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Gallery Vegan Shopping : Ecover
for Vegans?
Ecover is a manufacturer of eco-friendly household cleaning products. Some of their products contain no animal ingredients, and up to 2007, the company was registered by the Vegan Sociey.
However, Ecover got the Vegan Society logo removed from its products for having an unsuitable animal testing policy.
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What makes Ecover’s policy on animal testing unsuitable for vegans?
[1] Ecover operates a five year rolling rule. Ecover claims that the only way they can manufacture new products is to introduce newly-developed ingredients, such as biosurfacants. Such ingredients have to be tested on animals by law, and this is why Ecover continues to operate a 5 year |
 rolling rule as opposed to a fixed cut off date. [2] They also test their products on water fleas* -also called Daphnia- as a way to measure the environmental impact of their products on aquatic life. Daphnia are not fleas at all, but members of the crustacean family. About a hundred Daphnia Magna are used to test each Ecover product. This test is called EC50 Daphnia. |
“However, given the large availability of red bloods cells derived from animals and the scarce availability of human red blood cells, as well as any associated health risks, Ecover feels it has not crossed any ethical boundaries in opting for this test.”
Ecover statement on Rabbit blood.
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Because the EU definition on animal testing excludes the use of invertebrates, Ecover can safely state in their website “Ecover is against animal testing. Ecover has never performed or commissioned animal testing.”** Daphnia have a central nervous system located in the rostral region, which defines them as sentient beings. For this reason, testing household products on Daphnia should be regarded as animal testing. [3] Ecover uses rabbit blood*** taken from “rabbit farming”, to test their ingredients on the effects of aquatic life and human skin. This test is called Invittox (Red Blood Cell) test (Protocol 99) |
 Ecover statement is purely speciesist. Is it not more ethical to use a tiny amount of blood from a human volunteer than the one of a rabbit who was exploited and murdered? Ecover neither needs to engage in animal testing, nor do they need to use rabbit blood. They also have no justification to operate a 5 year rolling rule. Other companies such as Bio D and Natural House offer very efficient and ethical products without having to use animals. |
If you are unsure what to buy, check out : Best Brands and Household products.
*Ecover statement on Daphnia:
www.ecover.com/Daphnia
**Ecover on animal testing and animal products
www.ecover.com
***Ecover on rabbit blood
www.ecover.com/invittox
Joint statement by the Vegan Society and Ecover
www.vegansociety.com
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