I called Ecover and requested details on the tests they perform on Daphnia and received the following reply:

Dear Mr. Lovejoy

Firstly, I would like to apologise to you for the delay in responding to your enquiry regarding the research carried out on Daphnia Magna. I have now heard back from our Laboratory in Belgium, who have advised the following:

As a pioneering ecological company, Ecover’s responsibility is to continuously improve the environmental performance of its products. A major challenge in developing an ecological washing and cleaning product is minimising the effects of its use on aquatic systems. After all, water is the source of all life on our planet. Therefore, the toxicity of our products on aquatic life must be measured to ensure that our products will minimise harm to aquatic life.

All substances that end up in surface water can potentially harm the species living in it: such as bacteria, algae, water fleas and fish. All these organisms play a key role in the functioning of the ecosystem in the water. Most active substances in cleaning products are toxic for aquatic life, even in small doses. This is why Ecover feels it is absolutely necessary to perform acute toxicity tests prior to labelling them as safer products to aquatic life.

We use acute toxicity tests in order to calculate the EC50 values of our products. To calculate these values we use the Daphtox test. This is a test where increased amounts of the end-product are added to the Daphnia’s environment. After 48 hours of exposure the degree of immobilization will be measured. The test is executed according the OECD 202 protocol and gives us an idea of the toxicity level of the product when it enters surface water.

Some people, like vegans, argue that testing on Daphnia Magna should be banned as it constitutes testing on animals. Ecover disagrees with this reasoning since Daphnia are invertebrates meaning that they have no central nervous system and as such, cannot feel pain. Accordingly, EU legislation does not classify the Daphtox test as animal testing. On top of that, Ecover uses the proportionality principle concerning this matter. We limit testing to one test per new product. We consider these tests necessary because without testing our products on a limited amount of Daphnia we could put products on the market that can potentially kill trillions of Daphnia and destroy complete eco-systems by chemicals entering ponds, rivers and other habitats of aquatic life. We round off this issue by saying that not testing equals not knowing, which is not only unacceptable to us but also unethical.

Ecover acknowledges that certain (groups of) individuals do not agree with our reasoning regarding animal testing. We respect their point of view and are always open to answer questions others may have concerning this subject. Because of the above-stated arguments, and the fact that Ecover uses testing methods that only conform to industry and market standards, we cannot refrain from continuing these primordial tests.

I do hope this information is helpful in answering your questions, however, if you do have any further queries or comments, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Kind Regards,

Jo Sunter
ECOVER UK Customer Service

Tel: 08451 30 22 30
ecover.com