(From previous page)

"Finding an end to the products and cosmetics industry's needless abuse and slaughter of animals in its toxicity testing is not a problem of available alternatives... but of inert attitudes."
- Robert Silverstein, Head of the Product Safety Division of Helen Curtis.

Excerpts from Leslie Fain's journal:

"I just spent the last year and a half of my life in a place that will take the rest of my life to forget. I was an animal caretaker at Gillette and what I saw there still gives me nightmares."

Boycott Gillette Deodorants
Soft and Dry  |  Right Guard  |  Dry Idea  |  Imagine Body Spray

"I was shocked by how unscientific and inhumane the people who worked at Gillette were. For example, when I asked the study director, John Gorley, how to euthanise rats, he told me to 'kill them by hitting them over the head with a rod'. He said injecting them was too much trouble... 'so we just hit them'."

Boycott Gillette Razors and Blades
Atra  |  Gillette swival  |  Face Saver  |  Daisy  |  Trac II  |  Good News

"Once I came across a rabbit with peeling, blistered skin lying in agony in his cage. I overheard two lab technicians complaining that all the test substances they'd been getting lately were boring. They said they wanted something more exciting like carbonic acid." "I'd heard rabbits screams there before - but never like that... I've heard that rabbit scream over and over again in my mind."

Boycott Gillette Hair Products
Sinkience  |  White Rain  |  Mink Difference  |  The Dry Look  |  Tame  |  Toni Home Perms

"The technicians abused the animals. Swinging them. Kicking rabbits that were struggling. Hitting rabbits. Banging on the cages to try to get the animals to stop panicking and struggling - and banging on the cages to make the situation worse. They yelled at the animals to stop the screaming. They laughed as animals screamed in pain. One technician's favorite pastime was taunting and scaring the monkeys."

Boycott Gillette skin products
Aapri  |  Jafra

"I remember many instances when animals appeared to have broken necks and backs, many times rabbits had collars wedged in their mouths: sometimes I found animals twisted around in the restraining devices or dehydrated and barely able to move."

Boycott Gillette Pens
Paper Mate  |  Flair  |  S.T. Dupont

"Once, when I asked a technician what was wrong with a group of white rats that were dying in a pile, she told me... 'the sleazy little bastards will piss on each other and be dead by morning'. (The rats had been force-fed shampoo in a death test.)"

Boycott Gillette office supplies
Liquid Paper  |  Correction Fluids

"They shot T61 in and regardless of whether or not they hit the heart and whether or not the rabbit was dead they would throw it (approximately 10 feet) onto a pile in the middle of the room. Many rabbits would still be crawling around on the floor and on top of dead and dying rabbits while they shot others with T61. Blood was coming out of some of their mouths, others were convulsing and having spasms. It got to the point where I couldn't stand to watch their suffering. At this point I became ill and ran to the bathroom and cried."

Boycott Foamy Shaving Cream

"They euthanised 43 hamsters in a 3-gallon drum of CO2 . They were piled on top of one another at least 8 deep. They were fighting and struggling to get to the top of the heap. When she finished the first batch she went back for another. She loaded up the drum again - until it was too heavy for her to carry."

"Every means is already being taken to ensure that animals used in testing are treated humanely."
- Gillette

"Later in the day she was castrating hamsters. One was going wild, flipping from stomach to back. His legs were in the air and he was shaking in all directions. I asked her what was wrong and she told me he had come out of the anaesthetic. She did not give him any more and continued to cut away at him."

"Gillette maintains a laboratory animal care committee to review and approve proposed use of animals in research and testing and to assure their humane treatment."
- Gillette

"I questioned her about the experiment she was doing. She said - "We shave the hair off their backs to expose the flank or organ. They are castrated because the hair won't grow back over the flank organ w/o hormones. Over the next 14 days I will inject after-shave under their skin to see if it makes the hair grow back."

In November 1986 Gillette was purchased by American financier Ronald Perelman of Revlon Group Inc for a sum of us $4.25 billion... the company was described as "an attractive takeover candidate because of a good cash flow and strong brand names"... Please boycott all Gillette products.

NZAVS extends grateful thanks and acknowledgements to Katherine A. Birks.