On the 5th Feb 2010, activists from Animal Rights Cambridge filled baskets with Herbal Essences products and held a protest inside the Cambridge town centre branch of Boots the Chemists. The action was in protest against the animal testing that Proctor and Gamble, Herbal Essences manufacturer, perform.

Many leaflets were given out to interested Boots customers and members of the public, with people saying they would never buy Herbal Essences again!

Campaigners are calling for a boycott of the brand until Proctor and Gamble agree to end their use of animal experiments. What consumers may not know is, although testing cosmetics on animals is illegal in the UK, it is still legal to sell products tested in other parts of the world. The testing of Herbal Essences and other Proctor and Gamble products, far from being pure and natural, involves a huge amount of suffering.

The activists say the tests are totally unnecessary. One of the tests for Butylparaben involved poisoning pregnant rats, gassing the survivors to death, cutting the babies from the dead mothers and then killing them. All this despite Butylparaben already being deemed safe and these tests not required by any law!

Protesters also wished to highlight Proctor and Gamble's use of the highly controversial blood sampling procedure, “retro-orbital bleeding”. A tube is pushed behind the animal's eyeball, often causing painful eye damage and serious complications.

Campaigners hope the people of Cambridge will choose cruelty free cosmetics from the likes of Lush and Arjuna (local store) or The Co-op own brand. We know the public don't want to see animals suffer unnecessarily but the only way we can stop these cruel tests is by not supporting them financially. The good news is there is a wealth of high quality, affordable cruelty free options available.

Anyone who wishes to learn more about any aspect of animal rights can contact Animal Rights Cambridge at  http://animalrightscambridge.webs.com

For more on the Herbal Essences campaign  http://www.hurtfulessences.org/

Watch the protest here:
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQNPMa7QNZA