Thank you to Stacy Edwards for your letter of support.
I have had the pleasure of being aware of Beauty Without Cruelty and their work since a very young age in the early 1980’s and being very impressed that my mother was an informed consumer of beauty products that were endorsed by BWC.
Growing up knowing that I could place my trust in Beauty Without Cruelty and their strict criteria with regards to their endorsement of a product based on the exploitation of animals or not has enabled me to buy beauty products with full confidence knowing that no animal was harmed or tested upon in the making of the product.
I was very pleasantly surprised to find out in the early 2000’s that Beauty Without Cruelty did not only work against vivisection but are a well-rounded animal rights group that tackles many animal related concerns. I attended a protest against the use of animals in circuses for the first time in the early 2000’s and was thrilled to find representatives of BWC at this protest as well.
Since then, I have acquainted myself with Toni Brockhoven and the BWC brand and am amazed at the fantastic work that they tirelessly address including vivisection, animals in captivity from aquariums to circuses, animal exploitation in the fashion industry as well as the very current issue of live animal exports on the “ships from hell” on route to the Middle East and Asia along with many other animal rights related concerns.
I have always found Toni to be level headed in these campaigns where many of us may allow emotions to rule the engagements with stake holders in animal exploitation. She is a fantastic representative of BWC in her professionalism and representation of the animals for whose rights and recognition that they fight for.
I have been fortunate enough to be able to contact Toni for advice and support when dealing with the treatment of animals by those who have no consideration for the sentience of these beings especially in the treatment of the Cape Peninsula’s baboons by HWS. She was able to assist me with tackling the behaviour of HWS after a nasty incident involving a bear banger being fired off within meters of myself, my leashed dogs and a troop of peacefully foraging baboons.
Beauty Without Cruelty has, in my experience, only ever behaved professionally and with utmost respect towards people involved in atrocities towards animals especially at any protest arranged by BWC. All permits are applied for following the correct channels, all rules of the protest are strictly adhered to in terms of the conduct of the protestors and any person stepping out of line as a representative of BWC is reminded of the rules of conduct so that the issue being protested is not put at risk by people behaving like hooligans.
I have attended several protests organized by Beauty Without Cruelty, with the most recent one being in December 2023, when the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront took the irresponsible decision to do an about turn on the fireworks policy and went ahead with planning a fireworks display for New Year. This was done without any thought or consideration for the many animals living in and near the Waterfront. BWC was quick to tackle the Waterfront on this decision and they had my full backing as this is a point of concern that I wrote to the Waterfront about many, many years ago, only to be ignored.
It is fantastic to be able to join forces with a respected organisation like BWC to be able to have more clout when addressing the law makers, circus owners, commercial establishments and other role players as they tend to listen more to BWC due to their standing in the community than they would to one lone person harassing them about their policies and decisions.
I trust the due diligence followed to BWC to such an extent that I find myself only being willing to buy products that are endorsed by this organization and will not purchase a product that just has a “cruelty free” stamp on their packaging. This is because BWC will not endorse a product unless there has been absolutely no animal testing right from the production of the raw ingredients of the product up to the finished item on the shelf.
I would like to recommend that anyone wishing to work with Beauty Without Cruelty to do so with the full knowledge that, as an ardent animal lover, I would endorse BWC in a heartbeat. In fact, between the NSPCA and Beauty Without Cruelty, these two organisations act as my animal rights compass when it comes to the correct and humane consideration of animals in all aspects of their treatment.
Should you wish to further discuss any experiences that I have had with Toni and Beauty Without Cruelty, please do feel free to contact me on stacyed@gmail.com or on 084 580 7077.
Kind regards,
Stacy Edwards
Cape Town
South Africa
