I want to talk about something that had not dawned on me until I received an e-mail from a concerned reader. Her email expressed a two-fold concern:
- Was the Arm & Hammer Washing Soda ingredient I call for in the homemade Homemade Laundry Detergent and Homemade Laundry Detergent detergent recipes phosphate free?
- Is the Arm & Hammer testing process animal cruelty-free? In other words, do they engage in animal testing of their products?
After doing some research, I was pleased to be able to inform this reader that yes, in fact, Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda is phosphate free, but saddened to inform that they are not a pet-friendly company. They do engage in animal testing of their products. Having been made aware of this, I feel this is a fact that I must share with my readers.
The Beauty without Bunnies website maintains a listing of those companies who are pet-friendly and those who are not. This list is updated every three to four months or so.
Now that you are aware of this fact what can you do? Well, the way I see it, you do have options when it comes to making your own homemade laundry and dish detergent. You can either abandon the process of making your own detergent and continue with the store-bought brand (but please check 
the above websites to see if they are pet-friendly and make sure they are phosphate free), or you can try to fix what is broken.
To the second option, I am listing the contact information for the owners of Arm & Hammer below. Please call, write or e-mail them and express your concerns. If we all band together we might be able to make a change. After all, that’s why we’re all going green. We want to make a change and preserve our environment of which animals are a part.
Church & Dwight
P.O. Box 1625
Horsham, PA 19044-6625
Phone: 609-683-5900 or 800-524-1328
Web Address: http://www.armandhammer.com/
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Here is Arm & Hammer’s response to my request regarding their treatment of animals:
Dear Mrs. Williams:
In response to you contacting us regarding your concern for the ethical treatment of animals, below is our policy.
It is Church and Dwight’s policy to comply with all applicable government regulations, and to ensure that our products will not present unacceptable risk of harm either to our employees or our customers through their handling or intended use. We seek to use only materials already known to be safe, and we avoid animal testing whenever complete and satisfactory information exists to show that our products are safe. As a result of these policies, animal testing has become a last resort, and Church & Dwight has experienced considerable success avoiding such testing through this practice, especially on our Consumer Products.
We hope this information is helpful.
Janice E. Atkins
Consumer Relations Specialist
003580502A