Oral Statement Presented at Procter & Gamble Shareholders' Meeting

October 10, 2000

My name is Bill Lauterwasser and I am speaking on behalf of shareholder Tim Huesken as well as the national organization In Defense of Animals, also a shareholder in Procter and Gamble. I would like to take this opportunity to remind you about another side of P&G's business. Every year, thousands of rabbits, ferrets, Guinea pigs, hamsters, rats and mice are killed to test cosmetic and household products. P&G engages in these tests despite the fact that they are not required by law and despite the fact that more reliable and humane alternatives do exist.

Chemicals are placed into the eyes of conscious rabbits. Rabbits are placed in stocks from which only their heads protrude so that they cannot dislodge the substance with their paws. Rabbits have no tear ducts to clean the irritants away and plastic clips are attached to their eyelids so they cannot blink their eyes for relief. The rabbits often scream when the substance is applied and sometimes break their neck or back in an effort to escape the pain. Often they receive no anesthesia during these tests.

Reactions to the substances include swollen eyelids, inflamed irises, ulceration, bleeding and blindness. When the test is finished the animals are killed or "recycled": for future tests such as skin irritancy tests.

Skin irritancy tests are conducted on rabbits, guinea pigs and other animals and involve placing chemicals on the animals' raw shaved skin and covering the skin with adhesive plaster. The animals are kept immobilized in restraining devices to prevent them from struggling while laboratory workers apply the chemicals which burns the animals' skin.

These are just two of the tests conducted that are not required by law.

In 1999, Procter & Gamble announced that they would halt animal testing on its current products. What they downplayed, however, was the fact that testing would continue on "new-to-the-world" products and products whose ingredients are changed or altered. P&G states on their website that the "new to the world" products are expanding rapidly. This means thousands of animals continue to die in Procter & Gamble laboratories -- the victims of painful, archaic and entirely unnecessary product tests.

Procter & Gamble spends millions of dollars to package itself as a responsible, caring company, and claims to be a leader in the development of alternatives to the use of animals in product testing. But in less than 5 days, P&G spends more on advertising than it claims to have spent in 14 years on alternatives to painful and lethal animal tests.

We feel you as shareholders should be aware of this cruel and inhumane aspect of P&G and of the fact that an alliance of animal protection organizations around the world have joined the global campaign against P&G's continued abuse of animals. We urge you as shareholders to do what you can to influence P&G to stop the suffering and killing of innocent
animals and join the hundreds of cruelty-free companies, including corporate giants as Revlon and Avon, who no longer test on animals.

Please call P&G's CEO and let him know you want the suffering and killing to stop.

Thank you.