Is Procter & Gamble Cruelty-Free?
Does Procter & Gamble test on animals or sell in China?
Procter & Gamble is a well-known name and owns many of the household brands you use every day. But is Procter & Gamble cruelty-free or do they test on animals?
For a company to be considered cruelty-free they have to meet all of the following criteria:
- Do not test any of their products or ingredients on animals
- Don’t allow others to test on their behalf
- Do not sell in a country where animal testing is required.
After doing a bit of research, I found that Procter & Gamble doesn’t meet the above cruelty-free requirements and is not considered to be a cruelty-free parent company.
Let’s look into what all of that really means and what you can do about it.
Is P & G Certified Cruelty-Free?
When researching a brand’s cruelty-free status my first stop is the certified cruelty-free list. There are three organizations that give official certifications to brands around the world; Leaping Bunny, Peta, and Choose Cruelty-Free.
Procter & Gamble is not found on any of these organizations’ cruelty-free lists. However, they are found on Peta’s list of brands to avoid.
Does Procter & Gamble Test on Animals?
The next step in my research is going directly to the company’s animal testing policy to see where they stand. Procter & Gamble’s policy can be found in the ‘Policies and Practices’ section of their website. Here is what it states:
“At P&G, we believe that eliminating animal testing is the right thing to do. We do not test our products or ingredients on animals anywhere in the world unless required by law. We are working hard to make it obsolete. Therefore, we’ve invested more than $410 million in developing alternative, non-animal testing methods and then getting them accepted by regulators around the world. Today, we use more than 50 non-animal alternatives, half of which were invented or co-invented by P&G. We will continue working with the world’s top independent experts and partnering with leading animal protection groups such as the Humane Society of the U.S. to promote new alternatives research and regulatory acceptance of existing alternatives. This is the only way to eliminate all animal testing, globally.”
Procter & Gamble’s animal testing policy contradicts itself. It states that they do not test on animals However, they will make exceptions when required by a country’s laws. Therefore, Procter & Gamble does allow animal testing on its products.
What About China’s New Animal Testing Laws?
China has announced that as of May 1, 2021, general cosmetics such as shampoo, body wash, lipstick, lotion, and makeup can be sold without being tested on animals. However, a company is required to jump through various hoops for this to happen. As of now, Procter & Gamble has not been exempt and their products can still be tested on animals by the Chinese health authority. Even if an exemption happens it is still possible that the products can be subjected to post-market testing.
What Brands Does P & G Own?
Procter & Gamble is a multinational company that owns several popular cleaning brands. Below is a list of all the brands owned by them.
Many people in the cruelty-free community choose to completely boycott any brand owned by a non-cruelty-free parent company. So, I try to provide as much information as possible so that you have the resources to make your own decision.
So, I’ve indicated which brands are sold in China or are certified cruelty-free. I would err on the side of caution for any of the companies that don’t have additional information.
- Ace
- Always
- Ambi Pur
- Ariel
- Aussie – PETA CERTIFIED
- Bounce
- Braun – SOLD IN CHINA
- Cascade
- Cheer
- Comet
- Crest – SOLD IN CHINA
- Dawn
- Downy
- Dreft
- Era
- Febreze
- Fixodent
- Gain
- Gillette – SOLD IN CHINA
- Hair Food – PETA CERTIFIED
- Head & Shoulders – SOLD IN CHINA
- Herbal Essences
- Ivory
- Joy
- Mr. Clean
- Native
- Olay – SOLD IN CHINA
- Old Spice
- Oral-B – SOLD IN CHINA
- Pantene – SOLD IN CHINA
- Rindex 3en1
- Safeguard – SOLD IN CHINA
- Salvo
- Scope
- Secret
- SK-II – SOLD IN CHINA
- Snowberry
- Tampax
- The Art of Shaving
- Tide – SOLD IN CHINA
- Venus
Wrap Up: Is Procter & Gamble Cruelty-Free?
No, Procter & Gamble is not a cruelty-free company. Even though they claim to not test on animals, they choose to make exceptions to satisfy a country’s health authorities.
Therefore, Procter & Gamble is not considered to be cruelty-free. They will be added to my list of brands that test on animals.
However, they do own some Peta-certified cruelty-free brands. But the choice is yours on whether you feel comfortable using them.
Now I’d like to hear from you…What are your thoughts about Procter & Gamble? Will you boycott them completely or use some of their cruelty-free brands? Please leave your comments below!
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I have been boycotting these products for years and will continue to do so until they eliminate animal cruelty all together. I do not understand peta certified products.
Me neither. You only need to fill out an application with Peta. They don’t investigate further which is why Leaping Bunny is my go-to organization.
I have not used a P & G product for at least 20 years maybe longer. I also haven’t used any of the big name brands for as about as long & for same reason. Don’t want to fund animal testing or chemical use in products. I went organic with everything way back then. And cruelty free. Now P & G has come up with something called EC 30. It sounds like a good idea but don’t know whether to trust them. They really aren’t that forth coming with ingredients that I could find. Not transparent enough for me at this point. Does anyone know anything about those new products? Are they chemical free & no animal testing?
When I next update this post I’ll see if I can find out more information for you.
Thank you. I do my best to buy cruelty-free. P&G is blurring the lines with their claim, but selling in China makes it easier to distinguish the lies about being cruelty-free.
Very true. Many of the larger corporations seem to blur the line for profit. I’d personally rather spend a bit more with an ethical company than one like P&G.
I honestly don’t know. Which is why I don’t trust a company’s cruelty-free statement outright. Leaping Bunny is just one of three organizations that certify a brand’s cruelty-free status. But they are the ones I trust without fault because of their thorough vetting process.
Yes, P&G is NOT cruelty-free. Because Crest is such a well known brand, I have made a petition on Change.org saying that Crest should go Cruelty-Free. (Crest is sold in China, as shown on list) I really don’t understand animal testing… there are other alternatives to that, such as cell culture, computer modules, human VOLUNTEERS, etc.
I want to boycott Proctor-Gamble products but I can’t find products I like as well. The FDA doesn’t require them to test on animals, so I don’t understand how they still do it, even though America doesn’t require it. Seems like they should be required to admit they do it and stop doing it in the future.
Fortunately for us, there are new cruelty-free products coming out all the time. I just advise focusing on a group of products (like cleaning supplies) and slowly testing out cruelty-free brands until you find what works for you.