Toast to This! Maker of Absolut and Chivas Regal Bans Animal Tests
After discussions with PETA US, Pernod Ricard, the world’s second-largest wine and spirits company, established a new policy banning animal testing unless explicitly required by law.
The policy applies to all of Pernod Ricard’s brands – including Absolut Vodka, Chivas Regal whisky, Jameson Irish Whiskey, Seagram’s Gin, Malibu Rum, Jacob’s Creek wine, and Kenwood wine.
Over 1,600 Companies Ban Cruel Tests
What’s more, Pernod Ricard is requiring that all of its supplier companies (numbering more than 1,600 at last count) abide by the same policy barring animal experimentation, multiplying the impact this victory will have for animals who suffer in laboratories.
This decision means that Pernod Ricard and its suppliers will never again starve, poison, or kill gentle animals in voluntary experiments, which aren’t required by law and are irrelevant to human health.
Decades of Poisoning and Dissecting Rats Are Over
From 1986 to 2010, Pernod Ricard conducted or donated products for animal experiments in which more than 1,069 rats were used. In one test, the company supplied apple extracts to experimenters, who fed rats a human-type diet, force-fed them rat or human faeces and apple extracts, injected them with a carcinogen that induces colon cancer, cut off their heads, and dissected them.
More and More Companies Are Joining the List
Pernod Ricard joins a growing list of major food and drink companies that have worked with PETA US to adopt new policies banning cruel, unscientific animal tests. The list includes Asahi Group Holdings, Barilla, The Coca-Cola Company, General Mills, Hershey, House Foods, Kellogg, Kikkoman, Lipton, Ocean Spray, PepsiCo, POM Wonderful LLC, and Welch’s.
What You Can Do for Animals Used in Experiments
Your help will bring us closer to a world in which all animals are regarded as individuals, not laboratory tools, and a time when we’ll look back on tests on living, breathing beings as part of a painful, dark past.
Please take 30 seconds to fire off e-mails and add your name to petitions and open letters to help animals suffering in laboratories:
