Are Cosmetic Products With Snail Mucin Cruelty Free?

Are Cosmetic Products With Snail Mucin Cruelty Free
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia A crawling individual of the small land snail Cochlicella barbara leaving a slime trail behind it. Snail slime ( mucopolysaccharide ) is a kind of mucus (an external bodily secretion ) produced by snails, which are gastropod mollusks, Land snails and slugs both produce mucus, as does every other kind of gastropod, from marine, freshwater, and terrestrial habitats.

The reproductive system of gastropods also produces mucus internally from special glands. Externally, one kind of mucus is produced by the foot of the gastropod and is usually used for crawling. The other kind of external mucus has evolved to coat the external parts of the gastropod’s body; in land species, this coating helps prevent desiccation of the exposed soft tissues.

The foot mucus of a gastropod has some of the qualities of glue and some of the qualities of a lubricant, allowing land snails to crawl up vertical surfaces without falling off. The slime trail that a land gastropod leaves behind is often visible as a silvery track on surfaces such as stone or concrete.

Are snails harmed when making snail mucin?

Snails are having a moment, at least as far as skincare goes. In recent years, products infused with snail mucin, or slime, have been popping up in American drugstores and luxury beauty stores alike, with offerings ranging from affordable snail mucin face masks to a $300 “EscarGlow” facial,

Though I haven’t yet reached “get snail mucin injected into my face” levels, I’m not above rubbing snail secretions on my skin if it means I’ll eventually have the glowing, blemish-free cheeks of a Renaissance-painting cherub. As I slather on gloopy slime three times a week, though, I try to avoid thinking about the snails that produced it.

In my pursuit of great skin, am I inadvertently contributing to the torture and murder of innocent snails? Though snail mucin has been the subject of various trend pieces in recent years, using these secretions for cosmetic purposes isn’t new. The Chilean skincare brand Elicina was among the first to use snail secretions in its products, claiming that it was inspired by local farmers whose hands became softer upon handling garden snails.

South Korea, which a 2017 Deloitte report called a “global innovation leader in skincare,” latched on to the trend soon after. And since 2011, South Korean cosmetics brands that sell snail-related skincare products have been flooding the U.S. skincare market, according to the market research firm Euromonitor International.

Which brings us to the little-known world of snail farming. Snails have been part of the human diet for over 30,000 years ; there is even archeological evidence that suggests that the ancient Romans considered escargot a delicacy and raised snails in pens near their homes.

Today, the global market for edible snails is worth about $1.2 billion, according to a 2017 report by The Irish Times,
These edible species are also used in mucin-infused products; otherwise, other kinds of snails, and their secretions, may be toxic to humans.) Notably, snail-slime infused skincare products may be more popular in countries where snails are traditionally eaten, including parts of Europe and Asia.

Janice Kang, senior director of marketing and new business development in the Americas and Europe for Korean beauty brand DKCOS, recently told Racked that since snails are already “a big part of the diet and drinking culture” in Korea, it was easy for local farmers to transition from the food industry to the cosmetics industry.

As snail mucin’s popularity has surged, farmers have increased their output to accommodate both the new skincare market and robust demand from the culinary industry. In Italy, where there are more than 4000 snail farms, the global snail slime craze has been a boon for the heliciculture industry. “In the last 10 months alone, we’ve seen a 46 percent increase in snail slime, due to demand from the cosmetics industry,” Simone Sampo, President of Italy’s National Heliciculture Association, told The Telegraph last year.

Moroccan snail farmers also benefited: 85 percent of the 10 tons of snails raised there annually are exported to cosmetics companies, and the country’s farmers plan on increasing their output, the Morocco World News reported last year, Still, divining how farmers extract the mucin can at times prove elusive.

The Polish company Aspersa Snails International, which has a 1.5 hectare farm in the city of Grodziec and has been in business since 2011, works with an Italian lab to provide mucin to skincare companies.
Bartłomiej Mielnik, whose family owns the farm, told The Outline that the company exports most of its snails to France, Italy, and Spain for culinary purposes, but also works with the aforementioned lab — which he declined to name — to extract mucin from their snails.

“They put the snails into a special machine and the snails produce the mucus,” he said. “Afterwards, we take them back to the farm. After processing, they should be on the farm for about two months so they can eat and be strong again.” Mielnik said that this process doesn’t harm the snails, but clarified that they need to be able to “regenerate” post-extraction so they can produce more slime.

Mielnik’s reticence regarding extraction methods points to a common theme in the snail skincare industry.
Siam Snail, which reportedly uses a manual technique to induce snail slime, invited a Racked reporter on a press tour with the promise of getting an inside look at the mucin extraction process.
Instead, she was taken on a tour of the farm and given some complimentary skin cream.

Siam Snail’s board of directors, she was later told, had decided they wanted to keep the extraction process confidential. According to Racked, CosRX team manager Hye-Young Lee said the company wouldn’t allow any filming at its facilities due to concerns that “their refinement technique be leaked.” (CosRX did not respond to The Outline ‘s request for comment.) As snail mucin’s popularity has surged, farmers have increased their output to accommodate both the new skincare market and robust demand from the culinary industry. Shutterstock.com Heliciculturists and cosmetics labs may not reveal their mucin-extraction techniques in detail, but they tend to emphasize that these techniques don’t harm the snails.

Older extraction methods involved dunking snails in pots of water mixed with salt or vinegar, but several companies say they’ve developed processes that don’t injure snails — presumably not only to assuage the fears of animal rights activists like PETA, who claim captive snails suffer from the effects of captivity and stress even when farms use these allegedly humane methods, but also to maximize profits.

(If you have to kill a snail in order to extract its slime, you’re going to need a lot more snails than if you find a way to keep them alive.) One Italian cosmetics lab, Donatella Veroni, has developed a machine called the OzoSnail, which the company says preserves “the total health of the mollusc,” especially when compared to “other extraction methods which use invasive and damaging techniques,” like sodium chloride, acetic acid, or ammonia.

In 2013, a French farmer named Louis-Marie Guedon claimed he had developed a “secret technique” for producing 15 tons of snail mucin every year, Cosmetics Design Europe reported, The process involved using salt to extract the snail slime, but Guedon maintained that the animals weren’t harmed by the process.

Some mucin products use slime extracted from the Cornu aspersum species of snail, also known as the little gray snail or the garden snail. South Korean skincare company CosRX, however, uses mucin harvested from the Achatina fulica, or the giant African snail.

A CosRX spokesperson told the K-beauty blog The Klog that its mucin is sourced from a company called CoSeedBoPharm Co. “The snails are placed over a mesh in a dark and quiet room,” a CosRX spokesperson told the website. “For about 30 minutes, the snails are left alone to freely roam the net, leaving mucin in their trails.

Throughout the process, there is no external process applied to the snails or the mesh to force mucin production.” Snail slime may have recently become a popular skincare product in the U.S., but the American heliciculture industry is relatively small.

(One American snail farmer told The Outline he estimates there are two or three snail farms in the U.S., including his own.) “This country doesn’t have a tradition of eating snails,” said Ric Brewer, owner and head wrangler of Little Gray Farms, a snail farm in Quilcene, Washington that raises the the Cornu aspersum species for gastronomy, not cosmetics (“wrangler” means he handles the snails).

“The snails that are typically not used for escargot are not native to this country, even though at least one has been here for hundreds of years.” Because these creatures aren’t native to the U.S., he said, the USDA considers several snail types, including the little gray, an invasive species.

On its website, the agency describes snails as “agricultural pests” with the potential to “cause considerable crop damage.” Brewer said that currently, he has no plans to expand into the skincare game.
I’m working towards having be more sustainable in terms of what I can produce,” he said.
Skincare would take significantly more,

Though from what I understand, with the new machines that have been developed in Italy, you don’t need to kill the snails in order to get slime from them.” The Long Island-based farm Peconic Escargot, which was founded in 2015 and was the first snail farm to be USDA-certified in the country, also raises the Cornu aspersum for culinary markets.

Taylor Knapp, the company’s founder and head snail wrangler, told The Outline that he looked into mucin production before determining it would be too costly. Cosmetics companies “can probably buy it cheaper from Europe than they’d be able to get it from us,” Knapp said. “To my knowledge, there’s definitely no one in the U.S.

raising these things for cosmetic purposes right now.” Despite snail mucin’s recent surge in popularity in the U.S., it’s still unclear whether these products actually have any long-term benefits. Snail slime acolytes claim that concentrated mucin has hydrating properties, can smooth out wrinkles and acne scars, and is capable of improving hyperpigmentation.

Dermatologists and other experts, however, remain divided on the matter.
Some, like New York City plastic surgeon Dr.
Matthew Schulman — the EscarGlow doctor — have hopped on to the snail slime train.
At his Park Avenue office, Schulman injects patients’ faces with snail secretions through a process called microneedling.

(The so-called “vampire facial” involves a similar technique, except with one’s own plasma instead of snail secretions.) “There is anecdotal evidence that proteins in snail slime have anti-aging benefits, and clinical trials have looked at that, as well as reversal of sun damage, and shown improvement,” Schulman told The Cut in 2015.

Others are more skeptical. “From a marketing standpoint, the ingredients sound compelling,” plastic surgeon Joel Studin told The Cut. “However, there are no good studies to show it really works for anti-aging.” Ric Brewer, the Washington snail farmer, said said he’s experienced the immediate benefits of snail mucin firsthand.

“Snail slime contains glycoprotein, which is a protein that absorbs water. The cells of the protein fill with moisture, and that fills the cracks and wrinkles in skin, at least temporarily,” he said. “I usually wear food safety gloves, but the few times I have been harvesting, I will notice my hands are softer.” Taylor Knapp, the Long Island farmer, says he has doubts about the efficacy of snail mucin.

We’ve got our hands on thousands of snails a week.
My wife and I haven’t noticed softer hands, unfortunately,” he said.
So for now, it seems a bit gimmicky.” Either way, I’ll probably keep rubbing snail serum on my face, but I’ll be thankful for the snails who helped me do it.
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Aspersa Snails International is located in Częstochowska.

The farm is located in the Polish city of Grodziec. Pocket Casts / Overcast / Stitcher / TuneIn / Alexa / Anchor / 60 dB / RadioPublic / RSS / “OK Google, play news from The Outline.”

Is using snail mucin vegan?

Where Can You Get It? – Are Cosmetic Products With Snail Mucin Cruelty Free snail skincare products have become a popular anti-aging solution. (Foto: CC0 / Pixabay / daviddchristensen) On one level, this question has an easy answer. Many popular brands sell skin care products, including Cosrx, Missha, Mizon, and Benton, However, the question of whether you buy them ethically comes down to your take on a few different issues.

No snail mucin-based products are vegan, as they contain animal by-products.
However, many brands sell cruelty-free products — where the snails are not harmed.
There are a few things to look out for to know if a brand is truly cruelty-free.
One of the key indicators is whether they sell their products to the Chinese Market,

Until 2021, Chinese regulation required cosmetic brands to test all products on animals before sale. Though this law is no longer in place, there are a few things to note:

Although Chinese regulations do not require testing, sellers can still choose to do so. The process for gaining exemption from animal testing in China remains strict, and many companies choose not to seek it. Even if a company does not sell to China, its suppliers and manufacturers can do animal testing at their discretion.

To be sure a brand is cruelty-free, the Leaping Bunny Organization states that the company, its suppliers, manufacturers, and any associated third parties must not test any products or ingredients on animals. In addition, it can’t sell to any countries that do.

With this in mind, we’ll list some cruelty-free snail mucin brands to consider.
But remember that animal testing is not the same as animal welfare.
Cosrx – available on Amazon ** Cosrx is a famous Korean beauty brand that sells a wide range of snail mucin for skin products, including creams, essences, and masks.

While the company does not explicitly state its animal testing policies on its website, animal testing for cosmetic products is banned in Korea b y law under the Cosmetic Act, 2018, The company also states that ” no external pressure is applied to force mucin production.

How is snail mucin collected for cosmetics?

Are Cosmetic Products With Snail Mucin Cruelty Free The common garden snail. Photo: Roberto Machado Noa/LightRocket via Getty Images Mucin is a popular ingredient in K-beauty products like sheet masks. But how do they get the slime? By Apr 18, 2018, 9:30am EDT Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years.

The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox, You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here, I’d arrived at a snail farm an hour outside of Bangkok to interview the four Thai researchers who founded Siam Snail, and instead found myself reluctantly posing for pictures as snail cream was applied to my face, no closer to learning how exactly the snail slime had been extracted.

Instead of the private interview and viewing of the mucin extraction process I’d been promised, I was surrounded by at least 25 members of the Thai media, listening to a presentation in Thai with the occasional translation whispered my way. As we walked through the small farms — dense clusters of vegetation where snails are left to roam freely — the PR rep assured me I’d be able to return later to ask all my questions and photograph slime being collected from the snails, as I’d originally arranged.

The tour ended with a group lunch by the river, complimentary jars of night cream, and encouragements to post on social media. After a month and a half of trying to schedule a follow-up visit, I received a text late on a Friday night saying that the board had decided to keep its processes confidential.

It was slowly starting to become clear why snail creams have become a topic of confusion and debate among skin care devotees. Weeks later, with emails to snail specialists gone unanswered, it was certain: This is a thorny subject. The question of how snail slime is extracted — and the related concern of whether it can be done humanely — is a difficult one to answer, but maybe not for the reasons you think.

As K-beauty products have become more visible in the US, sold at a variety of price points in places like Sephora, Target, CVS, and Nordstrom, so too have snail creams.
Made using snail mucin, the slime is collected, typically processed into a filtrate, and then formulated into the final product (though there are spas where snails directly crawl across your face ).

In ancient Greece, snails were used as a topical treatment for inflammation, and today snail mucin is also harvested in places like France and touted as one of the secrets to the effortless beauty of Italian women. The snail beauty boom as we know it today was kicked off in the early 1980s when Chilean farmers, who were producing escargot for the French market, noticed that handling their slimy livestock led to softer hands and cuts healing more quickly.

Oreans are really good at picking up what they’ve heard somewhere else and running with it,” says Janice Kang, the senior director of marketing and new business development in the Americas and Europe for DKCOS, whose beauty products are sold in places like Walmart, Target, and Ulta.
She believes Korea’s position as a snail cream superpower is in large part because “snails are a big part of the diet and drinking culture,” which made it easy for many farms to quickly transition from the food industry to the beauty industry.

Michelle Wong, a science educator and chemistry PhD whose blog Lab Muffin explores the science behind beauty products, adds that in South Korea “consumers are more likely to try out novel ingredients even if they seem a bit ‘gross’ they’re a bit more results-focused.” The snail’s role as food source can obfuscate its role in the beauty industry.

In the absence of images of how snail mucin is collected, it’s not uncommon for blogs to use images of snails being cooked, Taken from cooking shows or demonstrations of how to scrape a snail from its shell, these images of snails literally being killed aren’t a good approximation for the process of mucin collection — to produce mucin, snails need to be kept alive.

Chel Cortes, who runs the K-beauty-inspired online store Holy Snails, thinks “that a lot of the scrutiny” in the West around snail creams “is due to the animal itself,” tapping into “an innate bias against” what is not a particularly beautiful creature.

Blog posts theorizing about how snails are treated can also focus on the “weirdness” of the ingredient. On her own blog, Racked contributor Tracy E. Robey offers a humorously NSFW post about how just because something, like snail slime, sounds gross, it doesn’t mean there’s anything inherently wrong with it.

Complete with a Whitney Houston GIF asking for receipts in response to blogger claims that snails are being harmed, Robey writes that the history of the West denigrating Asian people based on the consumption of certain animals means there are “real life implications of once again calling Asian stuff weird and cruel with,

In this case, zero evidence.” What there is evidence of, according to Dr. Joshua Zeichner, the director of cosmetic and clinical research at the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, is that “snail slime has been shown to have many benefits on aging skin rich in hyaluronic acid,” giving it hydrating properties.

While it’s “unclear whether are truly better than traditional moisturizers or ingredients like retinol,” they have been shown to “stimulate collagen production and enhance wound healing,” which is one major reason they’ve become so popular among skin care devotees.

According to Wong, “snail slime also seems to have whitening properties,” and since it “contains allantoin (an anti-irritant) and a number of moisturising ingredients, it’s likely to help, counteract the irritation caused by many whitening” agents, tapping into a “huge market in Asian countries.” According to the brand representatives I spoke with, though there are many ways to collect mucin, popular techniques usually involve leaving snails in a dark room and having them crawl on a surface like mesh, specially made glass, or a tarp, and then collecting the slime afterward.

Brands like Mizon and CosRX use mucin collected through some version of this method. DKCOS sources from multiple suppliers that use different methods. Snail8 collects slime by stimulating snails by hand, and techniques involving a steam bath or salt water also exist. Are Cosmetic Products With Snail Mucin Cruelty Free An employee of a cosmetic laboratory prepares a product for Jeanne M, a cosmetic brand that uses snail slime. Photo: AFP/Getty Images Whether because of the 2016 discovery that certain companies were outsourcing the folding of beauty masks to private homes, or the reminders that certain clothing manufacturers have continually employed child labor, shoppers today have good reason to ask critical questions about where products come from.

That there are so few images online of the actual collection process can be troubling, and in the absence of clear supply chains and manufacturing procedures, it can be easy to worry that some wrongdoing is being covered up.
But according to various brand representatives, it’s less that suppliers are trying to hide what they’re doing wrong.

They’re trying to hide what they’re doing right. Alicia Yoon, the founder of Peach & Lily, an “online portal” for K-beauty products, credits supplier evasiveness, whether it’s about their process for collecting “snail mucin or even botanical extracts,” to the fact that having “the most cost-effective and highest-quality ingredients secret sauce in a highly competitive industry.” That’s why CosRX’s supplier won’t allow filming at its facilities, out of “concern that their refinement technique be leaked,” says team manager Hye-Young Lee, who says that “with the K-beauty boom,” there’s a real concern that domestic and international competitors might be trying to “take note of their valuable technology.” The secrecy around proprietary information means that only designated CosRX staff are allowed to visit and regularly inspect their supplier’s facilities.

Ang says that a few of DKCOS’s suppliers won’t allow anyone from the brand to visit at all.
So when PR reps for beauty brands didn’t answer my questions, there was a chance it was because they didn’t have any answers themselves.
The process of getting those answers, and having English-speaking reps contact their Korean offices and suppliers for sensitive industry information, can stretch the process for weeks or even indefinitely.

Even Lee, who has previously fielded similar questions and provided redditors with documents broadly outlining the mucin collection process of CosRX’s supplier, still took weeks to answer as she waited on information and translations from other teams within the company.

Because of these barriers, South Korea’s ban on animal testing in cosmetics, which went into effect fully in February 2017, is often pointed to as proof that animals in the industry are being treated well. “The topic of animal abuse across various industries has sparked controversies in Korea, and Korean consumers are quite vigilant and vocal about what they’re consuming,” says Yoon.

Though there’s a distinction between animal testing and using animal byproducts, she, along with Lee and Kang, point to these laws as a reason customers can feel confident that snail farms are following humane standards. “Looking away from the emotional standpoint, it just doesn’t seem cost-effective” to harm them, adds Cortes, pointing out that snails, which produce mucin throughout their lives, are moneymakers. Are Cosmetic Products With Snail Mucin Cruelty Free Snails crawls on a woman’s face in a beauty salon in Japan. Photo: Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP/Getty Images Because beyond all the perceived weirdness of snail slime and the usual questions about whether any specific beauty product truly holds the answer to ageless or “perfect” skin, one question remains the most contentious: Are the snails suffering? And if they are being treated poorly, can they even feel pain? Snails aren’t the cutest or sexiest of the animal rights causes, which might be why so few resources about their treatment in the beauty industry are available online.

Apart from beauty blogs featuring images of snails being cooked, or forums with people talking through allegations of cruelty, the only easily accessible information from a major animal rights organization comes from a PETA article and beauty product roundup,
Though the article is correct that some companies use salt in the process of collecting mucin, its claim that this is “known to harm” snails conflicts with its linked source, which assures “those concerned about the animal rights issues” that “the snails are left unharmed by the process.” (When I first reached out to the organization in February for comment, I was told this would be looked into, but as of publication, the article has not been amended.) Many researchers looking at animals with simple nervous systems, like lobsters, snails, and worms, argue that because these animals cannot process emotional information, they cannot experience suffering, a claim that PETA has challenged.

“Any time that animals — no matter their size — are raised for their body parts or secretions, you can bet that cruelty will be involved,” says Jason Baker, PETA’s vice president of international campaigns. “Given all we know about their capacity to experience pleasure and suffering, it’s inexcusable to treat them callously like pieces of laboratory equipment to be manipulated, used, abused, and discarded for any reason.” Baker also says that because these products aren’t vegan, Korea’s animal testing ban isn’t enough of an assurance that snail creams are cruelty-free, pointing out that “since the early 1980s, experimenters have documented that snails and other gastropods detect and will try to escape from painful stimuli.” The cited studies do show that snails retreat from certain painful stimuli, though they also concede this could be a reflex rather than the more complex emotional response and pattern of behavior we associate with suffering.

One source also cites the controversy over whether anesthetized invertebrates’ slowed response to painful stimuli is proof of dulled pain or simply because their muscles are too relaxed to react. Intended to better inform laboratory procedures when dealing with invertebrates, many of these studies note the physical reactions of these animals while still acknowledging that we cannot draw definite conclusions about how they process pain.

While researchers and animal rights activists are still debating the highly subjective definition of suffering and trying to find ways of testing and measuring it, some authorities, like Canada’s Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs, have concluded that “the balance of the evidence suggests that most invertebrates do not feel pain.” “There’s a lot of debate about the extent to which animals feel pain and suffering, even amongst biologists,” says Wong, so if you haven’t made up your mind yet, you aren’t alone.

Snail slime remains a contentious, as well as popular, outcome of the K-beauty boom in the US. And while many of the brands I spoke with admitted that snail mucin receives more scrutiny than most other ingredients in the beauty industry, there still aren’t many easy answers about how each company gets its snail mucin or how invertebrates process the sensation of crawling over mesh or being put in salted water.

“Unfortunately, the beauty industry is shrouded in mystery. I think it’s been that way since it was first created,” says Cortes of Holy Snails, who thinks the “beautifying” of products and the importance of brand stories have in many cases led to “marketing in the way of information.” In the face of barriers presented by marketing and proprietary information, it’s good to question the products we purchase and what we know about them.

What do dermatologists say about snail mucin?

Moisturizes Skin – Products containing snail mucin may be a good choice for people with dry skin, “It contains hydrating characteristics that serve to strengthen the skin barrier and keep moisture in,” says Anna Chacon, MD, a board-certified dermatologist based in Miami.

Is it ethical to use snail mucin?

How is Snail Mucin collected? Are snails harmed? Traditional methods of collecting snail Mucin were cruel – the snails were essentially soaked in pots of water with salt, vinegar or other chemicals to force them to excrete Mucin. Thankfully, the methods for collecting snail Mucin have changed considerably! These days, there is a range of cruelty-free methods of snail production and slime extraction.

Study shows that the quality of the Mucin itself depends on breeders keeping good environmental conditions for their snails, As a result, breeders themselves control what the snails eat, how they are kept and how the slime is extracted. This also helps in confirming snail Mucin products as cruelty-free.

Because snail Mucin products are used topically, only edible snails are used in skin care products. The popular edible snail species are the Roman snail (Helix pomatia), the common ingredient of the snail, and its close relative the garden snail or the baby gray (Helix aspersa).

Is killing a snail animal cruelty?

Food for thought in snail cruelty case

The killing of several snails with salt by a Hong Kong Polytechnic University doctoral student has generated a debate – not only on the act alone, but also his arrest by police.The student involved in the incident is a 26-year-old mainlander studying computing at PolyU.In the incident, as many as three snails were confirmed dead – thought to have died from dehydration due to the salt.The cruelty charge facing the man can be rather serious, carrying a sentence of up to three years in prison.

After the incident went viral on social media, the arrest was conducted in a high-profile manner, with the man handcuffed and his home searched. As the arrest won applause from some animal rights advocates, it reminded us of an incident that was simply horrific.

In Sham Tseng in February last year, 30 animals – including cats, rabbits, hamsters and birds – were thrown from a residential building.
In total, 18 animals died.
Police later arrested two men in connection with the cruelty case.
However, some six months later, the Department for Justice decided not to prosecute the two, with the decision causing an uproar in society.

At the center of the current debate is whether police acted excessively in respect of snails in light of the devastating outcome of the failed case in 2020. According to the law against animal cruelty, victims include almost all kinds of living things, from mammals and birds to reptiles and fish.

They also include any other vertebrates and invertebrates. Clearly, snails come under the scope as they are invertebrates. In this broad sense, critics cannot condemn the police for overdoing the snail case. When there are reports, the force would be failing its duty if it did not respond. The ball is once again in Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah’s court.

There is little doubt that animal rights groups, including the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, will closely monitor how she handles the case. Key to the argument is whether the snails suffered pain. If Cheng decides to press ahead with prosecution, the legal exchanges will be highly interesting.

The incident happened on August 4 at a fountain off East Ocean Centre in Tsim Sha Tsui. The suspect allegedly sprinkled salt on the snails to leave them dying from dehydration. During the incident, some passersby reportedly tried to stop him. Photos later went viral on social media, leading to the arrest 12 days later.

The incident is not the first of its kind. Not so long ago, it was common for children to stone rats to death for fun and cover ants with water to watch them drown. While such “play” is rare today, it is still common to see customers in restaurants cooking live prawns in hot pots and live octopus sliced up to serve in upmarket Japanese restaurants.

Are Cosrx products cruelty-free?

Is COSRX vegan? – COSRX is cruelty-free but not 100% vegan, meaning that some of their products contain animal-derived ingredients.

Is it halal to use snail mucin on skin?

Snail mucin is regarded as pure because it comes from snails’ gooey residue, and no snails were harmed during the harvest. So, yes, snail mucin is halal. The popularity of snail mucin in skincare products is increasing and in fact, already penetrated countries like the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey.

Are snails killed for snail secretion filtrate?

What is snail slime? – The snail slime used in beauty products comes from the species Cryptomphalus aspersa (which used to be known as Helix aspersa Müller ), which is the humble garden snail. The slime is usually listed in ingredients lists as snail secretion filtrate,

Snails actually release several types of slime, and it’s actually the slime that’s produced when the snail is stressed that’s in the products, not the stuff that they use to lube up the ground. The slime is commercially harvested by stressing cultivated snails, such as by poking them with a stick, or by feeding them salty water.

The slime is purified by filtration (hence “secretion filtrate”). The snails aren’t killed in the process since they release unwanted chemicals when they die, but it doesn’t sound particularly pleasant either!

Is there scientific evidence for snail mucin for skin?

The Cosmetic & Anti-Aging Benefits of Snail Mucin – One study recruited 15 women who were required to apply an 8% snail mucin formulation every morning and a 40% snail mucin formulation every night for 3 months. In addition to the significant 40% reduction in pigmentation, the depth of wrinkles was reduced by up to 30%.

All participants experienced smoother and more hydrated skin, with the majority also experiencing improved skin elasticity,
In another study investigating the cosmetic applications of snail mucin, 12 subjects applied a facial cream containing snail mucin and donkey milk serum every day for 40 days.
Evaluations were performed 2 hours after the first application as well as at the end of the 40-day period.

The results demonstrated that skin elasticity, skin hydration, and wrinkle height were significantly improved both in the short-term (2hrs) and long-term (40days), While both of these studies suggest that snail mucin has anti-aging benefits, they are limited by their small sample size which means that they may not be particularly representative of how snail mucin would work for most people.

However, another study recruited 40 participants into a 12-week study of a snail mucin formulation on various signs of aging.
In this study, skin elasticity was improved by 39%, skin roughness was improved by 53%, skin brightness was improved by 26%, and irregular pigmentation was reduced by 12%,
In another study, 120 women applied various formulations of snail mucin (depending on their skin type – either serum or cream) with added peptides and antioxidants twice daily for 12 weeks.

Skin evaluations took place at 45 and 90 days and assessed skin hydration, softness, firmness, elasticity, lining, expression lines, nasolabial grooves, and fine lines. All parameters assessed were significantly improved after 40 days, with progressive improvement after 90 days.

Of note is the improvement in skin hydration by 91% after the 90-day treatment,
The addition of other peptides and antioxidants into the formulations in this study make it hard to identify whether the cause of the skin improvements was from snail mucin, peptides, antioxidants, or the combination of all three.

Although, research suggests that snail mucin itself has antioxidant effects, However, in a 14-week study, where 25 patients with moderate to severe facial photodamage applied an emulsion containing 8% snail mucin and a liquid serum containing 40% snail mucin to one side of their face and a control cream to the other, there was a significant improvement in crow’s feet wrinkles and skin texture.

Who should not use snail mucin?

Side Effects Of Using Snail Mucin – As mentioned earlier, snail mucin still needs to be studied further. It has no known side effects yet. However, if you have a known allergy to snails or mollusks in general, you should refrain from using snail mucus.

Regardless of whether or not you are allergic to snails, it is recommended to conduct a patch test before application. Apply it to a small portion of your forearm and leave it on for 24 hours. If you do not see any adverse reaction, you may apply it to your face. Snail mucin on its own has no known reactions with skin care actives.

But, some added ingredients could react to another product in your routine. This can cause unwanted effects and reduce the formulation’s overall efficacy. So, always do your research before using a product.

Is snail mucin gross?

Snail slime may sound gross but it can actually solve all your skin problems. Here’s how Ladies, let’s be honest, we’ve experimented a whole lot with our skin. From the weirdest home remedies to the most expensive creams, we’ve used everything to ensure that our skin stays young.

Anything for that soft, glowing, and smooth appearance, right? Well, the new skincare ingredient on the block might require you to really stretch the definition of ‘everything’.
If you’re a skincare enthusiast, you’ve probably already come across face masks containing snail slime and wondered ‘why on Earth would anybody actually pay to put this on their face?’ Snail mucus might sound gross (and you cannot deny that its slimy texture is something even the most experienced skincare enthusiasts will take time getting over), but the truth is that it might be the one skin ingredient to fix multiple problems.

It consists of hyaluronic acid, glycoprotein, peptides, as well as antimicrobial properties. When used on the skin, it can ensure that you attain the skin health you’ve always dreamt of! Here are four reasons to get over the grossness of and include it in your skincare routine: 1. Make your skin glow. Image courtesy: Shutterstock 2. It helps with acne Acne can be tough to deal with, especially because it’s recurring. Snail slime has natural antimicrobial properties and applying it regularly can ensure that you keep breakouts at bay.

In fact, a research published in the Asian Journal of Pharmaceutical and Clinical Research noted that has anti-inflammatory properties when applied topically.
Hence, it won’t just prevent but also soothe the skin in case you already have acne.3.
It delays the occurrence of fine lines and wrinkles When it comes to fine lines and wrinkles, it takes a lot of preventive care to keep their appearance at the bare minimum.

Hyaluronic acid, which is rich in, has been found to boost the formation of collagen according to a study published on PubMed Central. A healthy collagen production makes sure your skin stays firm and smooth while keeping wrinkles at bay. Hence, snail slime can constitute an essential part of your skincare routine to keep the production of collagen up. For ageless skin. Image courtesy: Shutterstock 4. It can help with fading scars contains glycolic acid which is a natural exfoliant along with fibrinolysis enzyme which is believed to aid tissue repair. Their effects, when combined, can help fade scars such as acne marks as well as stretch marks.

Does snail mucin have bacteria?

Abstract – The search for new natural compounds for application in medicine and cosmetics is a trend in biotechnology. One of the sources of such active compounds is the snail mucus. Snail physiology and the biological activity of their fluids (especially the mucus) are still poorly studied.

Only a few previous studies explored the relationship between snails and their microbiome.
The present study was focused on the biodiversity of the snail mucus used in the creation of cosmetic products, therapeutics, and nutraceuticals.
The commonly used cultivation techniques were applied for the determination of the number of major bacterial groups.

Fluorescence in situ hybridization for key taxa was performed. The obtained images were subjected to digital image analysis. Sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene was also done. The results showed that the mucus harbors a rich bacterial community (10.78 × 10 10 CFU/ml).

Among the dominant bacteria, some are known for their ability to metabolize complex polysaccharides or are usually found in soil and plants ( Rhizobiaceae, Shewanella, Pedobacter, Acinetobacter, Alcaligenes ).
The obtained data demonstrated that the snail mucus creates a unique environment for the development of the microbial community that differs from other parts of the animal and which resulted from the combined contribution of the microbiomes derived from the soil, plants, and the snails.

Keywords: Acinetobacter, Cornu aspersum, Pedobacter, Rhizobiaceae, snail mucus

Is snail mucin cleaned?

What is Snail Mucin? – Snail mucin is a fluid that a snail releases when it’s agitated. It’s then collected, filtered and purified several times before being used in skincare. This ingredient is then used in serums, face masks, moisturizers and creams as a hydrating anti-aging ingredient that’s said to help repair the skin.

As an ingredient, it’s actually said to contain lots of ingredients that are also commonly used in skincare, including hyaluronic acid, antioxidants, zinc, growth factors, allantoin, glycosaminoglycans, peptides, and manganese.
These are all ingredients that you’ve probably seen in skincare products that aim to hydrate, plump and soothe the skin.

Some of these ingredients are also used for building collagen in the skin (essential for repair, regeneration and plump skin). It’s also worth mentioning that snail mucin doesn’t clog pores and shouldn’t cause breakouts.

Are snails killed for skin care?

Is Snail Mucin Cruelty Free? – Yes, it is possible for snail mucin to be cruelty-free. As the actual snail itself is not harmed or killed in the process of collecting the mucin, it is possible for Korean Beauty companies to obtain cruelty-free certification for their snail products.

Does Cosrx actually use snails?

Cosrx’s manufacturer uses another edible species called the giant African snail (Achatina fulica). They are larger, with shells that grow up to four inches in diameter, and their mucin has been tested to be safe for topical use.

Is it okay to use Cosrx snail mucin?

Final Verdict on Snail Mucin Essence – If you’re looking for a hydrating and soothing product, you need some snail love in your life. The COSRX Snail Mucin Essence is for everyone out there – dry, oily, combination – all of them! It’ll give you the required hydration, and keep your skin calm and bouncy.

Do snails experience suffering?

Science on the sentience of animals such as snails, clams, mussels, and scallops is not clear. Until it is, we should assume that they can indeed suffer. Most of us are familiar with clams, oysters, and snails. If we are veg*n, we may decline to eat them, but we probably don’t give much thought to their life experience.

Indeed, the concept of life experience for a clam or snail might seem laughable.
However, along with other mollusks such as scallops and mussels, they are eaten in large numbers by humans.
Sometimes they are eaten raw, and other times they are steamed alive in their shells.
Snails are starved and then boiled alive.

In addition, researchers use them in toxicology testing, while cosmetic and personal care companies “milk” snails for their mucus, which kills the snail through dehydration. Obviously, to do these things to sentient creatures is reprehensible. But whether bivalves and snails are sentient is not clear scientifically.

Part of the problem is that science still doesn’t define “sentience” or “consciousness”. How does it arise? What are the minimum criteria? Does consciousness exist on a continuum, or is there a clear dividing line? If there is a state of partial consciousness or sentience, who much is enough for a species to be considered worthy of moral consideration? Brains are expensive in evolutionary terms.

If an animal can survive without one, it is functionally unnecessary. And without one, an animal may not feel anything, including pain. Pain cues animals to react to harm, usually by moving away from the source of the pain. Nociception is different from pain perception.

Sensory neurons on the animal’s body react to noxious stimuli.
Pain requires a brain, while nociception is a lower-level process.
If an animal can feel pain, nociception may translate as that sensation.
However, animals that lack a brain, such as mollusks, do behave as if they have nociceptors.
Snails may have opioid responses and mussels release morphine when confronted with noxious stimuli.

Both reactions suggest that these animals do, in fact, feel pain. While mollusks don’t have brains per se, they do exhibit some nervous system centralization. They have several pairs of ganglia connected to a nerve cord. The organization is complex enough that some neural processing may be possible.

The overall number of neurons comes into play as well, but science can’t say how many neurons is “enough” for sentience.
Smaller animals may not need larger brains to manage their smaller bodies and thus may achieve consciousness with fewer neurons.
Some evidence also exists for the ability of these animals to learn through association or sensitization.

Given how little we currently know about the sentience of bivalves and snails, the author urges us to apply the precautionary principle, and assume sentience until we have more data — failure to do so could result in immense suffering. Even though the science on this subject is limited, advocates can use this review to help question preconceptions.

Does touching snails hurt them?

3. Handling Snails – Snails are generally safe to handle, but there are a few things you should do to make sure you don’t cause them any harm.

Before picking up your snail, wash your hands with soap and water. This will help to remove any potentially harmful lotions, oils, and natural elements that a snail may absorb off of your skin.Then, with slightly wet hands, a snail can be scooped up underneath its foot to break the suction.Be sure that your snail isn’t placed on a surface where it may fall; this can injure or kill the creature.Never forcefully pick up a snail that is clinging tightly to its terrarium. This can cause the snail serious injury.

Do snails feel emotional pain?

Do Snails Have Emotions? – Snails do not have feelings as humans do, mainly because they have a simple nervous system and a primitive brain. They are not capable of processing emotional information or physical sensations. Their rudimentary brain primarily stimulates them to eat and breed, which indicates that emotions are beyond their capacity.

Are snails killed for snail secretion filtrate?

Snails actually release several types of slime, and it’s actually the slime that’s produced when the snail is stressed that’s in the products, not the stuff that they use to lube up the ground.
The slime is commercially harvested by stressing cultivated snails, such as by poking them with a stick, or by feeding them salty water.

Are snails killed for skin care?

Does it hurt snails when you step on them?

Rescuing Snails that have been stepped on / Snail Problems Problems From time to time you may experience problems with your snails. Very little is known about what these illnesses are, what causes them, and even less is known about treatments. Unfortunately it seems more time is spent on increasingly more ingenious ways to kill them.

Because of this, the following information is a mix of whatever research is possible and available, theory and hypothesis, logical thinking and the result of various discussions with a large group of snail owners. It is with the help of the community at large, that these problems can at least be documented.

Where possible I have tried to link to example incidents. Hopefully, we can find some effective solutions to the majority of these problems but for now I’m afraid you’ll have to be content with various suggestions and discussion. No doubt if you are reading this page you have either accidently stepped on a snail or have found one that has been partly crushed or cracked but not killed.

Snails are very resilient creatures and can recover from some pretty bad breaks but it is hard to know which will survive and which won’t.
If the shell is cracked or chipped or there is a hole, but the overall integrity of the shell is reasonable, the snail will probably recover.
If the shell has split into pieces but still covers the body it may even survive that.

Minor body damage can be healed also. However, snails that look really mangled such as the body has been crushed badly or the internal organs are sticking out of gaping cracks in the shell etc., I euthanase them by stamping on them. It sounds horrible but it is far better than taking hours to dry out and die from dessication and in my experience, snails that have been horribly mangled don’t survive.

If you are leaving them outside, find a place where they can hide and won’t dry out, so they’re not an easy target, especially since movement will be painful. They’ll hide and draw on their store of calcium and time will tell. If you wish to keep the injured snails read over the comprehensive which will explain its long-term needs.

On the other hand if you simply wish to keep the snail until it recovers do the following: I usually spray the snail gently with water (tepid) to properly see what damage has occured. I then remove any bits of shell that have broken free and are sticking out.

Very carefully clean the snail and the damaged areas under a very gently flowing tap (tepid) or by using a spray bottle.
Pop the snail in a tupperware tub without soil but with something to hide under, leaves, moss etc.
Punch some holes in the lid, but not so many that it isn’t humid.
We’re aiming for what may otherwise be considered excessive humidity because we don’t want the exposed parts to dry out.

You can supply milk powder or cuttlefish for extra calcium but they probably won’t touch it for a few days. You will see a papery covering form which will harden and hopefully start to repair. You can feed most fruit and vegetables but don’t expect them to eat it until the repair has begun.

You can chart their progress by how much they eat.
When a snail is injured or unwell they tend not to eat, so if they are begining to eat more and more the chances for their recovery are very good.
This is the method I use and then usually 7-14 days later, when I am happy they are happy I release them.

: Rescuing Snails that have been stepped on / Snail Problems

Can snails feel pain?

Indeed, the concept of life experience for a clam or snail might seem laughable. However, along with other mollusks such as scallops and mussels, they are eaten in large numbers by humans. Sometimes they are eaten raw, and other times they are steamed alive in their shells. Snails are starved and then boiled alive.

Part of the problem is that science still doesn’t define “sentience” or “consciousness”.
How does it arise? What are the minimum criteria? Does consciousness exist on a continuum, or is there a clear dividing line? If there is a state of partial consciousness or sentience, who much is enough for a species to be considered worthy of moral consideration? Brains are expensive in evolutionary terms.

Sensory neurons on the animal’s body react to noxious stimuli.
Pain requires a brain, while nociception is a lower-level process.
If an animal can feel pain, nociception may translate as that sensation.
However, animals that lack a brain, such as mollusks, do behave as if they have nociceptors.
Snails may have opioid responses and mussels release morphine when confronted with noxious stimuli.

The overall number of neurons comes into play as well, but science can’t say how many neurons is “enough” for sentience.
Smaller animals may not need larger brains to manage their smaller bodies and thus may achieve consciousness with fewer neurons.
Some evidence also exists for the ability of these animals to learn through association or sensitization.