More good news on the international product testing front: After discussions with PETA, Pangea Organics is ending all sales of its products in China, where animal tests for cosmetics are required. For choosing principles over profits and vowing not to pay for animal tests anywhere in the world, PETA is proud to honor Pangea Organics with our Courage in Commerce Award.

© iStockPhoto.com/zoshyii 

Pangea Organics has been a member of PETA's Beauty Without Bunnies program and will stay on PETA's cruelty-free list along with more than 1,300 cosmetics companies and personal-care and household products companies that are committed to compassion.

Pangea joins a growing list of companies that are choosing to stay true to their cruelty-free roots. Last year, Paul Mitchell Systems became the first company to pull out of China rather than harming animals after learning from PETA that selling in that country would mean painful and deadly tests on animals, and other companies, such as Dermalogica, have followed suit. Urban Decay also reversed its decision to enter the Chinese market after hearing from thousands of PETA supporters. And NYX, Paula's Choice, Yes To Carrots, and Jack Black have all said, "No, thanks!" to the Chinese market until tests on animals are no longer required—and that day is coming closer. PETA is helping to fund the efforts of the Institute for In Vitro Sciences, which is working to help Chinese scientists and government officials accept superior, non-animal methods, and China is poised to approve its first non-animal test. 

Please help us congratulate Pangea Organics, and show your support for cruelty-free living by using PETA's brand-new global Cruelty-Free Shopping Guide every time you shop! Order a free copy or use PETA's Beauty Without Bunnies database to find compassionate companies that refuse to pay for animal tests anywhere in the world.  

Mark Twain may be famous for his love of steamboats and jumping frogs, but some people may not be aware that he was also staunchly opposed to experiments on animals. He once wrote the following in a letter to the London Anti-Vivisection Society:

In honor of Twain's spirited defense of frightened animals who are caged and killed in laboratories, PETA has presented its first Mark Twain Ethical Science Award to the Institute for In Vitro Sciences (IIVS), a nonprofit organization that has worked with scientists from hundreds of companies to design testing programs that replace tests on animals. PETA has donated more than $500,000 over the past decade to fund IIVS' work to develop non-animal tests.

In one case, IIVS developed a rapid screening method that allowed a company to eliminate the use of 750 rabbits per year, while almost doubling the number of products that the company was able to test each year. IIVS also works closely with regulators such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on non-animal testing strategies. With partial funding from PETA U.K., IIVS was instrumental in obtaining European Union approval of a non-animal skin irritation test as well as the first stand-alone non-animal eye irritancy test for certain classes of chemicals.

We think that Mark Twain would have been proud to have his name on an award recognizing IIVS for saving thousands of unconsenting animals.

Written by Alisa Mullins