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Procter &
Gamble has done a very good job of managing their reputation. Despite
continuing to torture and kill animals in unnecessary testing, this
company has succeeded in making the public believe that P&G is one of
the corporate “Good Guys.” Nothing could be further from the truth.
On October 8th
Michael Budkie, SAEN Executive Director, attended the Procter & Gamble
shareholders meeting to speak for the animals in P&G labs. He reminded
attendees that he had coordinated national protests against P&G in the
past, even risking arrest. But, despite opposition to P&G’s policies,
nothing had changed:
“As far as I
know P&G still puts chemicals into the eyes of unanesthetized rabbits.
As far as I know P&G still places caustic chemicals onto the exposed
skin of guinea pigs. As far as I know P&G still poisons rats, mice, and
other species.
As the meeting concluded Budkie was met by Larry Games (P&G Vice
President of
Mr. Budkie met with these P&G representatives for over
two hours to discuss animal testing. He offered many suggestions for
steps that Procter & Gamble could take to demonstrate sincerity in their
efforts in this area. These issues were discussed:
1. Disclosure of the number of animals used
in testing by P&G.
2. Disclosure of the names of outside
contract labs used by P&G.
3. Development of a timetable for the
elimination of testing for P&G products.
4. Disclosure of any tests already
eliminated by P&G.
The P&G representatives said that they would consider
these issues. However, any information disclosures were to be to SAEN
staff alone. Signing a confidentiality agreement would be a
prerequisite for any disclosures. The meeting was concluded with the
intention to communicate again within two weeks.
A month passed with no word from P&G. Then, on November 4th
the Independent Digital, an online publication in Europe, broke a
story revealing an internal P&G memo which discussed company plans to
lobby European governments to delay the implementation of a cosmetics
testing ban for 10 years.
Excerpts of the memo by
Barbara Slatt, one of the P&G representatives that had met with SAEN,
were included in the article:
“ . . . Ms
Slatt said it was important to keep P&G out of the "media spotlight".
She warned: "It would be damaging to be seen as the company lobbying to
test on animals, against public opinion."
It has become quite apparent that P&G has no intention of ending animal
testing any time soon. It is up to us to force P&G to make a change.
Please call P&G to insist that all use of animals for testing non-food,
non-drug products is ended. Be sure to tell them that you are
boycotting their products. P&G’s toll-free number is 1-800-331-3774. Return to Fall/Winter 2002 Issue Return to Newsletters |
