Beauty Without Cruelty in South Africa has an up to date list of ranges that have been checked and endorsed by us as being humane, according to our criteria. I have attached a copy for your convenience. This is updated from time to time as new companies come on board or occasionally where companies no longer comply. The list is found on our website (ed. note: and linked here: SAfricaBWC-listOct2012.pdf)

Advertising Standards Authority states that companies must be able to provide proof of their humane claims. BWC is an accepted independent organisation able to audit such proof and has been doing so since 1975. If a local company is not on the list they must be considered suspect. BWC does not charge companies to audit or endorse ranges and only those South African companies that appear on the BWC humane guide may be considered humane.

As virtually all substances have been tested on animals at some time, BWC requires companies to initiate a self-imposed cut-off date on the use of animal tested ingredients, as long as it is at least five years before the date of application and the company must guarantee that the chosen date will be strictly adhered to in the future. Failure to comply with the fixed cut-off date will result in immediate removal from the BWC approved product guide. Furthermore, products may not contain substances which have been obtained as a result of the suffering or death of an animal. (We will accept vegetarian) Written assurances must be obtained from ingredient supply companies, that individual ingredients supplied to the company, have not been tested (by them) on animals after the cut-off date. Parent companies and their subsidiaries too, must comply with these criteria.

Many companies correctly state their products are not tested on animals, however ingredients are tested by suppliers or data is obtained where animals have been used. Often, companies state they are against animal testing, and this is misleading.

For the benefit of local consumers BWC also has a list of those international brands approved by the Leaping Bunny that are available here. The leaping bunny programme is an internationally accepted standard developed by a number of international animal organisations that defines what constitutes a 'not tested on animals' product. They are not approved by BWC, as they may contain ingredients that have been required to be tested on animals 'by law' after a fixed cut off date, or have an unacceptable parent company but we offer the list as a service.