Hip cosmetics company Urban Decay has earned PETA’s Courage in Commerce Award for putting animals ahead of market share and reversing its decision to sell in China, where animals are harmed and killed in product tests. The company’s decision followed talks with PETA and thousands of e-mails from disappointed consumers. While many companies have shed their cruelty-free policies as easily as last year’s fashion for a share of the profits from China, Urban Decay officials have decided that the cost was too high. They’re corporate champs in our book, and the company is going back on PETA’s cruelty-free list.
Change is afoot in China, too. PETA is financially supporting scientists from the Institute for In Vitro Sciences, who are working with the Chinese government to replace cruel and archaic animal tests with superior non-animal methods, and already, we are seeing huge progress. Until the day when product tests on animals are a thing of the past, we hope other companies eyeing the Chinese and other markets where cruel tests are required will follow Urban Decay’s example and put ethics first.
