Enfield Council goes cruelty-free

The first in the UK !

The BUAV, the UK 's leading organisation campaigning to end animal experiments, is delighted that Enfield Council has voted to go cruelty-free at its meeting on the 11 th November. This makes Enfield the UK 's first council to adopt a policy to only use cruelty-free cleaning products in its offices.

Councillor Christopher Cole, who introduced this motion, supports the BUAV's Clean up Cruelty campaign which seeks to end cruel animal testing for household products and their ingredients.

Enfield is the first council in the UK whose cleaning contractors can only use BUAV approved products The BUAV's Humane Cosmetics Standard (HCS) and Household Products Standard (HHPS) is recognisable by the Leaping Bunny logo, an internationally recognised and patented cruelty-free certification.

The BUAV's Clean up Cruelty campaign received success in Parliament recently when all major parties pledged to put a ban on animal testing for household products in their manifestos for the next election.

81% of the public said they would support a ban[1] on the testing of household products on animals, though many ingredients in UK household products have been, and can continue to be, tested on animals.

BUAV's Chief Executive, Michelle Thew said: “The BUAV congratulates Enfield Council and its residents in taking this important stance. We urge other councils throughout the UK to adopt a similar position and support our campaign to end the cruelty and suffering inflicted on animals to test cleaning products."

ENDS

For further information, please contact pressenquiries@buav.org


For a list of BUAV approved products please visit www.gocrueltyfree.org.


Notes

1) In 1997 the Government decided to stop granting licences for cosmetics tests on animals, because the suffering caused was not justified given the trivial nature of the products tested. There is, however, no such prohibition for household products, despite clear public support and very similar arguments.

2) The BUAV (British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection) has been campaigning for over 100 years to achieve a world where nobody wants or believes we need to experiment on animals. We are committed to achieving our aims through reliable and reasoned evidence-based debate.

3) The BUAV's Humane Cosmetics and Household Products Standard is recognisable by the Leaping Bunny logo, an internationally recognised and patented cruelty-free certification. Approved companies must open up their supply chain to a robust but straightforward audit. The process ensures that neither the product nor, crucially, any of its ingredients have been tested on animals at any stage of the manufacturing cycle since a fixed cut off date. For more information on the auditing process and a list of approved companies visit www.gocrueltyfree.org.


[1] CIAO research 2006