Selling out

I don't use this blog to rant very much about corporate evil (that's something I tend to reserve for other people's comment boxes), but today I feel a need to vent. I am not a vegetarian, but I do try to eat natural, organic, unprocessed foods and I use exclusively cruelty-free personal and household products.

My very favorite company, and the one I figured was immune to the typical parent company takeovers that so many grassroots businesses fall prey to, Tom's of Maine, has announced its partnership with Colgate-Palmolive.

This hit me hard, because it wasn't that long ago that I sent an angry letter to Colgate-Palmolive after finding out they are the parent company for Hills Science Diet pet foods. The reply I received from their "Consumer Response Manager," David Coffman, stated:

Today, at Colgate, animal testing is the exception to the rule in their product safety efforts, with more than 98% of all internal requests for product safety substantiations being met using non-animal alternatives and available databases. In 1999, Colgate declared a voluntary moratorium on all animal testing of their Personal Care Products designed for adults and the ingredients used in those products. Testing is governed by a strict set of Colgate-developed guidelines which meet or exceed legislated standards and is only conducted after all other options have been exhausted.

Note a couple of things, here:

1. "98% of all internal requests," meaning, not requests that originate from the government. Is it wrong of me to think that these requests come from a legal department that harbors fears of lawsuits if Colgate's toothpaste gets into someone's eye and there isn't animal testing to back it up? I call fire insurance on this one, boys.

2. "a voluntary moratorium on ... products designed for adults." Why not the children's products?

3. "strict Colgate-developed guidelines." Again, our government doesn't specify a need for such tests. But colgate cares so much that they test anyway.

Granted, it could be worse; Tom's could have sold out to Proctor & Gamble, who are infamous for their cruelty to animals in their Iams pet food experiments.

In response to my email, I received the following missive from Tom's of Maine:

Dear Mrs. Harridan,

Thank you for your email. I can certainly understand your strong feelings about this issue.

As you know, testing our natural products for safety and efficacy without the use of animals has been a central value for Tom's of Maine from the beginning in 1970. In 1984, we even challenged the FDA and created the first ever non-animal testing toothpaste approval process.

Our commitment to no animal ingredient and no animal testing policies, and all of our standards for natural and sustainable, are part of the agreement with Colgate. They remain intact and unchanged.

We are encouraged to see that 99% of internal requests for safety assessment at Colgate are addressed by using available databases and non-animal alternatives with a goal of eliminating all animal testing in the future. In 1999, Colgate declared a voluntary moratorium on all animal testing of its Personal Care Products designed for adults and the ingredients used in those products. Further, Colgate has committed more than a million dollars annually towards the development, validation, and scientific and regulatory acceptance of alternative non-animal testing methods of product safety research. We hope to help Colgate reach its ultimate goal of eliminating all animal testing by sharing what we've learned over the years.

We hope this information is helpful to you.

Sincerely,
Patti Murphy
Consumer Dialogue and Services

Sigh.