LUSH Cosmetics Awards Group £25,000 for Raising Public Awareness of Cruel Laboratory Experiments

PETA US' Laboratory Investigations Department (LID) received the prestigious LUSH Prize Public Awareness Award in a London ceremony last night.

The award recognises PETA US' work to end the abuse of animals in laboratories by educating and mobilising the public through undercover investigations, whistleblower exposés, thought-provoking advertisements, scientific research, company shareholder resolutions, corporate negotiations, online campaigns and colourful protest actions. The LUSH Prize specifically recognised PETA US' recent campaigns to expose and end the use of animals in horrific military training exercises in the US and the EU, convince major airlines to stop transporting primates to laboratories and uncover invasive brain experiments on cats at a major American university. PETA US was also acknowledged for its peerreviewed research showing a significant increase in the American public's opposition to animal experimentation, which now stands at more than 40 per cent among the American public and more than 50 per cent among women and young adults.

LID Director Justin Goodman accepted the trophy and the prize of £25,000 on PETA US' behalf. "Since its landmark Silver Spring monkeys case in 1981, PETA US has been dedicated to exposing the horrific abuse of animals in laboratories and mobilising the public to help end it," says PETA UK Associate Director Mimi Bekhechi. "Now more than ever, the public knows that experiments on animals are cruel and ineffective and that superior non-animal research methods exist, and we're finally seeing government regulations and corporate policies evolve to reflect that."

In the past year, because of PETA US' public campaigns, the US Army issued a new policy scaling back its use of animals in deadly training drills, five of the last seven major airlines still shipping monkeys to laboratories ended the practice and people have sent more than 5 million protest e-mails about animal experimentation issues through PETA US' website.

LUSH – which never tests products on animals and marks its vegan items with a bright-green "V" – awards £250,000 each year to individuals and organisations working to end animal testing. The LUSH Prize is the biggest monetary award in the animal-free testing industry. 

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