There are no products “developed without animal experimentation”
in the washing powder, detergents and body care fields
• How long has animal experimentation been going on?
• Why is animal experimentation performed?
• Are there substances for which animal experiments have never been performed?
• Is animal experimentation performed for SONETT products?
Experiments on animals have been reported in literature from the middle Ages onwards. These experiments were used to gain insight into the tolerability of substances, the causes of diseases, the effectiveness of medicines, metabolic processes in the body, or specific behavior patterns. Probably the best-known animal experiments in behavioral science were the experiments on graylag geese by Konrad Lorenz.
In these experiments, the animals were treated in a manner appropriate to their species and were not harmed. In our opinion, experiments of this type are absolutely acceptable. However, if experiments involve isolation and pain for the animals, then our natural feelings must rise up against them. Whether the knowledge obtained from such experiments is implicitly transferable from animals to humans, as the research would like us to believe, must be questionable in many cases.
In a brochure from the Foundation for the Promotion of Research into Alternatives to Animal Experiments (Stiftung zur Förderung der Erforschung von Ersatzmethoden für Tierversuche, SET, Mainz), it emerges that, of all the animal experiments performed in 1990, approx. 87% were for medical diagnosis, therapy, pharmaceuticals and basic research; approx. 10% for the testing of other substances for tolerability and environmental hazards, and approx. 2% for the testing of plant protection agents.
Overview of the current statutory requirements for animal experimentation in washing powders, detergents and cosmetics:
Decorative cosmetics:
In accordance with the Animal Welfare Act §7, Para. 5, all animal experimentation for the development of decorative cosmetics has been banned within Germany since 1986.
However, this means that decorative cosmetics tested on animals in other European countries can nevertheless still be sold in Germany.
Caring cosmetics:
According to the Industrial Federation for Personal Hygiene and Washing Agents (Industrieverband für Körperpflege- und Waschmittel, IKW), no finished cosmetic products have been tested in animal experiments in Germany since 1989. Since 1998, animal experiments for this purpose have been banned within Germany. From 2009 onwards, animal experiments for caring cosmetics are to be banned within the entire EU.
However, this means that, until that time, cosmetics tested on animals in other European countries can be sold in Germany.
Washing and cleaning agents:
In accordance to the German Animal Welfare Act of May 1998, animal experiments for the development of washing and cleaning agents are banned.
Raw materials for cosmetics, washing agents, cleaning agents and other raw materials:
For these raw materials to be approved, their manufacturers are obliged, on the basis of the Chemicals and Hazardous Materials Ordinance, in addition to other national and EU regulations, to provide proof of the toxicological safety of these raw materials for humans and the environment, regardless of whether the materials are of petrochemical or natural origin, and irrespective of their subsequent field of application.
Animal experiments for this purpose
are imperative.
To date, only a few research verifications involving no animal experiments have been approved as safe and scientifically recognized alternatives.
Furthermore, it is on the agenda that a new approval (REACH) must be applied for in the case of approx.130,000 "old chemicals", and this will involve comprehensive toxicological verifications and animal experimentation.
Consequences of the above-described statutory requirements:
According to the German Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, there is no substance of which it could be said that it has never before been tested on animals – even with our commonest foodstuffs, water and salt, animal experiments have been performed! For this reason, there are also
no cosmetics, no washing agents and no cleaning agents which involve absolutely no animal experimentation.
Even the
Positive List of the German Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals or the logo with the hare and the protecting hand which is awarded by the IHTK (the International Federation of Manufacturers against Animal Experiments) merely state that these companies do not use any raw materials which have been
tested on animals since 1979. However, at the same time, this means that these companies are also excluded from using the positive developments of chemical raw materials since 1979, such as the completely biodegradable sugar surfactants or emulsifiers, because animal experiments are compulsorily prescribed for the approval of every new chemical raw material.
A statement by an institution or a company that its products involve "
no animal experimentation" either means that no animal experiments were performed with the end-products, which is banned for washing agents and cosmetics in Germany anyway, or it means that, from an
arbitrary point in time onwards, no animal experiments have been performed on the raw materials.
In any case, the label “no animal experimentation” gives the impression that the product and therefore also its raw materials have not involved any animal experiments, which is
not true for almost any product. This is the reason why the Certification Association of German Natural Cosmetics Manufacturers (BDIH) advises against using the claim “no animal experimentation” for advertising purposes. The term "no animal experimentation" has already been prohibited several times by courts as an
unfair competitive practice (Higher Regional Court of Frankfurt, 22.12.1988; Higher Regional Court of Düsseldorf, 17.5.1990; Regional Court of Cologne, 5.6.1990; Higher Regional Court of Stuttgart, 30.4.1999).
The SONETT approach:
SONETT stipulates that animal experiments have never been performed in the development of any products, not even prior to 1998. Since 1988, this ban applies to all manufacturers of washing and cleaning agents equally, regardless of whether they manufacture in an environmentally friendly or conventional manner.
In terms of raw materials no manufacturer can truthfully use the claim
“no animal experimentation”.
If we want to express our opposition of animal experiments, we simply need to formulate this opposition clearly to our suppliers, specifically promote the development of alternative testing methods and describe the current situation regarding animal experiments matter-of-factly, without giving an untrue impression with the claim “no animal experimentation”. SONETT 2004
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