Nalgene Supports Animal Testing.

Most famous for their line of indestructible water bottles, the Nalgene corporation was originally founded to produce plastic laboratory equipment like petri dishes, test tubes, and even animal restraints.

In the mid-90s, after Nalgene started to become well known for the consumer water bottle, animal rights activists launched a boycott.  The basic tenet of the boycott is that by supporting Nalgene, you are supporting animal testing, a fact even Nalgene might acknowledge.

To this day, Nalgene still has a pro-animal testing manifesto on their website.  In it, they claim that although the Nalgene company does not test on animals, they provide the equipment that enables others to.  The manifesto is disturbing because it tries to paint animal testing as a noble endeavor which led to cures for the worlds worst diseases and saved millions of lives.  Cruelty and suffering are never noble.

Animal testing isn’t all about cures for humanity’s greatest ills, a large portion of animal testing is done for universities or consumer convenience products like perfume and diapers.  Pro-animal testing groups, like Nalgene, hide behind the hope of a cure for AIDS and cancer but in reality, consumer convenience products account for the the majority of animal testing.

In an age where popular and superior alternatives to animal testing are being developed, companies like Nalgene should know better.  They post their pro-animal testing manifesto online to justify their greed.  They supply the cages and restraints to animal testing labs so that the rabbits can’t flinch while they’re injected with toxic chemicals, can’t escape while their eyes are stitched shut.

The indestructible plastic that is so popular as an alternative to the disposable water bottle is being used to inflict one of modern society’s most controversial cruelties.