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Frequently Asked Questions

What is a Fixed Cut-off Date and why is it important?

Virtually all ingredients have been animal-tested in the past and testing of new ingredients is an ongoing activity. Companies with a fixed cut-off date policy will not use any ingredient tested on animals after a specific date, and insist that their suppliers comply with this. This is why adopting a fixed cut-off date is so important: these companies are discouraging current or future animal testing: the older the fixed cut-off date, the more ethical the company. These companies deserve our support and custom. 

Some companies, such as Lush, go one step further and only buy from suppliers who neither carry out animal testing for, nor supply ingredients to, any company. This policy increases the pressure on all suppliers to end testing.
 

The Company Index in the Compassionate Shopping Guide seems much shorter?

We know that some of you would like to have a fully referenced index of companies listed in the back of the guide, and we really would like to provide you with one.  However, we have to strike a balance between the amount of information we can provide and the campaigning work we carry out. 

We believe that by focusing both your attention and ours on the big players, we will achieve more to change company policies overall. 

Remember, it is the larger companies who have the real power in the animal testing industry, and that's why we focus our time on telling you about them.

Why doesn't Naturewatch support the 5-year Rolling Rule animal testing policy?

The Five-year Rolling Rule only restricts the ingredients used to ones which haven't been tested on animals in the past 5 years. As it is not a fixed date, an animal tested ingredient may be excluded one year but included the following year. Naturewatch does not endorse this policy as it does nothing to discourage current and future animal testing.

 

What's happened to my favourite company? I don't see it listed in the Guide.

You may notice that some companies which we have endorsed in the past are not included in the latest edition.  This is because we don't have sufficient information to make a judgement either way.  It would be wrong of us to endorse a company which we were not confident about.  In these instances, we are operating an open door scheme for companies who are willing to work with us to provide the information we require.  When we are satisfied that a company meets our cruelty-free criteria, it will be added to the Guide.