True Blood's Kristin Bauer and veteran actor Gene Hackman have joined PETA, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, Animal Protection of New Mexico, and other animal rights groups in speaking out against the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) plan to transfer more than 200 "retired" chimpanzees from New Mexico to Texas—where they will likely be used in invasive experiments. Some of the animals are 60 years old and are refugees from the space program. Others were used in seatbelt crash tests decades ago.

"We now know that [chimpanzees] use tools, grieve for their dead, and are capable of complex communication with humans," says Kristin. "These wonderful animals deserve so much better."

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson is also fighting for these apes: After writing to NIH's director, he met with NIH officials today to urge them to scrap this callous plan.

These chimpanzees need your help! Please take a moment today to ask officials to permanently retire the chimpanzees to a reputable sanctuary.

Written by Paula Moore

We're carefully watching a bill that was recently introduced in Congress. The Safe Cosmetics Act of 2010 (SCA) aims to ensure the safety of all cosmetics ingredients. Sounds great, right? I know I don't want to smear toxic chemicals on my face or swipe them across my lips.

On the surface, the SCA looks wonderful: Even the language in support of alternatives to animal testing is good. However, even though the bill supports the development of—and requires the use of—non-animal testing methods whenever possible, most "safety" testing is still performed on animals using tests that were designed in the 1930s and '40s. These tests fail to provide reliable information that can be used to protect people, and their continued use would result in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of animals.

To provide greater protection to people and animals and to ensure that U.S. manufacturers will not be driven from the European market, this bill should be made consistent with the European Cosmetics Directive, which explicitly prohibits the testing of cosmetics on animals.

Please check back for updates—we'll keep you informed. In the meantime, you can help animals now by contacting your members of Congress about another important piece of legislation that needs stronger language to require the use of non-animal testing methods. You can also help protect animals by only buying products from cruelty-free companies.

Written by Shawna Flavell