Thank you for your email. We take your views seriously. We are committed to eliminating animal testing. That is why we have been leading our industry and investing €3 million a year for the past 7 years on developing alternative non-animal testing methods. We are actively trying to accelerate the approval of these testing protocols by authorities. In addition, Unilever is committing to no animal testing for our tea and tea-based beverages, with immediate effect (http://unilever.com/sustainability/news/news/default.aspx).
This is in line with the positioning of our tea category as a leader in environmental sustainability and the ethical sourcing of tea. However, there are still several countries where we are still legally required to test the safety of our products as a condition for us being allowed on the market, and in these cases the testing will be provided by third parties. The issue is a complex one and more information is available at: http://unilever.com/sustainability/consumer/testing/?WT.LHNAV=Developing_alternative_approaches_to_animal_testing
Thank you for taking the time to contact us and for giving us the opportunity to respond; we hope that the enclosed information is helpful. Let me assure you that your comments are extremely valuable to us and will be shared with those persons responsible for our product development.
Yours sincerely,
External Affairs Department
Unilever PLC
Registered in London number 41424
www.unilever.com
