introductions are futile. ANIMAL TESTING

Ladies, check your war paint.

I have recently been informed just why exactly all the huss and fuss is about every time I look at a shampoo bottle it says 'No Animal Testing'. And how.

According to PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals)Media Center, millions (millions!) of animals, domestic or wild, are being locked up in laboratories for the experimentation of biology, psychology, biochemistry, physiology, genetic cloning, and bio-warfare. The research I read is incredibly, unbelievably, hellishly grotesque. Before coming into knowledge, I never gave it much thought whether my conditioner or lipstick was animal tested or not. To be honest, I thought the labs just put the finished product onto the animal. Like applying lipstick on the dog's slobbery mouth to see how well the color stood out and if it was durable or not. I was terribly naive.

One example of this brutal truth takes place in the Columbia University. Inside the laboratory, a PETA investigation crew came across caged baboons. These primates, they saw, were suffering and dying from untreated, careless surgery that was conveniently done without painkillers. Some of the monkeys had metal pipes implanted in their skulls for research of stress. For the female baboons, they were purposefully impregnated and given ridculous amounts of morphine and nicotine. Their unborn babies underwent surgery as well. Have these brutes any shame? This is just one example, mind you. Imagine all the rest of the universities and organizations that are injecting and torturing millions of animals that, frankly, can't fight for themselves. This is inhumane. It must be stopped.

As previously stated, I say to all my female readers, go to your make up bag and pour it out. Look at each individual container and search for the words 'no animal testing'. As for you men, check your hair gel and body spray. If you care, throw it out if it has no indication of no testing. Give a little help to these creatures. What really blows me away if the fact that some people can watch or read stories like this and not blink an eye or have a piece of their heart crumble. I pity them.

To help you and save you some time (I am the Penny Saver, after all), I've researched a list of companies that DO test on animals. If you have a product by any of the listed, I implore: please throw it out. Tell your friends. Start a revolution.

The list I've found at http://search.caringconsumer.com/, and I thank them from the bottom of my heart. Here goes.

Arm & Hammer (Church & Dwight)

Bic Corporation

Church & Dwight (Arm & Hammer)

Clairol (Procter & Gamble)

Clorox

Colgate-Palmolive Co.

Cover Girl (Procter & Gamble)

Dial Corporation

Johnson & Johnson

L'Oreal USA

Lever Bros. (Unilever)

Max Factor (Procter & Gamble)

Mead

Melaleuca

Mennen Co. (Colgate-Palmolive)

New Dana Perfumes

Noxell (Procter & Gamble)

Olay (Procter & Gamble)

Pantene (Procter & Gamble)

Physique (Procter & Gamble)

Platex Products

Ponds (Unilever)

Procter & Gamble

Reckitt Benckiser

Richardson-Vicks (Procter & Gamble)

S.C. Johnson

Schering-Plough

SoftSoap Enterprizes (Colgate-Palmolive)

Suave (Unilever)

Unilever

And for all you tax payers, did you know some of that tax money is generally used to help pay for research? Well, knock me down with a shoe, lookie here. You're paying for this cruelty without even knowing! Want to stop this? All you have to do is write to the U.S. National Institutes of Health and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and tell them basically you think animal experimentation is bull and abuse and you don't want a penny of your tax money going to it. It would be an awesome idea to suggest that research should be transported to clinics only.

Let's save the world.