I wrote this a while ago, but forgot to post it:
Not long ago, I came across a tweet that I had to share with my followers: Dying 4 a cup of tea? Animals used in tests by @Lipton are! We need ur help, tell ‘em 2 ditch cruelTEA 2 animals NOW! http://ht.ly/3pJjP
The original article is no longer up, but you can read about the cause here. More than 40,000 people signed the petition and complained to Lipton, and they have decided to stop testing on animals effective immediately. They actually sent me a very nice email:
Hello from Unilever,
Thank you for your email. We take your views seriously. We are committed to eliminating animal testing. That is why we have been leading our industry and investing €3 million a year for the past 7 years on developing alternative non-animal testing methods. We are actively trying to accelerate the approval of these testing protocols by authorities. In addition, Unilever is committing to no animal testing for our tea and tea-based beverages, with immediate effect (http://unilever.com/sustainability/news/news/default.aspx).
This is in line with the positioning of our tea category as a leader in environmental sustainability and the ethical sourcing of tea. However, there are still several countries where we are still legally required to test the safety of our products as a condition for us being allowed on the market, and in these cases the testing will be provided by third parties. The issue is a complex one and more information is available at: http://unilever.com/sustainability/consumer/testing/?WT.LHNAV=Developing_alternative_approaches_to_animal_testing
Thank you for taking the time to contact us and for giving us the opportunity to respond; we hope that the enclosed information is helpful. Let me assure you that your comments are extremely valuable to us and will be shared with those persons responsible for our product development.
Yours sincerely,
External Affairs Department
Unilever PLC
Registered in London number 41424
www.unilever.com
I think that PETA does some good things, but I don’t always agree with their methods. That being said, I’m glad they care and that they are willing to get the word out about causes that matter. If something as simple as writing to Lipton made this big of a change, I have some hope for humanity. Maybe in the future, other companies will be as reasonable.
