Statement from Elliot Katz, DVM, President and Founder of In Defense of Animals

Thanks to thousands upon thousands of caring individuals, In Defense of Animals has never been closer to ending the horrendous animal cruelty of corporate giant, Procter & Gamble.

It has been an intense struggle, but slowly and surely, P&G is acceding to our demands as well as responding to the pressure from thousands upon thousands of caring people who have been demanding the end of their horrific animal abuse.

Why else would P&G have recently boasted of their decision to end animal testing on all their "current" household and cosmetic products? Why else would they be spending millions of dollars to "develop new technologies?" Why else would they try to package themselves as a humane and caring organization?

Although P&G’s newly announced policy of not testing their "current" products on animals is a clear acknowledgement of our efforts, and an important step in the right direction, it certainly is not enough.

What P&G’s announcement neglected to say was that despite the fact that their animal torture is not required by law, P&G will continue to unmercifully burn, blind, poison and kill tens of thousands of fully conscious animals each and every year in their cosmetic and household product testing.

Their announcement was clearly an attempt to diffuse our boycott campaign rather than a sincere effort to end their animal testing.

P&G claims to be a leader in the search for alternatives to the use of animals in product testing – when in fact alternatives already exist and are being used by over 500 companies. These companies, which include Revlon, Amway and Tom’s of Maine, are the true leaders.

For the sake of the thousands of animals that still suffer and die in their laboratories, P&G should not -- and will not -- be let off the hook until they completely end all of their torture and mutilation.

There is simply no excuse for a multi-billion dollar corporation like P&G to continue to conduct horrific animal testing when they are not required by law to do so. And I will continue to do everything in my power to intensify our efforts, to increase the pressure and to fight on until this terrible cruelty ends.

The truth is that P&G could stop all its cosmetic and household animal testing -- not just on its "current" products, but on all its cosmetic and household products -- without harming anyone’s safety.

The reality is there for all to see: the true agenda of Procter & Gamble is driven by greed ... of profits at any cost ... animals be damned.

Deciding to wage a boycott campaign against a multi-billion dollar giant like P&G was not an easy decision to make. We knew the power and resources they would use to fight us ... to discredit us ... to hurt us.

But we could not turn our back on P&G’s cruelty. Earlier attempts for change -- including pleas from physicians, employees and shareholders -- had failed. We had no choice but to intervene on behalf of the hundreds of thousands of animals who have suffered and died so horribly in P&G’s laboratories.

And so we began the first step of our campaign by distributing literature exposing P&G’s cruelty to hundreds of thousands of caring people. Untold thousands of people responded by writing letters and sending post cards to P&G’s CEO expressing their outrage and commitment to boycott P&G’s products until the cruelty ended.

P&G responded -- not by ending its cruelty, but by sending out a vicious letter attacking IDA, accusing my staff and me of lying -- insinuating that we were not truly working for the animals.

We refused to be intimidated. Instead, we redoubled our efforts and intensified our fight by coordinating national and international days of protest against P&G’s horrendous torture of animals.

Thanks to the hundreds of thousands of caring individuals and organizations who have joined our efforts, we have mounted a successful international campaign that has exposed P&G’s shameful record of animal cruelty. Together we have truly become a force to be reckoned with.

We have proven to P&G officials that we will not go away and that we are more determined than ever to fight on until all their animal cruelty ends.

As always, I am deeply grateful for your compassion and generosity. Thank you once again for your caring, determination and commitment to ending the exploitation and suffering of our animal friends.

Respectfully,

Elliot M. Katz, DVM
President, In Defense of Animals