Protesters urge shoppers to boycott hair care firm
WELFARE group Exeter Friends for Animals staged a protest in the city urging shoppers to boycott a major shampoo brand.
The protest took place on Saturday, asking shoppers to sign a pledge to boycott the hair care range Herbal Essences until alleged animal testing stops.
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Animal welfare campaigners protest in Exeter
Two members of the group dressed up as a rabbit and a mad scientist to hand out postcards to passers-by.
UK animal rights group Uncaged claims a key chemical in many Herbal Essences shampoos and conditioners was tested on animals by scientists working for the manufacturer, Procter & Gamble (P&G).
The protest was part of an international day of action organised by Uncaged, which attracted support from celebrities including Bill Bailey and Michaela Strachan.
Local campaigner Sharon Howe said: "It's inexcusable to inflict pain and suffering on animals for the sake of trivial products.
"Our aim was to show people the products you can use that are not animal tested, so there's no need for animal testing."
Around 100 people signed the pledge and 200 postcards for consumers to send to P&G registering their opposition to animal testing were given out.
The Herbal Essences website says: "Our products are not tested on animals. Nor do we ask any supplier or contract lab to test them on our behalf."
Comments
by AR2048, London
Tuesday, May 19 2009, 11:42PM
“People should write/email P&G and ask whether the *ingredients* are tested on animals -
"Uncaged has uncovered more scientific papers describing how Procter & Gamble's 'Herbal Essences' brand is tested on animals.
The paper, published in the journal Birth Defects Research [1], describes how scientists from Procter & Gamble (P&G) [2] killed 128 rats in a repeat test of chemical ingredients [3] found in Herbal Essences...
P&G used a particularly painful blood-sampling method in the test, and kept the animals in sparse, miserable housing conditions.
All the animals underwent a highly controversial blood-sampling procedure called 'retro-orbital bleeding' which involves puncturing the eye socket as a capillary tube is pushed behind the animal's eyeball...."
http://www.uncaged.co.uk/news/2009/defects.htm
Shame on Procter & Gamble.”