We are thrilled to announce that after more than 40,000 supporters of PETA and its affiliates around the world sent e-mails urging Unilever to stop testing tea on animals and after representatives from PETA and our affiliates in India and Europe flew to London to meet with Unilever—the world's largest tea maker, which makes the Lipton and PG Tips brands—the company agreed to halt all such tests. In a message just posted on its website, Unilever states, "Unilever is committing to no animal testing for our tea and tea-based beverages, with immediate effect."

Thanks to everyone who responded to our online action alert, no more piglets will be infected with E. coli toxin and have their intestines cut apart while they are still alive, no more rats will have holes cut into their intestines and be fed tea ingredients through a tube in their throats, mice won't be suffocated or have their necks broken, rabbits' heads won't be cut off, and other cruel tests that involved tormenting and killing animals simply to study the health effects of tea products and ingredients will no longer take place.

Not one of the experiments that the company conducted was legally required for beverage makers, and regulators have stated that animal tests are not required to prove a health claim about a product.

With this victory, the suffering of animals for Lipton and PG tips teas ends. Lipton joins many other tea and beverage companies—including Stash Tea, Luzianne Tea, Twinings, Honest Tea, Ocean Spray, Welch's, POM Wonderful, and Japan-based tea giant ITO EN—in being cruelty-free.

Written by Michelle Sherrow

Yup, it's about as dumb as it sounds. Apparently the World Wildlife Fund's German affiliate has accepted 225,000 Euros for its fish conservation campaign that was raised by Unilever through the sale of fish sticks. I'll spare you the letter we wrote them, since it feels like I've been putting a lot of letters on the blog lately, but the gist of it is that the WWF needs to send this blood money right back where it came from. As our letter points out,

That pretty much sums it up. Come on now, WWF. I know you guys can do better than that.

Our counterparts in India just sent me these pics from a stunning photo shoot starring Indian supermodel Malaika Arora Khan. Malaika's outfit was created by fashion designer Wendell Rodricks to depict a white macaw, and her ad is part of PETA India's ongoing campaign to draw attention to the horrific conditions for the wild birds who are made to perform in Indian circuses. I’ve been inspired by these lovely images to rent the film Kaante this evening. Not only does it star the beautiful Malaika, but it's billed as Bollywood's answer to Reservoir Dogs. It doesn't get much better than that.

comicbookmovie/Creative Commons

ucla/Creative Commons

And finally, please click here to learn more and to ask that the Wachowski brothers use animatronics instead of live animals.

This week, the folks at Unilever—the parent company for Axe Body Spray—learned the hard way that you can't perform nasty animal experiments for your product and have Pamela Anderson star in your ad campaigns. It's really one of those “one or the other” situations—both is just greedy. And, of course, it's worth mentioning that maiming and killing animals when you trawl out a new product is a singularly unpleasant way of carrying on in the first place.

Anyway, here's the letter that the wonderful Pamela wrote to Unilever asking them to get their heads out of their … um, out of the sand, and move their testing policy into the 21st century. Pamela, I know I've said this before, but I love you.

P.S. Click here for the full list of PETA—and Pam—approved companies that don’t test on animals.