On Tuesday, March 30, animal rights activists gathered on the corner of Michigan and Chicago Avenues to protest the torture and killings of animals used in experiments by Iams and its parent company, Procter & Gamble.

The protest was organized by PETA, whose undercover investigator videotaped Iams representatives who visited the contract laboratory, representatives who witnessed the attrocities done to animals and did nothing!

The investigator found the following:

- Dogs dumped onto concrete flooring after large chunks of muscle were cut from their thighs
- The lab director ordered that all of the dogs' vocal cords be cut because their cries of pain irritated him
- A procedure in which tubes would be stuck down dogs' throats to force them to ingest vegetable oil
- Dogs and cats confined in completely barren steel cells for six years at a time, forced to live their entire lives on slated steel flooring without even a resting board
- Animals circling endlessly in their small prisons from loneliness due to lack of enrichment and socialization programs
- Dark, dungeon-like kennels that are stifling in the summer and frigid in the winter, given the fact that the concrete and steel building is not temperature-controlled
- Workers talking about animals lying dead in their cages
- Dogs with such severe tartar buildup on their teeth that it was excruciatingly painful for them to eat
- Veterinary technicians with inadequate training and inexperienced in performing invasive procedures
- A worker who gave instructions to hit the dogs on the chest if they quit breathing
- Another worker who talked about an Iams dog found dead in his cage, bleeding from his mouth
- Dogs who limped in pain from Lyme disease
- Workers who talked about a live kitten who was washed down a drain
- Workers who talked about how they had to go home because the ammonia fumes in the animal trailers were so overpowering that it made their eyes burn (try being one of the animals in those cages!)
- Cats kept in a cinderblock room with crude wooden “resting” boards that had nails sticking out of them; one of the boards fell on a cat, crushing her to death, while the PETA investigator was there yet the lab director did not remove the boards when the cat was crushed—he removed them when he was told that the lab was going to be inspected because he knew they were illegal

Watch the video here: www.iamscruelty.com/iams-video.asp


When PETA went public with this evidence, Iams officials lied and said they had no idea what conditions were inside the laboratory that their own staff regularly visited.

27 dogs were killed at a time when Iams promised no animal would die in their experiments, and that the company would only conduct tests comparable to those acceptable on humans. Many more animals died from illnesses that were left untreated.

Iams and its owner, Procter & Gamble, still do business with dozens of laboratories that are just as bad as the one investigated by PETA. Iams also conducts studies on dogs and cats in its own facility, which it refuses to allow PETA representatives to see.

It is important to note that these outrageous tests are completely unnecesssary. The law, the Department of Agriculture, does not require them.


I asked PETA representative Allison Ezell what caring individuals can do about this shocking situation. She told me that boycotting Iams and all Procter & Gamble products is essential for winning this fight. Consumers should tell these companies that we won't buy their products for our animal companions until they stop all animal experiments. Letters and calls should be directed to:

Jeffrey P. Ansell, President, Iams Company
7250 Poe Ave., Dayton, OH 45414-5801
1-800-675-3849
1-937-898-7387
Customer.Service (at) iams.com

A.G. Lafley, CEO, Procter & Gamble Co.
1 Procter & Gamble Plz., Cincinnati, OH 45202
1-800-543-1745

She also pointed out the importance of educating others about this alarming animal rights issue, and recommended that consumers only buy dog and cat food that is home-tested, not lab-tested. For a list of companies, visit www.iamscruelty.com or contact PETA at 1-866-TEST-KIND.



***Personal note:

I CANNOT UNDERSTAND HOW ANY OF THE IAMS AND PROCTER & GAMBLE PEOPLE CAN SLEEP AT NIGHT! ARTICULATING MY HATE AND REPUGNANCE FOR THESE CRIMINALS WOULD BE A CLEAR VIOLATION OF CIMC POLICY, BUT YOU GET THE IDEA.....

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