NZAVS cosmetic research team reports correspondence is going well with over 50 replies to date from the 70 firms contacted. John Heffernan claims the team is not only concerned with testing of the finished product - but investigations are being made into testing methods of the raw materials prior to manufacturer of the end result - and that the product does not contain animal derivatives.

It does not necessarily mean that because a company claims animals are not used that this is correct. Many manufacturers (such as Avon NZ) were unaware of their own testing methods prior to the NZAVS revelations of 1980... this is quite understandable as many procedures are carried out behind the scenes in U.S. laboratories.

As recommended in NZAVS newsletter of 17 January 1981 and subsequent issues of Mobilise! (http://www.nzavs.org.nz/mobilise/index.html) the following firms fulfil the requirements sought by the investigating team- and therefore suitable for our members' use:

Comvita		Makers of Jojoba bean products
Blackmores		Available in health food stores
Lanes		Makers of Tiki cosmetics
Vitamin Supplies		Makers of Vitaplex products

B.W.C.    Rawleighs    Weleda    Healthrite    Primo    Innoxa    Yardley    Cyclax

More deaths from animal tested drugs!

Boots mutilate beagle dog.

Many members will have received the statement from Boots U.K.. claiming that all diseases and ills in history have been eradicated thanks to vivisection - and that our health and well-being is directly due to research on animals. Boots outline their research programme which is aimed at the discovery of new drugs at the expense of vivisection. They further claim that where animal-tested products are withdrawn from the market due to dangerous side-effects even more animal experiments should be carried out.

The Animal Liberation Front who made a midnight raid on Boots Laboratories rescuing 12 beagle dogs which were being used in lengthy experiments into heart disease claimed that 100 beagles were kept in filthy cages. The lucky ones who ALF liberated are now in good homes - however hundreds more are suffering long-term experimentation in Boots laboratories.

Meanwhile in U.K.. 61 deaths have occurred in patients taking the arthritis drug Benoxaprofen (Opren) and over 3,000 people are suffering from severe side effects. This drug underwent extensive tests on animal prisoners. The LD50 Test was carried out on monkeys, dogs, rats and mice. Tests were also carried out to study "writhing" of mice injected with a painful chemical before and after the drug. Massive animal tests were carried out to assess drug response. Yet as with Thalidomide these tests failed to show how deadly Opren would be to humans. (These cruel tests are all carried out in Boots Laboratories.)