Mad Micas Ethical statement:
- Mad Micas requires declarations from all suppliers stating that no minors participate in mining, factory work, transportation or any other process involved in the production of anything we carry.
- Mad Micas will not source product from areas (for example, mica from India) in which there have been documented ethical transgressions.
And a response from Nurture Soap to an email/contact us request I sent today (27 Apr 2021) regarding what they mean by "responsibly sourced" on their micas:
"Responsibly sourced means we track our supply line as far as possible. In the case of micas we can't be 100% sure what goes on in the mines because we can't see them with our own eyes. This is true for anyone who supplies mica colors because these mines are heavily guarded and no one is allowed in.
We have developed very close relationships with our suppliers, and have even met some of our international suppliers in person! We require statements from each that no child labor is involved and no animal testing has been performed. However to be 100% certain no child labor is involved in the mining process you can choose the lab created micas which you an see here
Micas"
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These are the two suppliers for mica that I have most used / liked. I've tried WSP & RE and I'm less satisfied.
Of course the above statements were released by the companies themselves. They are incentivized to tell us what we'd want to hear and what makes them look good. However there's only so far that I can go, and Nurture makes note of this themselves, to verify the authenticity of the statement. It is thus incumbent upon me to decide whether I am willing to, until proven otherwise, trust what they put out.
I choose to trust it.
Given the range of color options and the efficacy of the micas, the customer service, the turn around times... I think I'll stick with these two. They seem, thus far, like ethical companies and put to rest the concerns I need to have about the use of micas.