According to ClassAction.org, John Paul Mitchell Systems is facing a proposed class action suit alleging its "cruelty-free" product claims mislead consumers. This is because the company reportedly agreed to conduct animal testing on some products to reach the Chinese market at a time when testing was mandatory. The source cites 63 products for sale in China between May 2015 and 2021 that were subjected to animal testing.
Bloomberg Law adds that the company's product labels have promised in various ways that its products are 100% cruelty free. These include: “Never Animal Tested”; “No Animal Testing”; “A Pioneer in Cruelty-Free Hair Care”; and “John Paul Mitchell Systems does not conduct or endorse animal testing,” the suit alleges. The company is therefore accused of misleading consumers with false claims despite touting its commitment to cruelty-free manufacturing in its product marketing.
As previously reported, "ordinary" or general cosmetics were proposed to be exempted from the animal testing mandate under specific conditions. China's National Medical Products Association (NMPA) finalized the instructions for these cosmetics on March 4, 2021, in its "Provisions for Management of Cosmetic Registration and Notification Dossiers." Per ChemLinked, this exemption was permitted as of May 1, 2021.
Until 2021, however, according to ClassAction.org, to be sold in China, cosmetics including hair care products required registration and approval through the NMPA, which required...
This story is the second in an ongoing series on the Cost of Fraud, as Open the Books tallies the hidden fees on American tax returns. Click here to read the first story on fraudulent autism billi...