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news release
Scientist criticises killing of hundreds of animals
P&G routinely harm and kill thousands of animals in the development
of trivial products. Most tests are done in secret, but a recently published
experiment [1] provides
a rare insight into the suffering and death inflicted on animals at their
Cincinnati laboratories.
It reveals how P&G scientists force-fed and killed almost 100 pregnant
rats, and decapitated hundreds of their full-term foetuses, to test massive
doses of a chemical preservative, called butylparaben, which is found
in the P&G brands 'Max
Factor' cosmetics and 'Clairol'
hair products. Scientific expert on animal testing, Dr Gill Langley, who
has reviewed the experiment, comments:
"Previous cell tests have already showed that butylparaben
is inactivated by the human liver when it's ingested, and that it appears
to be pretty safe. I think this P&G test was a profligate and wasteful
use of animals, especially because animal test results are inherently
unreliable for humans. This is for many reasons, including biological
variations between different species, and unrealistic doses (i.e. test
results from small, short-lived rats given high chemical doses cannot
accurately be extrapolated to large, longer lived humans absorbing rather
low doses)."
Dan Lyons comments:
"We're sickened and disgusted by the callous and pointless
destruction of these sentient creatures. At the very highest doses,
the animals suffered poisoning, and the repeated force-feeding procedures
are highly stressful, and can cause injury and severe pain. What's more,
P&G already concede that they experiment on animals to test new
cosmetic ingredients. However, butylparaben has been widely used for
many years and there appears to be no specific legal requirement to
perform this kind of test. Have P&G been misleading the public again?"
Action!
Click here to find out how you can help
defend animals from suffering at P&G's hands.
FOOTNOTES:
- Daston, G. P. (2004) 'Development Toxicity Evaluation
of Butylparaben in Sprague-Dawley Rats'. Birth Defects Research (Part
B) 71: 296-302.
Uncaged Campaigns 20.05.05 |
