Is Gold Bond Cruelty-Free?

❓It is unclear whether Gold Bond is truly cruelty-free or animal-tested. Therefore, Gold Bond is listed as Grey Area – Brands with Unclear Policies.

To be a truly cruelty-free brand, companies must meet all of the following:

• Company does not test its products or ingredients on animals or ask others to test on its behalf
• Company can ensure none of its ingredient suppliers test on animals
• Company does not allow or sell its products under conditions where animal testing is required by law

Based on our research, Gold Bond has not met all of the above cruelty-free criteria. For those reasons, we are unable to classify Gold Bond as a truly cruelty-free brand.

Learn more about our findings and why Gold Bond’s cruelty-free policy is unclear below.

Gold Bond’s Animal Testing Policy

When asking, does Gold Bond test on animals? We must look beyond to ensure none of Gold Bond’s ingredients or suppliers test on animals. And they don’t sell in any country or under conditions that may require animal testing by law.

To assess whether brands are cruelty-free, I always start with the company’s official animal testing policy on their website.

However, I couldn’t find Gold Bond’s animal testing statement anywhere on its website.

So I reached out to Gold Bond to ask for more information about their cruelty-free policy. More specifically, I wanted to know if they commission or allow others to test, not just their finished products but their ingredients on animals, including when selling in countries that require animal testing (like mainland China).

And Gold Bond responded by saying:

“No animal testing is done on Gold Bond products […] While we utilize ingredients that have been in use in the personal care industry for many years, we do not have information as to whether the materials were tested on animals at some point in the past.”

Based on Gold Bond’s response, they claim their products are not tested on animals. However, animal testing for cosmetics can happen at various stages of product development, including at the ingredient level, and is often done by others and not the cosmetic company itself.

This is why we always assess a company’s cruelty-free policy using our Cruelty-Free Checklist. This ensures no animal testing was performed by the brand itself, its suppliers, or any third parties.

Gold Bond also states in their response that they do not have information as to whether the materials they use were tested on animals at some point in the past.

Although some cosmetics and personal care ingredients may have been tested on animals in the past, truly cruelty-free companies ensure no new animal tests are conducted by their suppliers or by the company itself.

Unfortunately, Gold Bond does not state they have done this. Instead, Gold Bond says they are unsure whether the materials they use were tested on animals or not. Therefore, we are unable to classify Gold Bond as being a truly cruelty-free brand at this time.

As a result, Gold Bond is listed in our Grey Area List – Brands with Unclear Policies.

Is Gold Bond Sold in China?

With the current changes to China’s animal testing laws, some cosmetics sold in China can be exempt from animal testing under certain conditions. However, without meeting those conditions, animal testing is still legally required for most cosmetics sold in China in 2023.

Gold Bond has confirmed they do NOT sell their products in retail stores in mainland China; therefore, China’s animal testing requirements do not apply to Gold Bond products.

Cruelty-Free Policies 2023

Just because a brand claims it is ‘Cruelty-Free,’ doesn’t always mean that’s the case.

That’s because there is no legal definition for the label ‘Cruelty-Free.’ It can mean different things to different people. But Cruelty-Free is generally used to imply no animal testing. More specifically, the ingredients, formulation, or finished product are not tested on animals at any stage of product development.

At ethical elephant, we always assess a company’s cruelty-free policy using our Cruelty-Free Checklist. This ensures no animal testing was performed by the brand itself, its suppliers, or any third parties.

See below for our complete cruelty-free checklist. Since Gold Bond does not verify with all of their ingredient suppliers that they do not test on animals, we cannot classify the brand as being cruelty-free.

Is Gold Bond Certified Cruelty-Free?

Gold Bond is not certified cruelty-free by any third-party cruelty-free certifications like Leaping Bunny or PETA.

Since Gold Bond is not certified cruelty-free by a third party, no one is substantiating or auditing Gold Bond’s cruelty-free commitments and claims.

Does Gold Bond Test on Animals?

Unfortunately, Gold Bond failed to confirm whether any of its ingredients are currently tested on animals, and Gold Bond does not verify with all of its suppliers that they don’t test on animals.

As a result, we cannot classify Gold Bond as a truly cruelty-free brand until they are more transparent with their animal testing policy.

Currently, Gold Bond is on our Grey Area Brands List – Brands with Unclear Policies.

Is Gold Bond Vegan?

❌ Gold Bond is NOT vegan. Gold Bond does not claim to offer some “vegan” options that are free of animal-derived ingredients. And since Gold Bond’s cruelty-free status is unclear, we wouldn’t consider anything sold or produced by Gold Bond to be vegan anyways.

The following is a snippet of the email response I received from Gold Bond when I asked if any of their products are vegan:

“Since there currently is no set definition of what vegan means for cosmetics, we do not at present have a response to this question.”

In order for products to be considered vegan by ethical elephant’s standards, the products and their ingredients must not be tested on animals anywhere in the world. Also, they must not contain any animal-derived ingredients or by-products.

Vegan Policies

Similar to ‘Cruelty-Free,’ there is no standard or legal definition for the label ‘Vegan.’ But Vegan is generally used to mean formulated without animal-derived ingredients or animal by-products.

Some common animal products in cosmetics include carmine, lanolin, snail mucus, beeswax, honey, pearl or silk-derived ingredients, animal-based glycerin, keratin, and squalene.

There are plant-based and synthetic alternatives to animal-derived ingredients. But unless a brand explicitly labels its ingredients or product as Vegan, it’s often difficult to know with certainty whether a product is vegan just by reading the ingredient list.

So it’s best to ask the company and manufacturers to ensure the ingredients they chose were from non-animal sources.