Policy
Unilever is committed to the elimination of animal testing for its business. It is equally committed to consumer and customer health and safety, and to the safety of its workforce and the environment.
In pursuit of these goals, Unilever on the one hand applies the strictest internal control procedures to ensure that animal testing is only carried out when no alternatives are available, and on the other hand invests in developing and applying alternative methods and novel approaches that will replace animal testing in safety assessments for consumer products.
By adopting this dual approach, we advance the elimination of animal testing and reduce the number of tests to the absolute minimum. We provide transparency in the use of animals and the progress in developing alternatives.
How we act:
Ensuring safety
The safety of Unilever products is assured by rigorous procedures using data from suppliers, the results of previous assessments and the most up-to-date information from the scientific literature available in the public domain.
Our product development relies to a great extent on our ability to predict the safety of products. When there is a need to develop new data and information, alternative methods to animal testing and human volunteer testing are used to the maximum extent.
In Unilever, non-animal testing is the rule and animal testing is the exception. Unilever does not undertake animal testing or commission others to do such testing on its behalf unless it is necessary to meet its health, safety and environmental obligations or it is demanded by government regulators or other official bodies.
Before any animal testing is carried out, Unilever's internal control procedures require senior management to certify in writing that there is no other way of proceeding. We do not test finished products on animals unless demanded by the regulatory authorities in the few countries where this is the law. In such cases, we still try to convince the local authorities to change the law.
Reducing animal testing
It has been Unilever policy to reduce, refine and replace animal testing by substituting alternative methods. For over 20 years, we have been effective in considerably reducing the amount of animal testing required. The vast majority of Unilever products have in the past, and will in the future, reach the consumer without any testing of any material on animals.
Alternatives to animal testing
Unilever is heavily involved in assessing new methods for health and safety testing. To this end we support a vigorous program seeking suitable non-animal alternatives. Over 50 papers have been published in the last five years in the peer-reviewed scientific literature so that its progress can be seen and others may benefit from its work. Unilever collaborates with other companies and plays a leading role with trade associations and government bodies seeking to develop alternative testing methods.
Being accountable
Until such time as we can be sure that human and environmental safety will not be prejudiced, Unilever will have to do a minimal amount of animal testing. However, it will be a vigorous driver for developing and applying alternative (non-animal) methods. A consequence of our policy is that we are always prepared to explain our position, concerns and approach. Thus by being open we are able to serve the cause of minimising and finally eliminating animal testing.
Our operations divisions in Australia and New Zealand maintain close contact with the Unilever central research laboratories and we will continue to support ongoing scientific programs aimed at ultimately substituting alternative methods for animal testing in product safety assessments.
