http://www.ecover.com/gb/en/vegan.htm
Vegan
Are Ecover products suitable for Vegans?

All Ecover products are suitable for Vegans. The only exception is the
Camomile and Marigold Washing Up Liquid which contains Milk Whey (for
its hand softening properties.) This is a natural by-product of the
dairy industry.

A Vegan alternative - Lemon and Aloe Vera Washing Up Liquid is
available

*****************************

This is despite many letters of complaint and their highly cynical
wriggling when exposed by Vegan Society way back in August, claiming
they only do a *little* testing on animals etc!

Many stores supplied by Ecover are still claiming Eccover is Vegan.

Joint Statement by Ecover and The Vegan Society [ 03-08-2007 ]

Ecover respects the mission and values of the Vegan Society who
acknowledge that Ecover has 27 years of history as a company dedicated
to protecting the environment. The Vegan Society recognizes Ecover as
a company of integrity. As such the Vegan Society and Ecover are
working together to ensure both organisations principles are adhered
to.


As a pioneering ecological company, Ecover’s responsibility is to
continuously improve the environmental performance of its products. A
major challenge in developing an ecological washing and cleaning
product is minimizing the effects of its use on aquatic systems.
Therefore, the toxicity of these products on aquatic life must be
measured.

To establish the impact on the aquatic environment Ecover uses aquatic
toxicity testing which uses water fleas (daphnia), as they are present
throughout the world in any freshwater system. As far as Ecover is
aware there are no alternative tests available that will more
accurately measure the impact of cleaning products on the aquatic
environment. Ecover far exceeds the EU definition on what constitutes
animal testing as daphnia are invertebrates which do not have a
central nervous system. The EU definition defines animal testing as
the use of vertebrates, past a specified embryonic stage, (or larval
stage in the case of fish and amphibians).

Ecover also uses a red blood cell test (Invittox RBC) on a
non-systematic basis that uses blood from rabbit farming to test the
effect of detergents on mucus membranes (to test skin
compatability).This test is used only in those cases where alternative
testing methods are unavailable. Given the shortage of human red blood
cells Ecover believes the use of human blood would be unethical.
However, as alternative testing methods are continuously investigated,
Ecover is confident that the RBC test shall become obsolete over the
next few years.

Ecover respects the values of the Vegan Society and its members. Yet,
as part of the company’s core values, Ecover owes its customers
transparency and will continue to hold on to its principles as it has
done so for the past 27 years. Thus, our organizations have mutually
decided to disagree on these points of principle and consequently,
Ecover shall no longer carry the Vegan trademark.

Both Ecover and the Vegan Society will continue to work on improving
ways to promote respect for our environment and society.

A Brief Summary of Facts:

1. Aquatic Toxicity Testing: Ecover undertakes daphnia testing, as
part of aquatic toxicity testing to establish impact on the aquatic
environment. This is a recognised test that allows is to monitor our
products against one of the key criteria for an ecological product,
i.e. its impact on the aquatic environment.

2. Invittox (RBC) Test (Protocol 99): On a non-systematic basis,
Ecover has adopted this test as part of its product testing of skin
compatibility of detergents. This test is a variation of the red blood
cell test (RBC) and allows us to measure the effect of detergents on
mucus membranes. The techniques used to conduct this testing can be
found on the web site of the European Centre for the Validation of
Alternative Methods, under Protocol 99
(http://ecvam.jrc.it/index.htm). A mere 0.5 milliliters of rabbit
blood is used as the source of red blood cells to conduct one complete
test of a new product. In 2006 and 2007, Ecover performed 0 tests.

3. Ecover Annual Output. In 2006, Ecover’s annual output consisted of
19,625,296 units in liters (l.) and 2,587,935 units in kilograms (kg)
giving a total of 22,213,231 units produced.












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