Trophy Non Animal Testing
In July 2003 the BUAV launched the world’s only ‘No Animal Testing’ Pet Food Standard. Companies were scrutinised on their animal testing policies and practices, both current and past, to see if they conformed to the Standard’s rigorous criteria and Trophy Pet Foods were delighted to become approved under this Standard.
What made the Standard different? The BUAV’s ‘No Animal Testing’ Pet Food Standard is the only scheme of its kind in the world requiring companies to do more than issue a policy statement on animal testing. Compiling a list of companies that claim not to test on animals is easy, but it’s not reliable and sometimes companies get away with being promoted as non-testers when this isn’t the case. The BUAV prides itself on providing ethical consumers with accurate information and this is why only companies that could prove, through supplier information and independent auditing, that no animal testing takes place, were allowed to join the Standard.
Keeping animals captive in testing facilities, even for preference and palatability trials, is not acceptable. Responsible companies, like ourselves, simply donate samples to staff, customers or local rescue centres to see if these animals in their own domestic setting like the products. Animal testers like Waltham (for Pedigree/Mars group) claim that keeping captive animals for testing purposes is not unethical, but the BUAV strongly disagree. “In many cases, the dogs in question are kennelled for substantial portions of, if not all their lives. For social and domesticated animals like these, such conditions are inappropriate and they may not provide adequate mental, physical or social stimulation. We know through various studies that the housing conditions of animals can have a substantial effect, not only on their well-being, but also on their physiological functions, such as the immune system. These effects may tend to render suspicious any results, nutritional or other, that come from such studies.”
Visit
www.uncaged.co.uk/petfood.htm