Animal Products & Animal Testing

At Ecover, honesty, integrity and transparency are core values. It is with respect to these values and the inherent ethos of the company, where ecological, social and economic considerations play an integral part of our decisions, that Ecover’s animal testing policy is based on several well-grounded principles.

Ecover is against animal testing. Ecover has never performed or commissioned animal testing. In our opinion, animal testing to assess environmental and health risks is unnecessary.

Ecover is a pioneering company whose cleaning products are produced with the objective of minimising their impact on the environment. Ecover products are developed using formulations based on renewable plant, and widely available mineral ingredients as an alternative to the petrochemical based brands which currently dominate the market.

All Ecover ingredients, therefore, are chosen to ensure that our products achieve the lowest possible toxicity and the most rapid and complete biodegradability to minimise the impact on the environment and all life forms.

Because of these demanding objectives, Ecover, as a leading company, is working with a higher proportion of new ingredients which can offer improved overall environmental advantages that benefit of all forms of life, whether human, animal or plant.

In line with ECOVER’s environmental policy and in recognition of the strong beliefs held by animal welfare organisations, we offer a clearly defined animal testing policy:

since their foundation in 1980 ECOVER has never tested any finished products or ingredients on animals, nor have they ordered such tests by third parties
for research and product development ECOVER uses alternative methods of testing only. For Example – RBC (Red blood cell test)
all Ecover suppliers are required to submit an annual written confirmation for each ingredient that no animal tests have been conducted on it. These statements guarantee that none of the ingredients have been tested or re-tested for the last five years
Ecover will continue to pressure all suppliers to ban animal testing
Ecover is not a member of BIBRA
to reflect the development of Ecover’s animal testing policy Ecover supports FRAME (Fund for the Replacement of Animals in Medical Experiments)

Ecover and a Fixed Cut Off Date
Ecover continually strives to improve its product range against all of their exacting criteria. These include sustainability of ingredients, achieving low aquatic toxicity, effective primary degradation, high skin compatibility and good ultimate (secondary) degradation. In addition, the products must also perform and be available at a reasonable price. To achieve this, Ecover is continually developing and testing new ingredients. We do not perform these tests on animals and employ alternative methods.

For these ingredients to be included in a product, ingredient suppliers are forced by international law to prove their innocuity.

The introduction of a fixed cut off date at this stage would prevent Ecover from using these new ingredients and advances in their products which are developed in order to further benefit the environment. This is because a fixed cut off date prevents a company from introducing any ingredients that have been developed after this date.

For example, in March 2002 Ecover introduced Ecover Squirteco – a ready to use all purpose cleaner. The product was developed using a new generation of ingredients – bio-surfactants. Ecover has tested the product and its ingredients extensively using alternative methods. However a fixed cut off date would have prevented its introduction.

Ecover believes that by operating the five year rolling rule, by default, we are upholding our beliefs – we are honest and integral in our approach and will continue to pioneer for the future.