I am a proud supporter of Humane Society International and applaud their efforts to end animal testing in the cosmetics industry through the Be Cruelty-Free campaign. I hope that “Pretty” will help to raise awareness and encourage consumers to make compassionate choices in the marketplace. Please visit
www.hsi.org to find out how you can contribute to the Be Cruelty-Free campaign and make a difference for animals in testing labs all over the world. Encouraging progress has been made but there is much work still to be done. Thank you!
“It is totally unconscionable to subject defenseless animals to mutilation and death, just so a company can be the first to market a new shade of nail polish, or a new improved laundry detergent.”
-Abigail Van Buren, testifying before Congress, 1988
I wrote “Pretty” to express how I feel about animal testing and to speak for the animals who can’t speak for themselves. I think all animal testing is horrific and unnecessary, but the cruelest irony is when animals are tortured by companies marketing cosmetics, selling only vanity. I often think that if people received videos from testing labs every time they bought a new lipstick or eye shadow (or shampoo, soap, toothpaste, shaving cream . . . the list is long), they would not support the companies that allow testing or buy the products they produce. At least I would hope not. But the testing labs are hidden from view, and all we see are the idealized advertisements and magazine spreads and elegant packaging.
Excellent and safe cruelty-free products are available everywhere now and more and more companies are joining in, thank goodness. Most of them sport the Leaping Bunny logo on their packaging so they’re easy to spot. The European Union has banned animal testing for cosmetics, but the United States has not.
I don’t have any desire to tell people what to; I only hope to make people think.
“One day the world will look upon research upon animals as it now looks upon research on human beings.”
- Leonardo da Vinci
Graphic design by Janie Christensen
released March 23, 2012
Janie Christensen . . . vocals and piano
Angelo Ficara . . . guitars, bass
Crazy Lanterns Music/ASCAP