The go-to place for cruelty-free shopping, Naturewatch Foundation’s 'Compassionate Shopping Guide', goes online!

EMBARGOED UNTIL 10th SEPTEMBER 2020 - 08:00

There’s a brand-new online guide to help compassionate shoppers make informed choices about what they buy. It’s packed with truly cruelty-free products and it’s free, both for shoppers and for the brands featured in it.

UK-based animal welfare charity Naturewatch Foundation has published a fully updated and meticulously researched 15^th edition of its celebrated Compassionate Shopping Guide.

The new edition, launched on 10 September, offers high street and online alternatives to cosmetic, personal and household cleaning products that may have been tested on animals during production. It’s live now, with a condensed printed version also available.

The Compassionate Shopping Guide uses the strictest endorsement criteria of all cruelty-free lists, looking closely at all brands under the same ownership, including the parent company. If a subsidiary company has a Fixed Cut-Off Date (FCOD) animal testing policy in place, it will only be endorsed if the parent company shares that policy.

Naturewatch Foundation was the first organisation in the UK to make this information available to the public in 1993. Companies can only feature in the guide if they follow a cruelty-free policy across their whole range, which means absolute confidence for shoppers that they are buying from brands that are genuinely cruelty-free.

Naturewatch Foundation Chief Executive, Caroline Ruane, says: “Putting the 15^th edition of the Compassionate Shopping Guide online has been a mammoth task. Our researchers have approached thousands of brands offering them FREE entry, if they meet our strict cruelty-free criteria. We’re delighted that savvy, cruelty-free shoppers can now quickly consult a smartphone to check whether a product is linked to animal testing or if it’s cruelty-free from top to tail!”

The ethos behind the guide

Naturewatch Foundation believes the use of animals in experiments is ethically wrong. Caroline continues:

“The torture of innocent animals in the UK and worldwide must be stopped. Science has moved on, replacing cruel and unnecessary animal experiments with innovative and effective, modern non-animal tests, including using human cells and tissues and computer-based techniques. Currently, if a make-up brand chooses to export to China, it’s agreeing for its products to be tested on animals! We think cruelty-free shoppers will want to know whether a company is exploiting markets and putting profit before the welfare of animals.”

While animal welfare campaigners demand that governments pursue openness and transparency about animal testing, consumers can take direct action today by using the Compassionate Shopping Guide to make informed shopping decisions.

To celebrate the launch, a range of endorsed companies are offering discount codes for brands featured in the cruelty-free guide. Go to www.compassionateshoppingguide.org to find out more.

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