How Can L’Oréal Make Misleading Claims About Being Cruelty Free?

This morning I was scrolling through my Facebook news feed when I came across a picture of Fearne Cotton, presenter/radio host/self proclaimed animal lover. But what was she grasping in her hand? Was it a bottle of ice cool drinking water? A cruelty free beauty product? Alas, it was a bottle of Garnier Micellar Water.

I opened the comment section and all the top comments were about animal testing, which is great, but Garnier had replied to all of these comments claiming that they L’Oréal is in fact against animal testing – a misleading statement that they have been throwing around for about the last ten years.

I usually don’t leave a lot of comments on Facebook – I mainly use the platform to tag friends in dog memes. However, it really bothered me that Garnier was actively replying to commenters bringing up animal testing by assuring them that they are cruelty free.

The fact of the matter is L’Oréal, the parent company of Garnier, has tested on animals, continues to test on animals, and has contributed to animal testing funding for decades. So, how can L’Oréal claim to be against animal testing? How can they claim to be cruelty free when they are not?

They sell in China

L’Oréal’s statement:

“Certain health authorities may nevertheless decide to conduct animal tests themselves for certain cosmetic products, as it is still the case in China. L’Oréal has been the most active company working alongside the Chinese authorities and scientists for over 10 years to have alternative testing methods recognized, and permit the cosmetic regulation to evolve towards a total and definite elimination of animal testing. Thanks to this, since 2014, certain products manufactured and sold in China like shampoo, body wash or certain make-up are no longer tested on animals.”

By choosing to sell in China, L’Oréal accept the fact that their products are subject to be testing on animals. They allow this to happen – therefore they are not cruelty free.

The use of medicated ingredients

L’Oréal’s statement:

“Thanks to this, since 2014, certain products manufactured and sold in China like shampoo, body wash or certain make-up are no longer tested on animals.”

This is just simply misleading. Shampoo, body wash and “certain” make-up (note not all make-up) are considered to be non-functional products. However, products that L’Oréal produce such as anti-wrinkle creams, sunscreen, skin-protecting, skin-enhancing, spot treatments etc do not fall into this non-functional category.

They instead fall into the same category of drugs, which are tested on animals. They purposefully hide cosmetics under the pretence of drugs so that they can issue the statement that they are cruelty free.

The FDA (Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act) has treated to sue L’Oréal after issuing warnings because of this deceptive violation.

FDA’s statement:

“We request that you [L’Oréal] take prompt action to correct all violations associated with your products, including the violations identified in this letter. Failure to do so may result in enforcement action without further notice,” the FDA said in the letter. “The Act (Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act) authorizes injunctions against manufacturers and distributors of illegal products and seizure of such products.”

The letter in question was one in which “the FDA said that Lancome USA, a part of L’Oreal SA, was using certain terms to advertise its products that made them sound like they were drugs and not cosmetics.” (Medical Daily).

The brand currently has this statement on its Sustainability page:

“L’Oréal no longer tests its ingredients on animals and no longer tolerates any exception to this rule. Certain health authorities may nevertheless decide to conduct animal tests themselves for certain cosmetic products, as it is still the case in China.” This is an absolute, blatant contradiction.

L’Oréal have issued this statement:

“L’Oréal has been committed to working alongside the Chinese authorities and scientists to have alternative testing methods recognized, and enable the cosmetics regulation to evolve towards a total and definite elimination of animal testing. Thus, today the products manufactured and sold in China called “non-functional” such as shampoo, body wash or make-up are already no longer tested on animals. We have opened an Episkin* Centre in Shanghai in 2014 enabling us to produce reconstructed skins. These skins are used for safety tests in vitro that do not involve animals and are made available for the Chinese authorities.”

I’m not disputing that they are not working towards become cruelty free, but right now L’Oréal tests it’s products on animals and there is evidence as such. It is wrong for a company to knowingly deceive customers and issue misleading statements in order to continue selling products that are tested on animals. I think it’s time L’Oréal puts the welfare of animals over profits, and stops purposefully issuing anti-animal testing statements. I hope that the action taken by the FDA will encourage L’Oréal to be more truthful in the future and that they will stop violating legal loopholes, but I wish for nothing more than the end of cruel, unjustified treatment of animals that has already caused so much pain and suffering.

Sources:

• http://www.loreal.com/sustainability/l’oréal-answers/the-question-of-animal-testing
• http://www.medicaldaily.com/fda-issues-warning-loreal-over-misleading-ads-242469