Category: vegan

Here is an update of my definition for cruelty-free companies and vegan-friendly art supplies:

• A product can be considered vegan-friendly, if the entire product itself does not contain animal ingredients, byproducts/ derivatives and none of those are used in the manufacturing process, g. the use of animal derived oils and fats in surfactants for the dispersion of pigments and animal oils and fats are not used to form the tips of brushes; kieselguhr/diatomite is not used for filtration.
• For a vegan-friendly product, the “entire product” has to be free of any animal derived ingredients; This includes all that contains the art supply, e.g. pans, paint tubes, the body and nibs of a marker, a pencil’s wooden body as well as lacquer, adhesive used for binding of paper pads, books, brushes and envelopes.
• The manufacturer does not test on animals or commissions other parties to do so and do not use material data collected through animal testing done or commissioned by others such as parent-/ sister-/ affiliate companies, other partners as well as suppliers.
• (Raw) Material used in the products and the production process may not be tested on animals by the company’s (raw) material suppliers and sub-suppliers, nor be commissioned by those.
• There is no animal testing done/commissioned abroad for products to be sold abroad. This applies to the company and the company’s distributors.

Everything which comes from an animal origin/source, everything what is part of the animal and its anatomy and what the animal produces (beeswax, honey, milk, eggs) is unsuitable for vegans.

 Definition of the term “animal”:

• All Vertebrates:
  • Fish
  • Amphibians
  • Reptiles
  • Birds
  • Mammals
• All Invertebrates, e.g. sea urchins, sponges, sea stars, jellyfish, squid, lobsters, crawfish, crabs, earthworms, spiders, snails, slugs, clams, insects, sea anemones, sea gooseberries, sea urchins, corals, …

Animal derived ingredients are e.g.:

• Beeswax, Honey
• Charred Bones, Bone Ash, Bone Flour, Pigment PBk9
• Bone Charcoal
• Casein
• Gelatine
• Squalene
• Squid Ink, Sepia Ink, all ink from squids and cuttlefish
• Sepia
• Silk
• Tallow
• Animal Oils, Animal Fats, Animal derived Wax (used e.g. for dispersing pigments; shaping brush tips)
• Ox Gall, Ox Bile
• Gall and Bile
• Cochineal
• Rabbit skin, e.g. rabbit skin glue, animal skin
• Any Kind of Glue made by animal parts
• Shellac
• Kieselguhr/Diatomite (used e.g. for filtrating inks)
• Natural sponge
• Natural animal derived Hair and Bristles, e.g. of sable, marten, squirrel, mongoose, horsehair, hair from animal snouts and ears (for example Ox), pig bristles

The criteria that apply to vegan-friendly art supplies apply also to vegetarian-friendly art supplies, with the exception that beeswax-, milk- and egg-derived ingredients may be part of the product itself and used in the manufacturing process.

For vegan-friendly art supplies, neither the product itself may contain animal-derived products nor may they be used in the production process.

A Cruelty-free company does not test on animals nor commissions others to do so and does not use data provided through animal testing by other facilities or affiliate companies. Not only the production of the product and the finished product must be free of animal testing but also the supply chain. The (raw) materials and chemicals used may not be tested on animals by the supplier nor may the supplier commission animal testing for the material.

Note: I am  aware that once (most) raw materials and chemicals were tested /had to be tested on animals (several decades ago)

PDF of my definition: definition_cruelty-free_vegan_veganartstuff_feb2018