By: Leena Sen
At 6AM, you don’t typically think about where your make-up products were before they were handed to you in a black and white striped bag with crimson red tissue paper popping out. What if I told you your Sephora foundation that matches your skin tone perfectly was tested on a harmless animal? Thought provoking, isn’t it? I admit that I don’t typically think about this topic at 6AM under the bright lights in my bathroom. However, I thought it would shock my fellow make-up junkies to know that as of 2012 the Sephora Collection line is no longer cruelty free.
Don’t panic completely, the Sephora store carries several brands that are 100% cruelty free. However, many consumers mainly buy products from the Sephora Collection since they are reasonably priced, quality products. In 2012, the Sephora Company made the decision to expand their sales by selling to China. Chinese law requires cosmetic products to go through animal testing. However, the new law states that animal testing can only be implemented when “special cosmetics” are imported. Here’s a small list of the cosmetics that this law authorizes as “special”: foreign imported ordinary cosmetics, domestically produced ordinary cosmetics, both foreign imported and domestically produced ‘special use’ cosmetic, and any cosmetics bought in China via a foreign e-commerce. Clearly, this “baby step” towards China being animal cruelty free is not that effective.
Even before doing further research I knew animal testing was not a pleasant experience for animals. Trust me, it’s not like putting your mother’s blush on your cat’s cheeks to make it look pretty. Animal testing may occur with the full, finished product or it may occur with individual ingredients within a formulation. Labs that use mice, rats, rabbits, birds, reptiles and amphibians are exempted from the minimal protections under the Animal Welfare Act (AWA). Albino Rabbits are favored to be used in the process of cosmetic testing because of their fur and skin, making them perfect for the Draize Test. The Draize Test was devised back in 1944 by U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) toxicologist John H. Draize to evaluate the risks of normal short-term exposure to new cosmetics and other personal care products. According to the non-profit National Anti-Vivisection Society (NAVS), the Draize Test causes “extreme discomfort and pain” to the animals involved. The Draize Test is famous for the eye segment of the testing. In the eye version of the test, rabbits are placed in restraining stocks and their eyelids are held open with clips—in some cases for days at a time—to keep them from blinking away the test solutions. Many times after this process the rabbits go blind. Typically the blind rabbits are put to death after that segment of the testing. Another example of what goes on during animal testing is the widely condemned “lethal dose” tests, in which animals are forced to swallow massive amounts of a test chemical to determine the dose that causes death. These tests can cause considerable pain and distress including blindness, swollen eyes, sore bleeding skin, internal bleeding and organ damage, birth defects, convulsions and death. Pain relief is not provided and at the end of a test the animals are killed, normally by asphyxiation, neck-breaking or decapitation. Correct me if I’m wrong, but when you’re applying your make-up you don’t tend to think about the several layers of skin being removed from a bunny to see if a chemical in your foundation would cause irritation. I, too, am guilty of not considering this big picture while buying and applying make-up. Animal testing has even proven to be less consistent than non-animal testing. Some of the leading non-animal tests are conducted on cell cultures, human and animal corneas from eye banks, corneal tissue cultures, and frozen corneas supplied by hospitals; non-animal tests tend to be more accurate and better predictors for human reactions.
There are alternatives to help resolve this injustice for harmless animals. Now, why should all this matter to you? Well, just imagine your own pet being subjected to this cruel injustice. This is a horrible experience for any animal to go through. They can’t stand up for themselves and that’s why we need to give them a voice. There are many make-up companies that offer vegan cosmetics product that are trying to raise awareness of the issue of cosmetic animal testing. Throughout the 28 countries of the European Union since 2009, Animal testing for cosmetics has been banned. Thanks in a large part to the Human Society International #BeCrueltyFree campaign, the EU also banned the sale of cosmetic products or ingredients subject to new animal testing after March 2013. Israel imposed a testing and a sales ban in 2007 and 2013, respectively. And following a vibrant campaign by our #BeCrueltyFree India team, India also introduced a national test ban in 2013. Most recently the #BeCrueltyFree Brazil team congratulated the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo for introducing a complete cosmetics animal testing ban in January 2014, and #BeCrueltyFree New Zealand achieved a national cosmetics animal testing ban in 2015.
The main issue with many companies who are not cruelty free is selling to China and obliging to their laws. Depriving China of various cosmetic products would definitely cause an economic decline for several companies, especially Sephora. Since China is such a large country, it will be very hard to achieve the removal of animal testing laws; however, it is not impossible.
Please join the fight against animal testing by spreading the Humane Society Internationals #BeCrueltyFree throughout social media to raise awareness. My job here is to inform my make-up junkies of the secrets being covered up by Sephora. Obviously in today’s viral society, secrets cannot be hidden for very long. Just remember: every time you purchase a cosmetic product from the Sephora Collection, you’re encouraging the animal testing to continue. Believe me when I tell you I feel ashamed as well. As an animal lover and make-up junkie, I’m very disappointed in a company I’ve trusted for a very long time.
