CERTIFICATIONS MATTER- LEAPING BUNNY + TOXIC FREE

We live in the data age. Where ANY and ALL information is a Google search away. And thus, you and I, consumers, are able to make informed decisions on what is in the products that we are purchasing. As well as what is NOT in the products we are buying.

By doing a little research on the web, it’s easy to see if the brand we heard about or have been thinking about buying is in line with our personal philosophies on how we see the world dependent on how they are formulated. Ultimately we are voting and saying YES, we want to see more of “this” type-of- products every time we buy a product.

And so going on a company’s site and seeing what kind of certifications they have and the ingredients listed is a simple way of seeing who we are casting a vote for. This is when regulation plays such a vital role in making sure that transparency is key. Two majorly important certifications to look for in a brand if your MO is to be health conscious is the LEAPING BUNNY certification and TOXIC FREE. The LEAPING BUNNY certification is a regulated and official certification that deems a company cruelty-free (so no exploiting animals for the sake of testing). The TOXIC FREE certifications deems a company free of over 500 ingredients that can be potentially toxic, carcinogenic, mutagenic, toxic to reproduction or bio-accumulative. And so, LEAPING BUNNY and TOXIC FREE is more than just another certification to look for-but really it’s a philosophy that you are subscribing to. Let’s dig a little more and see what exactly these two certifications mean and you can decide for yourself if they are important to you.

LEAPING BUNNY

Eight national animal protection groups came together to form the Coalition for Consumer Information on Cosmetics (CCIC)*. This coalition promotes a single comprehensive standard and an internationally recognized LEAPING BUNNY logo that ensures the consumer that products that carry their official certification is indeed cruelty-free.

The CCIC’s efforts came after decades of much confusion about what truly deemed a product cruelty-free, as without any comprehensive standard, companies were setting their own standards as to what the definition of cruelty-free was. Companies were designing their own bunny logos to attract consumers as polls have shown over that years that 60% of consumers are more apt to purchase from companies that are indeed cruelty free.**

If a company has the LEAPING BUNNY logo, then you can trust that it has:

Banned animal testing for finished products and ingredients

Banned using suppliers and manufacturers that do animal-test

Are committed to taking a stand against animal testing

Are verified to be cruelty free by the only internationally recognized non-animal testing program

The process to become verified by LEAPING BUNNY is simple and accessible. So if a company claims to be cruelty-free does not boast the official LEAPING BUNNY logo, then it would be prudent to dig a little more and see what their definition of cruelty-free is.

TOXIC FREE

While it’s easy to put those two words together to describe a product or an item, an actual certification exists that deems a product free of any toxic ingredients typically used in personal care, cosmetics, house-hold cleaning products and more.

The TOXIC FREE Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to educating consumers on 500 ingredients that can cause or contribute to the following illnesses***:

Breast Cancer

Heart Disease

Alzheimer’s

Multiple Sclerosis

Depression

Arthritis, Joint Pain

Miscarriages

Hormone Disruption

Immune Deficiencies

Obesity

Parkinson’s

Migraines

Asthma

Lupus

Birth Defects

Acne

ADD

Accelerated Aging

It’s prudent to be aware that products boasting “natural” can still be processed with harmful chemicals and products claiming “organic” can technically slide by organic by simply having one unprocessed, natural ingredient. Furthermore, NON-TOXIC only means that less than 50% of animal test subjects were fatally harmed after being exposed to it.

If a company boasts the TOXIC FREE logo on their site or products, then rest assured their formulas have been found to be free of any ingredients that can have long or short term effects on the consumer as well as the environment and do not have even one ingredient that is potentially toxic, carcinogenic, mutagenic, toxic to reproduction or bio-accumulative.

Behind the PRōZE products is a philosophy of what health is and what it is not. Our founders are dedicated in bringing to life this philosophy through the PRōZE products, helping you live your performance as defined by you and powered by PRōZE. Hence, PRōZE is excited to boast both of these logos on our respective products as well as 17 more certifications bringing the total certification count to19…Simply the best, better than all the rest!

 SOURCES

*American Anti-Vivisection Society, Animal Alliance of Canada, Doris Day Animal League. Humane Society of Canada, Humane Society of the United States, New England Anti-Vivisection Society, National Anti-Vivisection Society

** https://www.leapingbunny.org/

***http://thetoxicfreefoundation.com/certification