The market is blooming with products highlighting and repeating phrases like cruelty-free, non animal testing, this trend is motivated by conscious consumerism. Actually these claims made by companies may not always be true as we don’t have a legal definition for ‘cruelty free’ and therefore its modified by companies according to their desire, but we do have proper standards for safety needs and these products need to be safe to reach market for which they find the stated alternative pathways other than direct animal testing-
•In Vitro testing- human tissue, organoids
•Organ on chip
•In silico studies (computer modeling and AI)
•Non mammalian models (Planaria, zebrafish, bacteria)
This concept of ‘cruelty free’ aims to either Replace animals in toxicology studies or Reduce their numbers or at least refine their methods to Reduce animal sufferings (3Rs). The companies either use the above mentioned Novel Alternative Methods, or they might use ingredients that have been previously approved, or use data from older studies performed on animals to get safety approval for their products, hence their claims of being completely ‘animal friendly’ might be fabricated for commercial benefits. Unethical marketing may deteriorate consumer trust, futher effecting their choices.
Should authorities intervene and create special tags or marks or methods to clarify the claims and help consumers understand how much cruelty free the products actually are?
MBH/PS