The always wonderful Bob Barker has stepped up yet again to help PETA save animals from suffering—this time, the animals are nine cats at a medical school that his late wife was to attend before she decided to become Mrs. Barker, Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL).

Bob, who grew up in Missouri, has sent a letter to the school's chancellor, generously offering $75,000 to fund the purchase of new state-of-the-art pediatric simulators to be used in place of the cats who are currently forced to endure repeated intubation exercises.

This is the second time that he has spoken out for cats used in this archaic exercise. Following a plea from Bob, the University of Virginia recently announced that it was abandoning its cat intubation laboratory in favor of simulators.

Since this is World Week for Animals in Laboratories, it's the perfect time for WUSTL to take Bob up on his proposal (although, of course, there's never a wrong time to help animals in laboratories). And if that weren't enough, Bob also tells the school that he would be happy to find homes for all nine cats!

WUSTL's acceptance of Bob's offer would not only give these cats a future of love and security instead of pain and fear in a laboratory—as seen in an undercover video from a recent PALS course at the university—but also better prepare the trainees to help save children's lives. As Bob mentions in his letter, a recent study from neighboring Saint Louis University School of Medicine found that using a simulator in its PALS courses—which don't include any animal laboratories—substantially improved trainees' intubation skills.

What You Can Do

Please join Bob Barker and PETA in urging WUSTL to modernize its medical training program today.

This year, we have something to celebrate as we commemorate World Week for Animals in Laboratories. After 30 years of pressure from PETA and other organizations, Harvard Medical School's New England Primate Research Center is shutting its doors. This milestone victory proves that even the mightiest can fall—or do better, move on, or modernize. And it illustrates why it is crucial that animal advocates keep working to end the suffering of animals in laboratories. 

One group of animal rights advocates in Italy made headlines this week when they occupied a laboratory at the University of Milan and removed many of the mice and rabbits who were caged there. Closer to home, there are numerous easy actions that any of us can take to help animals in laboratories:

1. Update your Facebook cover photo to a photo of an animal in a laboratory (try one of these), and ask your Facebook friends to purchase only cruelty-free cosmetics.
2. Make it harder for experimenters to get their hands on animals by asking Air France, one of the few airlines that will still transport primates to be used in experiments, to stop profiting from cruelty.
3. Be sure to purchase only cosmetics, personal-care products, and household cleaners from companies that don't test on animals. PETA's cruelty-free shopping guide makes it easy. And send companies that do test on animals a quick e-mail to let them know why you won't be purchasing from them.
4. Check this map to see if your state, city, school district, or college has a policy allowing students to opt out of cruel animal dissection. If so, be sure to request a humane teaching method when the time comes. If there isn't a policy yet, get one created to save the lives of some of the millions of animals killed for dissection every year.
5. Join PETA's e-mail drive to get the deadly cat laboratories at the University of Wisconsin–Madison shut down.

Please tweet this post to encourage your Twitter followers to get active for animals in laboratories, too. We can win the campaign to end the use of animals in laboratories, and we must. Millions of animals need us to.

As a global leader in the development of toxicology tests for chemicals, the MatTek Corporation has made quite a name for itself among government agencies and manufacturers of all types. But one thing you will never hear the company associated with is animal testing, which is why MatTek has scored a PETA award. 

© Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals

"MatTek is extremely gratified to be recognized by PETA and appreciates PETA's support in its quest to produce new and improved in vitro test methods that reduce or eliminate animal testing," said Dr. Mitch Klausner, MatTek's vice president of scientific affairs. The chemical engineering professors from MIT who founded the company discovered that by creating in vitro (test tube) test methods using skin constructs made from human-derived cells, they could not only save companies money and spare animals but also provide better protection for humans.

The Skin That's Saving Rabbits' Hides

Among the advanced testing methods that MatTek has created is Epiderm, a 3-dimensional model formed from human skin cells. Epiderm provides scientists with a superior indicator of how human skin will react to corrosive and irritating chemicals than the skin of live rabbits does. PETA and PETA UK have helped get Epiderm into use in laboratories around the world, saving tens of thousands of rabbits every year from having chemicals smeared onto their shaved, abraded backs to observe whether the substance burns through or irritates the skin. MatTek has also developed impressive 3-D, human-cell–derived tissue construct models to replace the use of animals in eye, inhalation, immune, and other tests.

And the Award Goes to …

Because MatTek is making toxicology testing humane, more reliable, faster, and less expensive, PETA is giving the company its inaugural Laurie and Carlee McGrath Award, in the amount of $5,000. The award was made possible by the McGrath Family Foundation, which generously supports PETA's work to replace animals in laboratories. 

Rabbits are on a roll! Natural-products giant Nature's Gate just became the fourth company to pull out of the Chinese market until the country stops requiring tests on animals for cosmetics. After talks with PETA, Nature's Gate agreed that there is nothing pretty about tormenting animals in laboratories, and the company chose to forgo the large Chinese market, rather than sacrificing its commitment to being cruelty-free.

iStockphoto.com/SQUAMISH 

PETA is proud to give Nature's Gate our Courage in Commerce Award for its dedication to offering a wide array of quality personal-care and beauty products without  harming animals anywhere in the world.

And Nature's Gate is in good company: Paul Mitchell, Dermalogica, and Pangea Organics have all pulled their products out of China in order to save animals' lives, and many more companies, such as Urban Decay and NYX, have refused to sell in China until the animal testing requirements are lifted. As a result, these conscientious companies are being rewarded with even more customer support, and with the help of the scientists PETA is helping to fund, China is prepping to approve its first non-animal testing method. 

Please join us in thanking Nature's Gate, and continue to support companies that don't test on animals by checking PETA's online list of companies that do and that don't test on animals. Order your own free copy of PETA's first-ever global cruelty-free shopping guide and take it with you every time you shop! Naturally.

Since PETA began campaigning to expose companies that conduct agonizing and deadly tests on animals, consumers have firmly supported cruelty-free businesses like those on PETA's list of companies that don't test on animals. Realizing this, some unscrupulous companies are concealing the whole truth from consumers about their animal testing policies, but you shouldn't buy their propaganda—or their products.

Recently, for instance, Shiseido announced that it would mostly stop testing on animals. While eliminating animal tests is welcome, the company added that it would continue to test ingredients on animals "where it is required by law." So money spent on Shiseido products will continue to fund cruel testing on animals in countries such as China, where animal testing is still required by the government (although PETA's working to change that, too)—meaning that the company has not eliminated animal testing entirely.

Mary Kay is another corporation that seems to be playing word games with its customers, claiming that it doesn't "conduct" animal testing. Yet while Mary Kay might not perform the tests itself, the company does pay the Chinese government to test its products on animals.

PETA has also repeatedly contacted a number of other companies that refuse to reveal their animal testing policies. These companies—which should not be considered cruelty-free until they make a clear statement on animal testing—include the following:

• Revlon 
• AmazingCosmetics
• Amway
• Elizabeth Arden
• Hello Kitty
• Jurlique
• Puig (Paco Rabanne, Carolina Herrera, and Nina Ricci fragrances)
• Talika

What You Can Do

By refusing to support companies that test on animals, we leverage our collective buying power to send a distinct message that testing on animals for cosmetics is unacceptable. To make sure that you're shopping truly cruelty-free, please check the online listing of companies that do and that don't test on animals or order your free copy of PETA's first-ever global cruelty-free shopping guide!

Update: The European Commission has confirmed that it will uphold the original March 2013 deadline for the ban on the sale, within the European Union (EU), of any cosmetics or cosmetics ingredients that have been tested on animals. This marketing ban means that companies all around the world that want to sell cosmetics in Europe will have to abandon animal testing for cosmetics that they want to sell in the EU. The decision follows vigorous campaigning by PETA and its international affiliates that included public protests, phone calls, and more than 20,000 e-mails. New Commissioner Tonio Borg met with PETA U.K. to deliver the news personally, and the organization has sent a huge bouquet of flowers to the commission in thanks.

Originally posted on September 22nd, 2011: 

PETA friend and animal advocate extraordinaire Pamela Anderson has written to European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy John Dalli urging him to honor the original 2013 deadline for banning the sale of cosmetics in the European Union that have been tested on animals. The European Commission is considering delaying the deadline for years—and perhaps indefinitely.

In her letter, Pamela states, "I love cosmetics, but there's no reason for animals to suffer for lip gloss and eye-liner; those cruel tests are from another era." She adds: "Today, there are effective and 100 percent humane non-animal testing methods. We also already know thousands of ingredients that have a long history of safe use. Hundreds of manufacturers have already been using them for years! Please, don't turn back the clock."

Please join Pamela in calling on the European Commission to stick to the 2013 deadline.

Companies that test their products on animals needn't bother trying to ship them to Israel, because, starting New Year's Day, the country banned the import, sale, and marketing of animal-tested cosmetics, toiletries, and household cleaners. Previously, in 2007, the Israeli government had banned using animals to test personal-care and household products within the country. But with the new law, which was passed in 2010 and came into effect January 1, 2013, lawmakers have one-upped themselves, blocking products that have been tested on animals in other countries from even crossing Israel's border.

PETA and our affiliates are working to end the testing of cosmetics and household products on animals in countries around the world, and Israel has proved that a full ban on such vile products is not only possible but also ethically responsible. The EU had passed a similar ban, which was also scheduled to take effect in 2013, but lawmakers are now considering extending that deadline. PETA and PETA U.K. have been pushing hard to get the EU to uphold the original end date. In addition, PETA India is trying to get a similar ban implemented in that country, and the effort has a lot of momentum. PETA and PETA Asia have been helping Chinese scientists switch to in vitro cosmetics testing methods and are encouraging the Chinese government to accept the results in place of the animal tests that it currently requires. And in the U.S., PETA has been purchasing stock in companies that conduct animal tests so that we can propose shareholder resolutions to switch to humane testing methods.

But despite all the legal hullabaloo, we can at least designate our homes cruelty-free areas. It's easy to select personal-care and household products that weren't tested on animals by glancing at PETA's new global Cruelty-Free Shopping Guide, the latest complete list of companies that refuse to conduct or pay for any animal tests anywhere in the world. 

With the Budget Control Act of 2011's 7.8 percent cuts to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on track to kick in at the start of 2013, PETA is urging Congress to take a more drastic measure—cut all funding for wasteful experiments on animals. 

In a letter sent today to congressional leaders, PETA explains that nearly half of NIH's current $30 billion annual research budget is awarded to projects that involve cruel experiments on animals, which do nothing to advance human health and which contribute to the country's expanding deficit. These projects include cruel and costly experiments like these:

• The University of California–San Francisco receives more than $360,000 a year in federal largesse for erectile dysfunction experiments in which rats have their penises cut apart before being killed.
• Columbia University gets half a million dollars a year to addict female monkeys to crack and cocaine in order to see how their drug use is affected by their menstrual cycle.
• The University of Wisconsin–Madison receives more than $330,000 a year for a project in which chicken eggs are injected with pure alcohol to see how the exposure affects baby chicks.
• Oregon Health & Science University—which already bears responsibility for the infamous (and lethal) "gay sheep" experiments—collects more than $2 million a year for a project that includes examining whether the offspring of obese female monkeys are more frightened of Mr. Potato Head dolls than are children of non-obese mothers.

That last one is no joke …

… but it has a sick punch line: Because animal species differ from one another biologically in many significant ways, experiments on animals almost never produce results that can be applied to humans in a meaningful way.

What You Can Do

Please tell your representatives in Washington to stop wasting lives, money, and opportunities on cruel and ineffective experiments on animals.

When news broke that cosmetics giant L'Oréal was acquiring ultra-hip makeup innovator Urban Decay—a PETA (and peta2) fave—some brows were furrowed over what this would mean for Urban Decay's cruelty-free status since L'Oréal is not included on PETA's list of companies that don't test on animals. Well, stop fretting—it'll just cause wrinkles.

© Chris Garcia

Living up to its recent PETA Courage in Commerce Award, Urban Decay has assured PETA in writing that its animal-testing policy will not change, and that the company will remain cruelty-free.

What You Can Do

Please always buy cruelty-free—you'll find Urban Decay and more than 1,000 other companies in PETA's searchable list. 

We're tickled countless shades of pink to report that NYX Cosmetics has affirmed its commitment to producing 100 percent cruelty-free cosmetics by pledging not to sell its products in China until animal tests are no longer required there for makeup and personal-care items. To applaud the company's commendable choice to stay out of this large consumer market so that not even one animal will be harmed for its products, PETA has given NYX Cosmetics our Courage in Commerce Award.

We hope NYX won't have to wait too long before marketing in China. Thanks to training and outreach partially funded by PETA, China is poised to begin accepting its first-ever in-vitro (non-animal) test for cosmetics ingredients soon. In the meantime, though, the only way into the Chinese cosmetics market is over the dead bodies of animals.

Unlike corporations that sell out animals in hopes of a larger market share (or refuse to say whether they pay for animal testing or not), NYX Cosmetics and other principled cosmetics and personal-care companies, including Paul Mitchell and Urban Decay, are making ethical conduct a top priority, and they deserve our support.

What You Can Do

Ready to change your look? Starting your holiday shopping? Before you hit the stores, make sure you're not buying into cruelty by checking PETA's list of companies that don't test on animals—it's the numero uno resource for up-to-date info on cruelty-free businesses.