I was delighted to find some cool products at London Drugs last weekend that I could use, instead of the “animal cruelty” products sold on a massive scale everyday.  What bugs me is: WHY ? - after all that research and development for which millions of tame defenceless innocent rabbits, dogs, cats have to suffer, does humans still subject countless animals to such unrelenting torture just to create the “new formula and improved” version of their products ?

I therefore commend the following brands on ensuring no animal testing on their products, urge them to stay that way, and that more cosmetics companies will come onboard:

St. Ives Body Moisturizer - Not Tested on Animals

TRESemme Nourishing Moisture Shampoo - used by professionals - THIS PRODUCT IS NOT TESTED ON ANIMALS

TRESemme 24 Hour Body Shampoo - used by professionals - This product is not tested on animals

> This link allows you to search for products and companies that DO NOT test on animals.

Global Boycott of Procter & Gamble
When: Saturday, May 8, 2-3 PM
Where: Outside London Drugs (1187 Robson Street, between Bute & Thurlow)

Join Liberation BC and other animal lovers around the world as we protest Procter & Gamble, one of the cruelest companies on the planet.
to stop the company’s blinding, burning, maiming and killing of thousands of animals each year in product tests that are cruel, outdated and not required by law.  All signs and literature will be provided.

Most people in Canada are against animal testing for cosmetics and household products, but not everyone knows that Procter & Gamble kills tens of thousands of animals in tests every year–despite the fact that they are not legally required to do so.  Procter & Gamble manufactures dozens of common products, including Febreze, Swiffer, Duracell Batteries, Herbal Essence, Gillette, Tide, Gain, Ivory, Dawn, Head and Shoulders, Pringles, Oil of Olay, and many more, including Iams and Eukanuba pet food.

What products are cruelty-free, you ask? Too many to list here!  Check out www.caringconsumer.com or our page for more info.

Please join us this Saturday and speak out against unnecessary cruelty!

Source: Liberation BC .

Halloween Safety Tips for Animals

By taking a few simple precautions, everyone—humans and animals alike—can have a safe and happy Halloween. Check out PETA’s tips for protecting animals during this haunting holiday.

Watch: The Downed Cow Story

See the heartbreaking true story of a downed cow who was kicked in the face, ribs, and back in an effort to get her to stand up. Watch now and learn what you can do to help dairy cows! >Prime Minister’s wife Sarah Brown refuses Veal & Foie Gras served at summit > Mistreated veal calves > Facts about veal .

‘Save the Seals’ Celebrity Ad Series

Kelly Osbourne, Perez Hilton, and Animal Collective are among the celebs speaking out against Canada’s annual seal slaughter. See their ads and find out who else is speaking up for seals.

Texas Animal Shelter Sells Cats for Use in Deadly Lab

Odessa Animal Control has been selling lost and stray cats to the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, where they are used in deadly medical training courses. Help these cats now!

PETA’s Cruelty-Free Shopping Guide Featuring Kelly Carlson

Nip/Tuck star Kelly Carlson knows that true beauty comes from compassion. Check out our new cruelty-free shopping guide with Kelly on the cover.

Tell Circuses With Animals to Hit the Road!

You can help keep circuses that use animals from bringing their cruel shows to your town. Order free leaflets and stickers and learn more ways to help take on circuses!

Source: People For The Ethical treatment of Animals .

> Ask Bucknell University to End Cruel Experiments on Hamsters!

here are some great news I’m happy to share with you:

For years, PETA has held meetings with top chemical companies, and through one of these meetings we learned that an absolutely massive animal testing program in Europe was going to cause even more animal suffering as a result of duplicative screening testing. PETA therefore coordinated a joint letter to the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), which oversees the program, asking that it intervene. Now, in a huge victory for animals, ECHA has announced a process that will spare as many as 4,410,000 animals from these cruel tests!

The joint letter from PETA, PETA Europe, and European animal protection groups sent to ECHA last month raised serious concerns about the likelihood that companies would conduct duplicative animal tests for some types of toxicity when registering their chemicals under REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals) and explained how the duplication could be avoided. On Tuesday, ECHA responded by instructing chemical companies not to conduct initial toxicity screens if they were proposing to conduct more comprehensive tests during later stages of the program.

Thanks to your support, more than 4 million animals will be spared the agony of being force-fed toxic chemicals over and over again via a tube inserted through their mouths and into their stomachs, a terrifying and painful procedure.

Thank you for all that you do to help us help animals.

Sincerely,

Tracy Reiman
Executive Vice President
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
Source: Peta Action Alerts

How Do You Say, ‘Animal Testing,’ in Japanese? ‘Shiseido’ > http://www.cli.gs/Z77Wmu .

> Animal Testing for cosmetics, shampoo .

> Stop the Construction of Primate Testing Facilities in Malaysia!

“New & Improved” Shampoo, lotion, cosmetics for humans come at a price for animals.

Have you ever wondered how many animals suffer in labs? It’s a good question. Because there are so many animals in laboratories and records are not kept for all animals, estimates of the number of animals tortured and killed annually in U.S. laboratories vary widely but are in the millions.

The Animal Welfare Act requires laboratories to report the number of animals used in experiments, but it does not cover mice, rats, and birds (used in some 80 to 95 percent of all experiments). Because these animals are not covered by the act, they remain uncounted, and we can only guess at how many actually suffer and die each year.

> Click to Watch Video

Many household products and cosmetics companies still pump their products into animals’ stomachs, rub them onto their skin, squirt them into their eyes, or force animals to inhale them as aerosol sprays. Charities such as the March of Dimes use donations from private citizens to fund experiments on animals, and the FDA requires all drugs to be tested on animals. However, animals differ from humans significantly, making animal drug tests unreliable and dangerous. New research methods, such as computer models, cell cultures, and human studies are more accurate, less expensive, and much more humane.

—
Meet David Waitzman, an animal experimenter at the University of Connecticut Health Center. Waitzman had a $1.7 million grant from the federal government that funded his cruel research on monkeys. He used the money to drill holes into monkeys’ skulls and implant steel coils in their eyeballs over and over again.

Let me share with you a shocking account from an actual cage log of Cornelius, one of the tortured monkeys in Waitzman’s experiments. Cornelius suffered from tremors and seizures for more than eight months after Waitzman drilled into his skull, yet Waitzman continued to use Cornelius in experiments in which he was held immobile in a restraint chair and his brain was poked and prodded. On his final day, Cornelius started vomiting and convulsing during an experiment. The convulsions developed into grand mal seizures, and Cornelius died from cardiac arrest.

So many helpless animals like Cornelius—some just babies—are condemned to spend their entire lives in barren metal cages in windowless laboratories. They are force-fed, injected with toxins, and afflicted with painful diseases. Chemicals are sprayed in their eyes and poured down their throats, and electrodes are implanted in their brains. Experimenters cut tissue from animals’ bodies without any anesthesia. All the animals are scared, and many die slow, painful deaths, as Cornelius did.

—

Companies that do not test on animals proudly state it on their labels. Send back items that you have from companies that test on animals, and write a letter to the companies explaining why you won’t buy their products anymore. For more information on animal testing and a list of companies that do not test on animals, see PETA’s Shopping Guide for Caring Consumers and be sure to share it with your friends! Learn more . > Donate to help PETA in its efforts to stop unnecessary Animal Testing .

Source: People For The Ethical Treatment of Animals .

Each week, I set aside time to do my bit for abused animals. Sometimes, these actions may not seem much, but collectively actions from everyone snowball into positive change. A couple of examples of what I do are listed below.  You CAN help voiceless and defenceless animals by fighting injustice. Please do your bit for abused animals now.

EXAMPLES:

a) Appeals for help on worldwide message boards e.g. > New York > Beijing > Vancouver
If you live in another country, or know another foreign language, you will boost these efforts by translating the similar message into another language, using mass media (internet message boards, discussion forums, electronic bulletins etc unique to your locale) that will be effective in reaching the masses in a particular country.

b) Letters to media
i) NBC : My message below-
Irresponsible program segment on The Today Show

To:  Today@NBCUNI.com, today@nbc.com, today@msnbc.com
My friends and I were deeply disappointed that  Matt Lauer, of NBC’s The Today Show, performed as a rodeo clown as part of his “scariest jobs” segment. Rodeo animals are continuously abused (check out more info and some videos), and it is irresponsible of NBC to glamourize the rodeo.

We think that it is only right that NBC, in the name of journalistic integrity, showcase the cruelty involved in rodeo, circuses and Spanish bullfights as well.  These information can be easily obtained from the Humane Society of The United States and PETA, who can name  celebrities who actually oppose  rodeo, circuses and other forms of cruel “entertainment”.

We believe that NBC will honor its good name before this slip in its moral standards, take our constructive criticism in its stride and feature the other truthful side of rodeo, circuses and Spanish bullfights to highlight the cruelty involved in so called animal-based “entertainment” .

Yours sincerely,

<end of message>

ii) The Province : my message sent this week:

To:  provletters@theprovince.com
TO: The Editor and Kathy Guillermo

GREAT WORK ! (Editor, Kathy Guillermo and team)

I would like to commend you and your team on publishing  an excellent opinion piece called “End These Useless Experiments” and for highlighting this enlightening fact:

“…researchers and the underpinning industries of animal breeders and transporters, cage and equipment builders and food manufacturers have a financial interest in convincing you that all this cash goes only to research aimed at saving human lives. It does not.”

This article served an important purpose in educating your readers about the cruelty involved in truly useless experiments on animals.

My family and I hope The Province will continue to educate the public on the various forms of animal abuse happening around the world that remain hidden from the public.  Example: The grotesque practice of fur-farming and skinning of “live” dogs, cats, rabbits, foxes and minks in Asia and Eastern Europe, and how the purchase of fur and fur-lined coats and sweaters actually promote the cruel fur trade.  I understand that there will be an anti-fur event organised by Liberation BC sometime in February 2009.  Please do feature this event and write up about it.

Yours sincerely,

<end of message>

It only takes a few minutes each day. Abused animals need you. Your help is a selfless gift of love and compassion. Please act now.

Other issues > Factory Farms > Baby Seal Hunt > The Meat Trade .

January is ‘Unchain a Dog’ Month
It shouldn’t happen to “man’s best friend,” but it does. You can take this opportunity to help improve the lives of dogs forced to spend their lives at the end of a chain or in a small pen. Click here to find out how to help.

Donna Karan Dumps Fur!
Thanks to PETA’s recent online campaign and hardworking activists around the country, Donna Karan has announced that all her fall 2009 lines will be fur-free and that she has “no plans” to use fur in the future. Read more.

Oprah Winfrey Named PETA’s 2008
By using her influence to expose horrific cases of cruelty to animals in puppy mills and on factory farms, media mogul Oprah Winfrey has earned the title of PETA’s 2008 Person of the Year. Read more about Oprah’s work for animals now.

Pledge to Be Veg in 2009!
How can you help fight world hunger, climate change, and cruelty to animals at the same time? Take the Pledge to Be Veg for 30 Days any time now through January, and we’ll donate in your name to a charity that plants fruit trees in Asian villages. Sign the pledge now!

Tim Gunn Narrates New PETA Video
In PETA’s newest video, Project Runway’s Tim Gunn exposes fashion cruelty. Watch the video that prompted Donna Karan to go fur-free! With so many alternatives to animal skins available, there’s no reason to wear real ones. As Tim would say, “Make it work!”

Win a Collection of Skin-Care Goodies From MOD Skin Labs
Check out the best in organic skincare from MOD Skin Labs and enter to win one of five cruelty-free prize packages today!

Excerpted from People For The Ethical Treatment of Animals

The following websites offer more information on adopting an ‘animal-friendly’ shopping guide by allowing consumers to search for cruelty-free companies and products.

www.leapingbunny.org

search.caringconsumer.com

www.choosecrueltyfree.org.au/list.html

spca.org.sg.

> Write a Letter to the Editor Urging Your Community to Boycott Circus Cruelty

> URGENT: Starving Deer Dying, Abused on Sacred Island

> Help Animals in 5 MINUTES FLAT

> When an Animal needs your Help

> Podcast : The Story of a Downed Cow

> Join the Revolution : Make a Difference Today

> Win a Tofurky for Thanksgiving

> Celebrity feature : Joan Jett testimonial

> Julie Benz Speaks Out Against Violence

> Win a Vegan Body-Care Pack From Jason Natural!

> CANADIANs : You can Stop Puppy Mills .