Many commercial cosmetics are tested on animals and contain toxins, albeit in tiny doses. But we give ourselves, and the environment when we wash cosmetics off, millions of doses over a lifetime.

It's World Week for Animals in Laboratories, so give them, yourself and the environment a break: access these excellent websites for non-toxic, cruelty-free alternatives:

• Skin Deep - The Environmental Working Group's database of cosmetics and personal care products, ranked according to how likely they are to be hazardous.
• Beauty Without Cruelty Approved Product List - cruelty-free products available in South Africa.
• Leaping Bunny Approved Product List - cruely-free products available in South Africa.

- Olivia Rose-Innes, EnviroHealth Editor, Health24, April 2012

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