Urgent Recall - Medik8 Physical Sunscreen SPF50+
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Banning animal testing for cosmetic purposes is a legal requirement within the European Union, but that does not mean products may not be tested on animals elsewhere. We never test any of our finished products on animals and we never ask any other company to test on our behalf - anywhere in the world. We also only select ingredients that have not been tested on animals. We take the matter of checking our compliance very seriously and deem it an integral part of our product development and supplier selection process. Since July 2019, we have also upgraded our formulations to be 100% vegan.
While efficacy and experience are consistently high up on our priority list, we also want to ensure that we source all of our ingredients responsibly at all times. This means we want to know where they come from, how were they manufactured, by whom and what potential impacts they have had on the environment. For example, we don’t use any pure palm oil. However, we still use some palm oil derivatives indirectly, as some of our suppliers work with them. Because of this, we are working alongside our partners to cut our use of it where possible and, where we can't, we are looking to use sustainable palm oil derivatives which are certified by the RSPO (Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil - the globally recognised body for palm oil sustainability).
Suppliers are fundamental in delivering many of our sustainability ambitions - especially those related to climate and ingredient traceability. We already have a Code of Conduct in place, but we want to go further than just compliance across both environmental and social sustainability. That is why we want to engage all of our suppliers in order to understand what they are doing in terms of sustainability by the end of 2022. For example, have they set Science Based Targets (SBTs) to reduce their emissions too? What are their Human Rights policies? But the Supplier Sustainability Programme is not a one way data collection - though that is a very important component. We want to foster true collaboration and share the very best practices.
All of our products are designed and manufactured in our new Innovation Centre near Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, UK. We are proud of our unique, in-house Research & Development capabilities as well as the six patents and over 20 trademarks we have to our name. In line with our principles of obtaining 3rd party accreditations to foster trust in all of our claims, we are ISO 22716 (international standard for good manufacturing practices) and ISO 14001 (international standard for environmental management systems) certified. We voluntarily open our doors to external auditors for independent inspections and advice on our quality systems. Audits have not stopped since 2016, including during the Covid-19 lockdowns.
During the first lockdown we formulated, manufactured and distributed 50,000 free hand sanitizers, using an emergency formula from the World Health Organisation (WHO). We shipped these (at our own cost) to the likes of the NHS, Hertfordshire Police and multiple homeless shelters. We donated £10,000 to Beauty Backed - a campaign set up by Caroline Hirons to support struggling beauty clinics whose premises were forced to close during the pandemic. We are also pleased to say that not a single employee was made redundant due to Covid-19 restrictions.
Equity, Diversity & Inclusion are vital for a just world and thriving business. Inclusion is at the heart of everything we do. We want everyone to feel comfortable to be themselves and bring the best of their diverse talents to work. But data is key to measuring and improving any areas where we could do better. That is why, in 2022, we want to launch our first anonymous self-declaration survey to determine our EDI baseline, with further targets and actions to follow.