The chamber of horrors of the everyday: The true horror behind Bepanthen ointment and lanolin
Bepanthen ointment can be found in almost every German bathroom. What few people realise: Behind the famous eye and nose ointment lies a cabinet of horrors of animal suffering that is unrivalled. Each gram of ointment contains 250 milligrams of wool wax - obtained from the agony of countless sheep.
Most consumers reach for cosmetic products every day without realising the cruelty hidden behind harmless ingredients such as "lanolin" or "wool wax". The horror begins when the lambs are born and runs like a red thread as red as their own blood throughout their short lives.
Mulesing: The nightmare of the lambs
Mulesing is probably the cruellest practice in modern animal husbandry. Using special scissors, palm-sized pieces of skin and meat are cut off around the tail of 8 to 12-week-old lambs - without any anaesthetic. 1 PETA: Mulesing - cruel mutilation of sheep 🌐 https://www.peta.de/themen/mulesing/
The animals undergo this extremely painful and bloody procedure while fully conscious. The lambs are fixed backwards in special devices while the sensitive skin on their hindquarters is removed with knives or scissors. Around 70 per cent of all Australian Merino sheep have to endure this ordeal. 2 Four paws: Mulesing - mutilation for wool 🌐 https://www.vier-pfoten.de/kampagnen-themen/themen/tierische-produkte/wolle/mulesing
The wounds are deliberately left untreated so that smooth scar tissue forms. Many lambs are not given any medication to relieve pain or prevent infection, even after the procedure. The risk of infection is extremely high - hundreds of thousands of animals die from complications during and after the procedure. 3 PETA: Mulesing - cruel mutilation of sheep 🌐 https://www.peta.de/themen/mulesing/
The justification for this cruelty is cynical: mulesing is supposed to prevent infestation by blowflies, whose larvae eat into the folds of the sheep's skin. However, these skin folds are a direct product of torture breeding - created by humans for maximum profit.
Cruel breeding: When greed wins out over animal welfare
Sheep have been degraded by humans into production machines. Whereas 200 years ago, around 2 kilograms of wool were produced per sheep, today the figure is up to 18 kilograms - a nine-fold increase. 4 PETA: Wool - animal suffering for jumpers and socks 🌐 https://www.peta.de/themen/wolle/
Merino sheep are deliberately bred for extreme wrinkling in order to maximise the skin surface and thus the wool yield. This torturous breeding has fatal consequences for the animals:
- Loss of natural shedding: sheep can no longer regulate their body temperature independently
- Overheating: moisture collects under the dense wool and the animals are constantly sweating
- Hypothermia: After shearing, they are defencelessly exposed to cold snaps
- Restricted movement: The weight of the wool hinders natural movement
Breeding is so extreme that the animals are no longer able to survive without human intervention. They would die of heatstroke or become immobile. 5 PETA: Wool - animal suffering for jumpers and socks 🌐 https://www.peta.de/themen/wolle/
Sheep shearing: When time pressure turns into violence
In shearing stables, shearers work against the clock: they are not paid by the hour, but by the number of animals sheared. This leads to particularly fast and therefore careless shearing.
PETA research documented systematic violence during shearing:
- Kicks and punches: Shearers kick sheep in the stomach and back, hit them in the face
- Gaping wounds: Routine cuts caused by hasty shearing
- Extreme violence: Shearers stand on the necks of sheep
- Stitching without anaesthetic: bleeding wounds are roughly stitched together with huge needles
Several sheep were injured in front of the cameras at a German shearing championship in 2022. One participant cut deep into the flesh of an animal and stabbed directly into the wound as she continued shearing. The referees stood in front of the bleeding animals so that the audience could not see the injuries. 6 PETA: Wool - animal suffering for jumpers and socks 🌐 https://www.peta.de/themen/wolle/
Life before death: neglect and mass mortality
The figures are alarming: in Australia, up to 77 per cent of newborn lambs within a flock die from neglect, starvation or freezing to death. That's around 15 million lambs a year. 7 PETA: Wool - animal suffering for jumpers and socks 🌐 https://www.peta.de/themen/wolle/
The causes of this catastrophe are manifold:
Overbreeding and multiple births
To maximise profits, sheep are bred to give birth to twins or triplets. These multiple births lead to drastically increased death rates, as many lambs are too small and weak to survive.
Standard procedures without anaesthesia
Almost all lambs have to undergo cruel standard procedures:
- Castration: vas deferens are squeezed with metal forceps or tied off with rubber rings
- Tail docking: Removal of tail parts without anaesthesia
- Ear tags: Pierced through the skin with a stapler
Lack of care in large herds
Sheep flocks consist of thousands of animals, making individualised care impossible. Diseases such as foot rot, blowfly infestation or infections remain undetected and untreated.
Even in Switzerland, which is considered animal-friendly, 13 per cent of all sheep die every year - compared to just 3.5 per cent of cattle. In 2024, over 56,000 sheep died, although the total number of sheep remained constant. 8 Schweizer Tierschutz STS: Sheep - facts and figures 🌐 https://www.tierschutz.com/heimtiere/schafe/
Chemical processing: From animal suffering to cosmetics
After the violent shearing, the chemical processing of the wool wax begins, which in turn harbours health risks.
The path from sheep to Bepanthen ointment is a complex chemical process:
- Raw wool wax extraction: From the washing water of wool laundries
- Acid treatment: boiling with diluted acid to remove impurities
- Neutralisation: With caustic soda or sodium carbonate
- Bleaching: With hydrogen peroxide for the light colour
- Deodorisation: several process steps to remove odours
The end product may contain pesticide residues from sheep farming and detergent residues. These chemical substances enter our bodies directly via our skin care products. 9 Utopia: Lanolin - What is lanolin and how is it obtained? 🌐 https://utopia.de/ratgeber/lanolin-wollwachs/
The American Contact Dermatitis Society named lanolin the "Allergen of the Year 2023" due to its increased allergy potential. Many people develop skin reactions such as redness, itching or rashes. 10 Ärzteblatt: Lanolin - Allergen of the year 2023 🌐 https://www.aerzteblatt.de/nachrichten/140964/Lanolin-Allergen-des-Jahres-2023
Vegan alternatives: The way out of the chamber of horrors
The good news is that there are numerous vegan alternatives that do not cause animal suffering and are often even better for the skin.
Vegan wound healing ointments
The main active ingredient dexpanthenol can be produced completely vegan. Proven alternatives are:
- BepanGel wound gel: Officially declared vegan 11 Bepanthen: BepanGel wound gel product page 🌐 https://www.bepanthen.de/produkte/bepangel-wundgel/
- Hansaplast wound healing ointment: free from animal ingredients 12 Hansaplast: Wound healing ointment product page 🌐 https://www.hansaplast.de/produkte/wundversorgung/wundheilsalbe
- tetesept nasal healing ointment: lanolin-free with vegetable fats 13 tetesept: Nose healing ointment product page 🌐 https://www.tetesept.de/produkte/nasen-heilsalbe/
Natural care alternatives
Vegetable oils and waxes offer the same caring properties as lanolin:
- Shea butter: From the fruit of the shea tree, rich in nourishing substances 14 Utopia: Shea butter - effect, application and buying tips 🌐 https://utopia.de/ratgeber/sheabutter-wirkung-anwendung/
- Cocoa butter: Softer than beeswax, ideal for sensitive skin
- Carnauba wax: From the Brazilian carnauba palm, harder and longer-lasting
- Jojoba oil: Liquid wax that is quickly absorbed
The decision is up to us
Every use of Bepanthen ointment is a decision in favour of animal suffering. The alternatives are there - we just have to choose them.
The wool industry tries to use terms such as "responsible" or "ethically produced" to disguise the documented animal suffering. But the reality is clear:
As long as sheep are bred, mutilated and tortured for wool wax, there is no ethical wool production. And again I ask myself, as I so often do when researching for articles like this, why the hell are we doing this? If there are healthier, cheaper, more tolerable, allergy-free alternatives - why do we let animals suffer for a lifetime to end up chopping them up and smearing them on our sandwiches. Or on our lips. I don't even understand how anyone could come up with such an abstruse idea. What an effort for a little fat.
I really don't understand it.
Consumers have the power to change this system. By consciously turning to vegan alternatives, we can empty the cabinet of horrors of everyday life bit by bit. Our skin will thank us - and so will millions of sheep.
The best wool is not wool. The best ointment is the one without animal suffering.
