But even a third-party certification may not be enough for you depending on your personal code of ethics for animal welfare. For example, a brand may be Leaping Bunny certified, but it could be part of a parent company that owns other brands that are still tested on animals. Would that bother you? If so, you’ll want to research the company’s entire brand portfolio before making any purchases.
If this all seems antiquated and confusing, you’re right. Koestline says there are already ways to verify the safety of cosmetics without animals, such as testing on tissue cultures or 3-D–printed organelles. But some of these methods can be prohibitively expensive for companies or not convincing enough for conservative regulatory authorities. “There should be more funding and more research into finding new alternate methods for animal tests,” says Koestline.