The NZAVS Cruelty Free Guide makes shopping cruelty-free easy - all brands listed are 100% free from animal testing.

If a company isn't listed in our Cruelty Free Guide, then there are two easy methods you can use to check if they are genuinely cruelty-free:

1. Look for a genuine cruelty-free certification.
2. Send a quick email to a company to get confirmation!

1. GENUINE CRUELTY-FREE CERTIFICATION

Just because a company states that it is ‘against animal testing’ or is ‘cruelty-free’, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they, themselves don’t test on animals.

Companies know that cruelty-free is becoming a more important factor for consumers, and more and more people are looking for the most ethical option.

Instead of earning, and following through, with a cruelty-free claim, some companies choose to trick consumers into believing they are against animal testing by using misleading claims on their packing and crafty, well-written answers in articles and on their website.

Misleading claims on packing can include:

• “Against animal testing”
• “We love animals”
• “We hate animal testing”

The above statements are not guarantees that animals weren't harmed in the making of a product.

What to look for:

There are two main cruelty-free certification programs: PETA and Leaping Bunny. Each has a different certification logo that you can look out for when shopping.

Each of these cruelty-free certification schemes is different and have unique criteria that companies need to meet along with various application and monitoring processes.

Ethical Elephant has created the below table, summarising the key differences between these two certification programs.

2. SENDING AN EMAIL

Step 1: Look for a company name on the product you are inquiring about or if you already know the company name skip to step 2.

Step 2: Use a basic google search to find the email address for this company (or message them on Facebook, Instagram, etc.).

Step 3: Send an email asking the following questions:

1. Does your company test any of its ingredients or final products on animals?
2. Does your company pay anyone else to test any of the ingredients used or final products on animals?
3. Does your company have a parent company? If so, who are they and do they test any of their products or product ingredients on animals or pay anyone else to?
4. Does your company sell their products in China?
5. Does your company refuse to sell in China until they no longer require any mandatory animal testing?
6. Are 100% of the products that your company make free from any animal-derived ingredients and therefore vegan?

Step 4: The answers you are looking for are:

1. Does your company test any of its ingredients or final products on animals? No
2. Does your company pay anyone else to test any of the ingredients used or final products on animals? No
3. Does your company have a parent company? If so, who are they and do they test any of their products or product ingredients on animals or pay anyone else to? Yes, we have a parent company, they are (insert name) but they do not conduct or fund any animal testing whatsoever, OR no we have no parent company.
4. Does your company sell their products in China? No OR yes but only under special conditions (LINK).
5. Does your company refuse to sell in mainland China until they no longer require any mandatory animal testing? Yes – 100%
6. Are 100% of the products that your company make free from any animal-derived ingredients and therefore vegan? Yes OR they provide you with a list of the vegan-friendly products that they make.

The above questions can be used for other products (i.e. household products), just remove the question about China, as the mandatory animal testing laws only relate to cosmetics.

To make this even easier, here is an email template that you copy:

Kia ora,

I'm interested in purchasing a product made by your company but before I can do this, I want to ensure that the product I'm purchasing is 100% cruelty-free.

Could you please answer the questions below:

1. Does your company test any of its ingredients or final products on animals?
2. Does your company pay anyone else to test any of the ingredients used or final products on animals?
3. Does your company have a parent company? If so, who are they and do they test any of their products or product ingredients on animals or pay anyone else to?
4. Does your company sell their products in China?
5. Does your company refuse to sell in China until they no longer require any mandatory animal testing?
6. Are 100% of the products that your company make free from any animal-derived ingredients and therefore vegan?

Thank you for your time, I look forward to hearing from you.

Kindly,

(Insert name)