Vegan?
This is a delicate subject because it is not only about sourcing but it also looks at the way we treat animals.
“Vegan” (for those who’ve been under a rock) means that nothing in a finished product comes from animals, nothing in the ingredients or that is used to make the ingredients. For ingredients, it also means the substance has not been experimented on animals. Interestingly, none of the animal centered organization do anything more than ask suppliers to sign documents. While they do try to dig back to the actual producer, I seriously wonder how often websites and distributors do that. Since we know our supplies, we can go all the way back.
To set a foundation -
Our Oh, Oh Organic commitment is to only offer ingredients that are renewable, biodegradable and are grown using organic methods or have some other sustainability certification. Organic methods add 12.6% CO2 to the soil (aka “Carbon Sequestration) and are grown by people who manage the land, plants and people in a thoughtful way (mostly). We want to minimize waste and maximize renewable resources. The vast majority of what we offer is truly vegan.
For some ingredients, however, we have a few deviations. If a product is gathered from an animal like honey is from bees, we will carry it. We also carry a silk derived series of peptides and hydrogels. This material was granted a Leaping Bunny Certificate based on the practices of the people raising the cocoons. Normally any damaged cocoons are thrown away but, in this case, our brilliant (and sustainable forward) founder of these actives, buys them and makes them into ingredients with a new life. Given that silk has been used for centuries to sew up humans we know that the human body “likes” silk and very rarely rejects it. What better way to use something that would otherwise be wasted?
As one of my colleagues said:
“I’d rather use real beeswax from a community of growers than synthetic beeswax from petroleum”. I think the logic is sound and a good model. For a very few items we agree with this concept.
We like to make sure that we are clear with our customers. We do not carry anything from petroleum nor natural gas. We do not carry anything that is not made using “Green Chemistry”. We do not carry anything that is from animals that have been killed, abused or experimented on. We do not have any products that are destructive in their growth, collection or processing.
We respect if you want completely vegan products and will continue to support that in all ways possible. We also want to see replacements for ingredients like Hyaluronic Acid made from sugar – sugar is grown in rainforest regions and is a big cause of deforestation. Our activated silk peptides solve for that problem. We are so hopeful for the future of Green Chemistry and the expansion of what we can offer to you all.
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