To begin with, the Leaping Bunny Program was created by and still run by the Coalition for Consumer Information on Cosmetics, commonly referred to the CCIC. The CCIC is comprised of a handful of animal welfare groups mainly located in the United States and Canada. The entire list of involved groups can be found here. The main goal of the group was to create a cruelty free standard for cosmetics as well as personal care and household products. Like this blog, they wanted to make shopping easy for consumers so they could avoid to frustration and confusion associated with cruelty free shopping.
So, what are their standards? In short, their guidelines assure that no new animal tests will be performed. This includes testing of ingredients and finished products as well as any third party testing. In my eyes the most important aspect of being a registered with Leaping Bunny is that these company's are open to independent audits. Consumers do not have to simply trust what the company says or fall prey to intentionally misleading animal testing statements! Leaping Bunny has an un-associated, third party review these matters for us.
I wanted some clarification so I emailed the Leaping Bunny on August 12 and received this response August 16:
Thank you for your email. Companies who adhere to the Leaping Bunny Standard have agreed in writing to ban all animal testing throughout the manufacturing process (including ingredients and using third party testers!). Leaping Bunny requires verifiable assurances from ingredient suppliers, in addition to an unchangeable date after which these ingredients may not be tested on animals. Signatories
must recommit every year, and also be open to independent audits.
The audits are done by a third party who visits the company personally to go through their paperwork and manufacturing processes. The few times we have had to remove companies from the list were because a) they refused to do the audit or b) there were issues with some of their ingredient suppliers that would make them ineligible for certification and which they did not wish to modify to be in compliance. The companies chosen for audits are done so at random.
The audits are done by a third party who visits the company personally to go through their paperwork and manufacturing processes. The few times we have had to remove companies from the list were because a) they refused to do the audit or b) there were issues with some of their ingredient suppliers that would make them ineligible for certification and which they did not wish to modify to be in compliance. The companies chosen for audits are done so at random.
Overall I am very happy with the information I have been able to find regarding the Leaping Bunny program. For me personally, I dislike that they list such companies such as Tom of Maine's and Burt's Bees. These companies do not animal test but they are subsidiaries of parent companies who do test. However, they are marked with a small purple square on their online shopping guide to let consumers know that this is the case.
- The Leaping Bunny Online Shopping Guide can be found here. They will also mail free pocket shopping guides as well if you send them an email requesting one. You can also download their shopping app for free!
- You can also sign their Cruelty-Free Pledge here. I signed up for the hell of it but later received a discount code for whiterabbitbeauty.com which I believe sells mostly to only Leaping Bunny certified products.
They also list some additional ways you can help animals here. I hope everyone at least takes a moment to review their website since I believe this shopping guide is far superior to PETA's horrible one that everyone seems to know about. And also sorry for the weird font changes this editor is just weird and refuses to listen to what I tell it to do!
Hi! I happen to be a person who recently (2 years ago aprox) decided to live a cruelty free lifestyle as well... or at least the most possible since sometimes we aren't aware of many things of this matter. I came across leapingbunny a while ago and as soon as i checked the website and their list, it seemed a serious and responsible site to me. And that is why, now i constantly check it before going shopping. In your post you mentioned the horrible PETA's list and let me tell you i do agree with you 100%! First of all, the list is incredibly extense... but also fake to a certain point! The other day i was reading it and i saw that Michael Kors was listed as a COMPANY THAT DO NOT TEST. Funny because a day before that, i was looking at Michael Kors website to find that they sell clothes with fox and rabbit fur! How can it be a cruelty free company if they use fur?? I sent them an email inquiring about it and i never got a response. It's been a month and nothing! Also i saw there was some post from PETA that talked about some protest about Michael Kors using fur and when i tried to click on it, it said this post has been removed blah blah blah. It sounds fishy to me. Perhaps at the beginning they used to be more true to their objectives. But i think PETA got lost somewhere in the fame, glamour, interest, money, etc.
ReplyDeleteWell... thanks for sharing this info. Your post was very interesting and clearing a lot of doubts. Have a nice day and keep it up! :)
I'm glad this post was helpful.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about PETA. I would never and have never given them any money (minus buying a vegan cookbook which was horrible!) since they would most likely use it to pad their own salaries or to set up a nude photoshoot. There are so many great animal welfare groups and charities that actually help animals that I don't understand why anyone serious about animals would waste their time with PETA.