Animal testing: The products in your home that test on animals

As you know, I am working to switch over to more cruelty-free products over the next month.

What does cruelty-free mean? It means products that are not tested on animals. Not just animal products, but human products as well. Beagles, rabbits, mice, etc. All animals often used in product testing.

A beagle used in testing by AstraZeneca drug company. (Photo/ Beagle Freedom Project)

I thought it was important to tell you what products DO test on animals. These are all products I have found in my home. I am using the lists from The Vegetarian Site and the PETA list to determine if they are cruelty free.

Arm & Hammer carpet cleaner spray (Church and Dwight)
Crest toothpaste (Procter and Gamble)
Fantastik (SC Johnson)
Febreze (Procter and Gamble)
Glad bags (Clorox)
Glade Plug-ins (SC Johnson)
Head & Shoulders (Procter and Gamble)
Kleenex
Lysol (Reckitt Benckiser)
MAC Cosmetics (Estee Lauder)
Mr. Clean (Procter and Gamble)
Origins (Estee Lauder) **
Purex (Dial)
Raid (SC Johnson)
Sally Hansen
Secret (Procter and Gamble)
Shout (SC Johnson)
Suave (Unilever)
Vicks (Procter and Gamble)

** Origins is an issue we hope to come back to in a future post. They say they are cruelty-free. We'll explain why many groups are not so sure.

Do you have these products in your home? There's nothing to be ashamed of. Lord knows it is not easy, and I don't expect to succeed in going completely cruelty free myself.

But can I challenge you to try and change out at least some of your products? If enough people do so, we can send a message to those companies.

Here are some websites that list cruelty-free products, and watch this blog as we look for products in regular stores that fit the cruelty-free bill.

Leaping Bunny.org
PETA's Beauty Without Bunnies List
The Vegetarian Site