Horrific animal testing by Herbal Essences exposed - Please help!

July 13, 2008

Horrific animal testing by Herbal Essences exposed

Dear friend of Uncaged,

Uncaged has launched a massive new consumer boycott of Herbal Essences. Herbal Essences is a well-known hair care brand owned by notorious animal testers Procter and Gamble. We have unearthed documentary evidence of cruel and unnecessary animal testing carried out for the Herbal Essences range.

Cruel Experiments

Herbal Essences repeatedly force-fed one of their chemical ingredients to scores of pregnant rats. Some of the animals suffered poisoning after being given massive doses that were hundreds of times higher than could possibly be consumed by humans. Just before they were due to give birth, the pregnant animals suffered a painful and terrifying death in a carbon dioxide gas chamber. Incredibly, over a thousand baby animals survived, only to be cut from their mothers’ lifeless bodies, killed and dismembered.

But a wealth of scientific evidence already shows that the chemical in question – butylparaben – is safe, and the recent experiments were not required by law. A scientific expert has commented that this test ‘was a profligate and wasteful use of animals’.

What’s more, this test is just the tip of the iceberg. P & G secretly slaughter thousands of animals every year in poisoning tests for cosmetics products like Herbal Essences.

The Campaign So Far

Uncaged are launching the campaign against ‘Hurtful Essences’ with a series of hard-hitting publicity events around the country, incorporating rat costumes, cages and a giant inflatable ‘Hurtful Essences’ bottle! We started in London , with a photocall and leafleting session on Oxford Street , and have since put on highly successful events in Newcastle (left)and Darlington (right) . We’ve received an incredibly positive response from the public. We’ve also attracted fantastic media interest, with features in newspapers, radio and TV news, as well as national consumer magazines.

We’ve already had an incredibly positive reaction from shoppers at our city centre campaign events – the best in 15 years of campaigning. Also, our recently commissioned YouGov poll has shown that if everyone knew the truth about Herbal Essences – the ‘Agony behind the Ecstasy’ – their profits would plummet. By exposing Herbal Essences we are set fair for a hugely successful campaign that promises to achieve a huge step forward in the battle against cruel animal testing.

Click here before Tuesday 22nd July to see TV News coverage of our event in Darlington, County Durham (our item runs from approximately 05:30 – 07:30).

What You Can Do

Please visit our campaign website at www.hurtfulessences.org for more information and to get active in the campaign. We’ve also got a fun personality quiz to find out what kind of animal you are – with information about what would happen to you at the hands of P & G animal testers!

Please also visit our ‘Hurtful Essences’ facebook page to register your support, make friends with like-minded compassionate people, see news updates and view our latest campaign photos and videos.

Yours for an end to animal testing,

Dr Dan Lyons

Campaigns Director

Uncaged Campaigns, 5th Floor, Alliance House, 9 Leopold Street , Sheffield , S1 2GY

Tel: 0114 2722220

E: info

W: www.uncaged.co.uk ; www.hurtfulessences.org

Uncaged Campaigns is a not-for-profit organisation limited by guarantee, registered company no.: 3241514

'the best guess for the correlation of adverse reactions in man and animal toxicity data is somewhere between 5% and 25%' Animal Toxicity Studies: Their Relevance to Man, Lumley and Walker (eds) (Quay, 1989), 57-67