Is Tom’s of Maine Cruelty Free?

Is Tom’s of Maine Cruelty Free?

Many of you are asking me if Tom’s of Maine is cruelty free. They had been cruelty free since their start in 1970. In 1975, they came out with the first natural toothpaste in the United States. They have always been big on giving back to the community and to the planet. In 2006, they were bought by Colgate-Palmolive (a non -cruelty free parent company). That was the end of the story for many of you. For those of you (like me) who support cruelty free businesses owned by non-cruelty free parent companies, the Leaping Bunny (CCIC) seal of approval was a huge comfort. It was a promise that Tom’s of Maine was not testing on animals, and was being watched over (and audited) by Leaping Bunny’s team.

Tom’s of Maine recently lost their Leaping Bunny certification, which seemed like a huge red flag. I spoke to a member of the Tom’s of Maine team, and this is what they had to say.

Here is their statement in full (bold added by me for emphasis):

Hi Jen:

Thank you for your questions regarding our certification with Leaping Bunny. We hear from a lot of people who are passionate about no animal testing. We are as well. So the most important point I have is that our standards haven’t changed, and no Tom’s of Maine ingredients, formulas or products are ever tested on animals.

Our challenge with recertification was primarily administrative. Under CCIC’s new electronic system we would need to have suppliers input information on over 150 raw materials. We simply did not have the resources to be able to do that in a timely manner. We also wanted to be completely transparent about our certification status, and removed the certification from our website.

Please know this isn’t a statement on CCIC’s standards, or our commitment to no animal testing. We continue to believe CCIC is a leader in this area, have valued their partnership in the past, and we hope to pursue recertification in the future. In the meantime, we are continuing to require declarations of no animal testing from suppliers for all raw materials used in Tom’s of Maine products.

Again, we appreciate that you took the time to ask the question, and I hope my reply helps!  Thank you so much for your support.

Best wishes,

Rob

I reached out to Kim Paschen, Program Manager, Leaping Bunny, and she said, “We valued our partnership with Tom’s, one of CCIC’s founding members, for many years. We were disappointed when they were not able to recommit, but we do hope in the future we are able to bring them back into the program.”

Kim also told me:

“If a company is sourcing from raw material suppliers, we do offer the option for them to use specific language on their purchase orders that does not permit animal testing of the raw material(s) in question. In choosing this option, all that is required for submission to us is a sample purchase order with the included language which we provide. This cuts down on a ton of work in collecting raw material declarations, which obviously can be daunting if a company uses dozens of suppliers.”

So is Tom’s of Maine cruelty free? It’s never black and white is it? Let me try to sum it up – it sounds like Tom’s of Maine is not conducting their own animal tests, and is still using raw ingredients that are not tested on animals, but their ingredient suppliers may possibly test OTHER ingredients for OTHER brands. This doesn’t mean Tom’s of Maine is using non-cruelty free ingredient suppliers, but it is possible that the suppliers have tested in the past or are currently testing for other brands (or they may not test at all). IF they are testing for other brands, I think it’s pretty similar to supporting a brand whose parent company tests, or shopping for cruelty free products at Sephora (since not all of the brands they sell are cruelty free). At the end of the day, this means Leaping Bunny is not able to confirm that they are cruelty free, nor audit them on a regular basis. I believe Tom’s of Maine is still cruelty free (with a non-cruelty free parent company) but this is subject to change at any time. Which, to be fair, is the case with ANY brand. If this concerns you, there are plenty of other natural, cruelty free toothpastes, mouthwashes, flosses, soaps, etc on the market.

I will be monitoring this issue and if I find out about any changes, my beauty bunnies will be the first to know!

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