During the late 1980?s and early 90?s, a massive public outcry against animal testing changed the face of the cosmetics industry. Undercover footage of a kitten convulsing after being doused with a chemical, a rabbit whose skin had been eaten away by a corrosive substance, a beagle cowering alone in her cage, and rats dying after soaps were pumped into their stomachs, shamed cosmetic manufacturers and caused an industry-wide upheaval.
Benetton was the first major company to announce a permanent ban on animal testing. Avon, Revlon, and Est?Lauder quickly followed suit.
More than 500 companies, including Abercrombie & Fitch, Almay, Aveda, Bath & Body Works, Bobbi Brown, Chanel, Clinique Laboratories, Crabtree & Evelyn, Hello Kitty, M.A.C. Cosmetics, Merle Norman, Nordstrom Cosmetics, Tommy Hilfiger, Ultima II, and Urban Decay, have since promised People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) that they will not test their products on animals. Companies like The Body Shop, Paul Mitchell Systems, and Tom?s of Maine proudly tout their cruelty-free status on their products and in their advertisements and promotional materials.
Tremendous progress has been made in the fight against animal testing. So much progress, in fact, that many people seem to believe that product tests on animals were stopped years ago. Kathy Guillermo, who led People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals? campaign against product testing on animals from 1989 to 1993, understands where this myth of total success comes from, but fears many people have stopped using their consumer dollars to protest this most despicable animal abuse. ?We can end the use of animals in product testing,? says Guillermo, ?but only if we show with our purchases that we won?t tolerate it.?
Huge Corporate Holdouts Continue to Test on Animals
Every year, major, multi-billion-dollar cosmetic, personal care, and household product manufactures, including Procter & Gamble (the largest personal care company in the United States), Clorox, Unilever, Colgate-Palmolive Co., S.C. Johnson, and L'Or?, conduct crude product tests, dating back to the 1920?s, on millions of rats, mice, guinea pigs, rabbits, and other animals.
The infamous lethal dose 50 percent (LD50) test is the most common animal-poisoning experiment. In this test, animals are force-fed increasing amounts of a substance until 50 percent of them die. The animals often endure severe abdominal pain, diarrhea, convulsions, seizures, paralysis, and/or bleeding from the nose, mouth, and genitals before they die. Variations of the LD50 test have been used for decades even though they have never been scientifically validated to confirm that their results are indicative of chemical effects in people.
In another common test, the Draize eye- and skin-irritation/corrosion test, rabbits are immobilized in full-body restraints while a substance is dripped or smeared into their eyes or onto their shaved skin. They generally suffer from swollen eyelids, irritated and cloudy eyes, inflamed skin, and in some cases, they may even endure ulcers, bleeding, bloody scabs, or blindness. The results of the Draize test are highly subjective, unreliable, and not applicable to humans. Rabbits? eyes are anatomically and physiologically different from humans? eyes and they tend to have stronger reactions to chemicals.
These tests are not only inhumane, inaccurate, and unnecessary, they also do nothing to ensure consumer safety. Even if a product has blinded an animal, it can still be sold to consumers.
Alternatives to Animal Testing
There is just no excuse for companies not to modernize their test methods. No law requires cosmetics, personal care, and household cleaning products to be tested on animals. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ?urges cosmetic manufacturers to conduct whatever tests are appropriate to establish that their cosmetics are safe? but does not specifically mandate animal testing for cosmetic safety.
Human skin patch tests, computer analysis, in vitro studies, human corneas, cloned human skin, and other non-animal alternatives will give us faster, more accurate information. EPISKIN? and EpiDerm?, multi-layered skin models made up of cultures of human skin cells.
THIS IS A LIST OF COMPANIES THAT TEST ON ANIMALS
Please join me in banning the purchase of products manufactured by the following companies and send a message they will understand,
NO ! profits for such actions!
Allergan Inc.
Alcon Labs
Applewoods
Arm & Hammer
Astley Dye & Chemical Company
Andrew Jegens Co.
Aziza
Bay House Aromatics
Baush & Lomb
Beauticontrol Cosmetics
Betterware
BioForce UK
Bic Corp.
Block Drug Co.
Boots Plc
Brodie & Stone
Braun (Gilette Co)
Breck
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (Matrix, Clairol, Ban, Final Net, Redmond, Herbal Essences, Sea Breeze, Aussie, Keri)
Bronnley
Boyle-Midway
Calvin Klein
Carabay Seaweed
Carlonina Herrera
Chesebrough-Ponds (Aziza, Fabergé, Cutex, Oil of Olay, Vaseline)
Church & Dwight (Arm & Hammer, Arrid, Lady's Choice, Nair, Pearl Drops)
Clarion (Sea Breeze)
Clairol Inc. (Proctor & Gamble)
Clorox (Pine Sol)
Colgate-Palmolive Co.
Consumer Value Stores (house brands)
Cosme Decorte
Coty (Davidoff, Joop!, Jovan, Lancaster, Rimmel, Stetson)
Color Me Beautiful
Cover Girl (Procter & Gamble)
Crimpers Pure
Dana Perfumes
Del Laboratories (Sally Hansen, Natural Glow, Naturistics, Flame Glow, Commerce Drug)
Dial Corp. (Purex, Renuzit)
Dome Cosmetics
Donna Karan Beauty Company (Has anti-animal testing policy, but markets fur) DowBrands
Dracket Products Co.
EcoLab Inc.
Eli Lilly & Co.
El Sanofi Inc.
Elizabeth Arden
Enamelon Inc.
Erno Laszlo
Estée Lauder Cos.(Clinique, Origins, Jane, Origins, Donna Karan, MAC, Prescriptives, Tommy Hilfiger)
Ettusais
Faberge
Fendi (Elizabeth Arden)
Fernsoft
Flame Glow
Fort James
Gallery Cosmetics
Gehe UK
Givaudan-Roure
GWP Group
Helene Curtis Industries (Finesse, Unilever, Suave)
Henkel (Schwarzkopf, Dep)
IAMS (DOG FOOD PRODUCT)
Intimate Brands (Bath & Body Works tests ingredients, Veronica's Secret sells fur)
ISO
IPSA
JCB Developments
Jhirmack (Playtex)
Jergens, Andrew Co. (Bioré)
Johnson & Johnson (Neutrogena, Clean & Clear, Roc)
Johnson Products Co.
Jovan (Quintessence)
KAO Cosmetics
Kanobe
Kimberly-Clark Corp. (Kleenex, Scott Paper, Huggies)
Kinarese
Kingsmill Cosmetics
KMS Research Labs
Kose
Lamaur (Willow Lake, Colorsoft)
L & F Products
Lever Brothers
Lifestyles
Lloyds Chemists
L'Oréal
LPI Cosmetics
Manetti & Roberts
Marlene Klein Cosmetics
Marshall Pet Products (make pet products, while selling animals to research labs!)
Max Factor (Procter & Gamble)
Mead
Melaleuca Inc.
Mennen Co. (Colgate-Palmolive)
Micol Direct
Miss Selfridge
Murphy Phoenix Co. (Colgate-Palmolive)
Nalgene
National Trust
Natural Eco Trading
Nature's Sunshine Products
Naturelle
Neoteric Cosmetics (Alpha Hydrox)
Neutrogena
Neutron Industries Inc.
Noxell (Procter & Gamble)
Olay Co./Oil of Olay (Procter & Gamble)
Oral-B (Gillette Co.)
Original Additions
Pantene (Procter & Gamble)
Parfums Givenchy SA (Givenchy, Extravagance, Amarige)
Parfums International (White Shoulders)
Parker Pens (Gillette Co.)
Pennex
Perrigo
Pfizer Inc.
Playtex Products Inc. (Banana Boat, Woolite, Baby Magic)
PPR Group/Pinault-Printemps-Redoute (GUCCI!)
Prada Group (Fendi) Thanks PETA
Prince Matchiabelli
Procter & Gamble Co. (Secret, Crest, Vidal Sassoon, Tide, Cover Girl, Max Factor, Old Spice, Hugo Boss)
Publix Super Markets
Purex Corp.
Quintessence
Reckitt Benckiser (Coty, Lysol, Mop & Glo, Resolve, Spray 'N Wash, Woolite)
Redmond Products
Reflect.com
Richardson-Vicks (Procter & Gamble)
Rimmel (supplied by Unilever)
Ronson International
Sara Lee
Sally Hansen (Del Laboratories)
Schering-Plough (Coppertone, Ban de Soleil, Dr. Scholl's)
Schick (Warner-Lambert)
Scott Paper Co.
Scottish Fine Soaps
S.C. Johnson & Son (Pledge, Drano, Windex, Glade)
Seven Seas
Shiseido Company Ltd.
SmithKline Beecham (AquaFresh, Contac, Tums)
Sofina
Softsoap Enterprises (Colgate-Palmolive)
Sterling Drug
Suave
Sunshine Makers (Simple Green)
Sun Star
3M (Scotch, Post-It)
Unilever (Lever Bros., Calvin Klein, Elizabeth Arden, Helene Curtis, Ben & Jerry's, Aim, Close-Up, Dove, Finesse, Salon Selectives, Pond's, Vaseline, Sure, Pepsodent, Mentadent)
Vidal Sassoon (Procter & Gamble)
Victoria's Secret
Viktoria Apothekere (Phas)
Vogue International
Warner-Lambert (Lubriderm, Listerine, Schick)
Wellbeing
Westwood Pharmaceuticals
Whitehall Laboratories
Xynergy Health Products
Yvonne Gray
If anyone comes across other companies that should be added to this list, please feel free to do so and help inform others as well.
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