I figured I’d get this out of the way now, because that PETA list always bothers me.  Many companies are not on the list, because they don’t claim to say that their ingredients were not tested on animals, because for the most part, many companies don’t know.  (L’Oreal for example does not test the finished product on animals, but it doesn’t say the ingredients on the way to getting there weren’t because they’re not sure — as written to me by a L’Oreal rep.)  Chances are, somewhere down the line, an ingredient from that cosmetic you’re using at some point was tested on animals.

This is straight from the FDA/CFSAN website.

“Some cosmetic companies promote their products with claims such as ‘CRUELTY-FREE’ or ‘NOT TESTED ON ANIMALS’ in their labeling or advertising. The unrestricted use of these phrases by cosmetic companies is possible because there are no legal definitions for these terms.

Some companies may apply such claims solely to their finished cosmetic products. However, these companies may rely on raw material suppliers or contract laboratories to perform any animal testing necessary to substantiate product or ingredient safety. Other cosmetic companies may rely on combinations of scientific literature, non-animal testing, raw material safety testing, or controlled human-use testing to substantiate their product safety.

Many raw materials, used in cosmetics, were tested on animals years ago when they were first introduced. A cosmetic manufacturer might only use those raw materials and base their “cruelty-free” claims on the fact that the materials or products are not ‘currently’ tested on animals.”

Maybe “no new testing on animals” is a more accurate claim, eh?

The only safe way is to make sure these companies are currently not testing the products on animals, or asking for the ingredients to be tested (if the manufacturers test on the animals, there is no requirement to tell the company they’re selling it to, or being honest about it).  Proctor and Gamble is the only company that is well-known to test finished products on animals — so I recommend avoiding products by them (such as Cover Girl, Johnson & Johnson, etc).  However, companies such as Estee Lauder, L’Oreal, and their affiliates (which is quite the list, including MAC, Bobbi Brown, Jane, Lancome and Maybelline) do not test finished products on animals.

For more information on the FDA/CFSAN, please visit their website at http://www.cfsan.fda.gov.  Unfortunately, any company can claim to be cruelty-free; there’s no regulations or law about it because as stated above, there are no legal definitions of these terms.