Monday, July 16, 2012

Update: Korean Cosmetic Brands & Animal Testing

Good morning! It's Monday again and I hope everyone will have a good start for the week :)

This will be just a quick update. If you visited KARA (Korea Animal Rights Advocates) website, you will also see a list of Cruelty Free brands just like in PETA...Their list is shorter coz they are still starting but it helps customers like us.  To see their list of certified cruelty free brands, click here and here.

I even hope PAWS or CARA can do this too for local products in our country :)
 
I also have contacted KARA too through email to clarify some Korean cosmetic brands that I love but are not on both list and I already have received their reply so I will share them with you. 


Dear Gale,

Thank you for contacting KARA regarding Korean cosmetic companies and our apologies for the delayed reply due to the waiting time taken to hear back
from each company about the inquiry.

Here is a brief answer to your question.
Tony Moly – still in the process of confirmation
Nature Republic – still in the process of confirmation
Baviphat – has not gotten back to our inquiry.
Holika Holika – has not gotten back to our inquiry
Skin Food – refused our request for further confirmation about animal test on ingredients.
Lioele – do test on animals.

When the companies do not reply to our inquiry, we assume that they may carry out animal test on at some stage of the production or they do not care the importance of checking with their individual ingredients suppliers whether they test on animals.  

If there is a new company added to the list, we will let people know through our Facebook page.

Hope this helps you for cruelty free shopping.
Thank you again for your interest and support.

Kind regards,
Korea Animal Rights Advocates 


In addition to this email, here are some locally available brands that are still on the fence (have not received any confirmation from the company) according to the website home page:

1. Missha - Animal testing done on certain products but not all...They use animal by-products too like deer antlers on a certain line of their products. So personally, they are on the DO TEST and NON-VEGAN list.

2. Etude House - Regular staff says it's cruelty free but since Amore Pacific (parent company) is testing on animals, I can conclude Etude House tests on animals too. 
 
Check out Amore Pacific's statement here about their stand on animal testing. According to them, they are still on the process of researching about alternative non-animal testing but for the meantime, they are doing animal testing to ensure the safety of the products. For the complete list of brands under them, click  here 

I actually commend Amore Pacific for being transparent about their stand on animal testing. Just last month, they explained in their website that they do conduct animal testing for safety reasons but they will do research to find alternative methods. And now, they already changed their statement on the website and had given updates on the progress of their research. I hope before this year ends, they will accomplish their goal of finding a good alternative for animal testing and will declare they are cruelty-free by year 2013. But until then, no Amore Pacific products for me. Personally, I will patiently wait for them because they do value their customer and they have the heart to improve the ethics of their corporation :) 


*** If you want to inquire about a certain brand you love you can email KARA through their website. They do reply to your inquiry as soon as they get info on them.

I hope this post is helpful to all of you who cares about animal cruelty and loves Korean brands. Until next time, bye! ^_^


Thank you for dropping by,

14 comments:

Crystal Gale said...

Hi! I agree, they should clarify their stand so that consumers like us who cares about animals can be well informed...

Anonymous said...

Hello! I stumbled on your blog by chance and was so glad I did! I just wanted to say thank you! I'm in the process of trying to distinguish cruelty-free brands from those who do test on animals (I don't want to be a party to animal testing!) and your post helped me answer a couple of my questions. It's so awesome that you're doing your best to spread the word. :) Thanks again!

Crystal Gale said...

Hi! Thank you lilmisscalamity for dropping by! I hope you can spread the word too about going cruelty free. I will try to update my blog more about cruelty free brands :)

xiaocangshu said...

Amore Pacific is ending animal testing: http://www.crueltyfreeinternational.org/en/a/Cruelty-Free-International-welcomes-announcement-by-Amore-Pacific-Korean-cosmetics-company

Crystal Gale said...

Hi xiaocangshu! Thanks for the link! I'm happy to read that because it means the time is near wherein Amore Pacific will get a leaping bunny logo :)

BUT for now, their statement at their website still doesn't have a formal statement regarding FULLY stopping animal testing so let's all wait for the company to change their status and for their Leaping Bunny logo :)

http://en.amorepacific.com/sustain/safety_item_04.jsp

Miasara said...

Hi, Do you have news for Skin Food? I'm about to purchase one of their BB cream but I have a doubt if they are cruelty free or not and no information on Kara website. Thanks

Miasara said...

Hi, Do you have news for Skin Food? I'm about to purchase one of their BB cream but I have a doubt if they are cruelty free or not and no information on Kara website. Thanks

The Career Housewife said...

Gosh dang! That makes me sad. I love Etude House. Although I suppose I can laud them for trying.

Thank you for this!

The Career Housewife said...

By the way, I'm a PAWS volunteer and I'll try and bring this up though given our work load regarding cruelty cases etc., I doubt PAWS itself can do much about publishing such lists. But if others like you can submit, we can probably share it on the site. :)

At the moment though, the only local brand I am aware of that has the PETA Cruelty-free Bunny is Human Nature.

Crystal Gale said...

Hi! Thank you for dropping by and for the suggestion. I am actually inquiring personally on different local brands about their cruelty free status so once I have completed my list I will post it here on my blog :)

Amore Pacific (mother company of Etude House and Laneige) has already declared a stop on animal testing. So they are technically cruelty free starting May 2013. This is actually good news! I am just waiting for their accreditation to be finalized so that I can put them back on the cruelty free list :)

Unknown said...

Hello,
I want to ask if the korean company Magiff is cruelty free?
I sent them a message asking and this is what they replied: "Magiff is proud to be a Natural Product, none of our products are tested on animals nor do we use any animal ingredients."
But i am not sure if that means that the ingredients might have been tested.

Crystal Gale said...

Hi! I haven't heard of this brand but you can send them a follow up question specifically about their ingredients. It's better to be safe and sure :)

Inbar said...

Thank you for the info, very helpfull!

Carolina Tovilla said...

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