typical examples - chosen at market in the 12 weeks ending 30 March 2014. random - from specific product labels. enough. • What ingredients are in these products? One London branch of each supermarket was visited With the reduction in testing of finished products • What animal tests have been carried out on these by OneKind. The products seen were listed by brand and a general acceptance that animal testing ingredients? should be reduced and replaced, the time is right (e.g. Fairy, Bold), name (e.g. washing up liquid, for a comprehensive ban on all animal testing of dishwasher tablets) and the 8 digit code on the • What are the company policies? household products – not only the finished products packaging. but also the thousands of individual ingredients 50 brands were listed from the four supermarkets: that go into them. That is the key challenge for industry, consumers and government. Ajax, Dermassage, Fabuloso, Palmolive, Suavitel, Bloo, Easy, Jeyes, Parazone, Mr Clean, TIDE, GAIN, Downy, What is a household product? Febreze, Flash, Fairy, Ariel, Daz, Bold, Lenor, Airwick, Dettol, Dr Sheen, Brasso, Calgon, Cillit Bang, Finish, There is no standard definition of a household product. Harpic, Silvo, Vanish, Vetroclean, Windolene, Woolite, In 2002, the Boyd Group stated: Surcare, Prudax, Brillo, Duck, Glade, Goddard’s, Mr “[...] it is evident that any such ban on animal testing Muscle, Oust, Pledge, Shout, Comfort, Domestos, GIF, would apply to all products that are intended for use Persil, SUN, SURF and CIF. in the home and widely available in supermarkets, Products under these brands included all-purpose general and DIY stores. This would cover: cleaners, dishwasher tablets, bleach alternatives, 2. The Boyd Group is a forum for open exchange of views on issues of concern related to the use of animals in science.