POM Horrible

[MissLovely]

POM Horrible (http://www.peta.org/feat-pom.asp?c=weekly_enews)

POM Kills Animals

When PETA learned that POM was funding deadly experiments on animals, we immediately asked the company to meet with us to discuss accurate non-animal test methods such as human clinical trials. POM refused to abandon animal testing, instead preferring to continue conducting useless experiments that require researchers to torment and kill animals in laboratories.

Other companies, such as Naked Juice, Frutzzo, Old Orchard, and Lakewood, make delicious and healthy 100 percent pomegranate juice without harming a single animal—yet POM has paid experimenters to do the following:

Lock week-old mouse pups—whose mothers were fed pomegranate juice—in a chamber with almost no oxygen for 45 minutes in order to induce severe brain damage. The babies were decapitated, and their brains were removed for study.
Critically damage the arteries of rabbits in order to simulate erectile dysfunction—a bizarre attempt to suggest that drinking pomegranate juice might alleviate this ailment.
Induce heart disease (atherosclerosis) in mice who were fed POM—the mice were then killed and cut open to examine their hearts.
Other Viewing Options
“With the broad range of research alternatives available today, we at Welch’s have determined that we can remain committed to scientific research … without the further funding of animal research.”
—Welchs.com
Studies to determine the health benefits of pomegranate juice can easily be conducted on willing human volunteers. It has been proved time and time again that non-animal test methods are more reliable, accurate, and applicable to humans than animal tests are—and more than 20 of POM’s competitors do not fund any experiments on animals.

What You Can Do


Pamela Anderson: 'I'm Calling On Everyone to Get Naked'
Refuse to buy POM’s juices or teas until the company agrees to permanently end animal experiments. If you’re buying pomegranate juice, stick with any of POM’s competitors, which do not fund animal experiments.
Forward this anti-POM video to your e-mail list and ask everyone you know to join you in boycotting POM.
Send POM an e-mail telling the company that you won’t buy while animals die.
Call POM’s headquarters at 310-966-5800 and tell the company what you think about its lethal animal experiments.
Help us spread the “POM Horrible” video around by posting it on your MySpace profile, YouTube page, blog, or personal Web page. Stream this on your page.
Find out if your local health-food store carries POM. If not, thank the store and ask it to pledge not to carry POM juice until the company ends its deadly tests. If the store agrees, please let us know.
If any health-food store near you does carry POM, meet with the store manager and ask him or her to pull POM from its shelves until the company agrees to stop funding animal tests. Many stores have already agreed to do so; if you need help, please let us know.
If the store manager refuses, please collect signatures on this petition and present it to him or her.
Spend an hour leafleting outside your local health-food store or any busy area that has lots of foot traffic. E-mail PETA to request a pack of “POM Horrible” stickers and leaflets to help spread the word about POM’s deadly experiments on animals.
Wear your support! Check out the new “POM Horrible” apparel at CafePress.com.
Spread the word! Forward this page to a friend and encourage everyone you know to boycott POM until the company stops funding animal tests.

[peaches]

:no:

i just don't understand... if americans cared about their health to drink something like pomegranate juice on a regular basis they likely wouldn't have those problems... animal testing is so wrong

[Vegan Dog's Life]

Thank you so much for posting this, MissLovely. I kept meaning to and never remembered. One of the guys at work heard about it and told me to look into it. I did and was so mad.

We carry their products at work. If I could, I would reject every load that came in, but I need a "quality" reason to. :umm:

[MissLovely]

Yeah, I learned about this last year, and just realized we didn't have anything at VRF.

[veganshawn]

Thank you so much for posting this, MissLovely. I kept meaning to and never remembered. One of the guys at work heard about it and told me to look into it. I did and was so mad.

We carry their products at work. If I could, I would reject every load that came in, but I need a "quality" reason to. :umm:

Maybe you could "drop" them :)

[lolamako]

thank you so much. Loads of people at my work drink this, I will be printing it and handing copies out.

[sane-ax_addict]

omg i feel like an ass. for a while there we had been buying POM until fresh pomegranates were in, and we started using those instead. i had no idea. :cry:

that's why i'm so glad VFR is here. s*** i have no clue about you guys always find and post. i'm printing this and sticking copies in the POM section of walmart now. (i wonder if i'll get fired?)

[Vegan Dog's Life]

Maybe you could "drop" them :)

tee hee, I wish! They're entire pallets, though (I work at a grocery warehouse in the produce part of it), so it would be a bit hard to drop one. :p Plus, even if I managed to destroy an entire pallet, they would just order another load. :umm:

[LuC]

I tried telling a couple of people about POM and what they do and their response was…

That’s just crazy, why would someone do experiments on animals because of juice. My point exactly! :umm:

[Mattitude]

Whole Foods Market to Pull POM Wonderful Products Off Shelves
Unnecessary Animal Cruelty Cited as Reason for Compassionate Decision

LOS ANGELES - In correspondence with a local animal activist yesterday, Whole Foods Market Customer Communications Specialist Jessie Walker said that Whole Foods would pull POM Wonderful products off their shelves nationwide April first unless the company stopped testing on animals. Animal rights activists applauded the move by the progressive grocer.

After being exposed last year as funding cruel and unnecessary animal experiments, in which baby mice were deprived of oxygen and rabbits had their penile arteries severed, POM has seen legal demonstrations at the homes of its executives in Los Angeles as well as a recent claim alleging product tampering on the East Coast, where an anonymous communique stated that 487 bottles of POM juice had been tainted with a gastrointestinal irritant.
(full communique at http://www.animalliberationpressoffice.org/communiques/2006-12-14_pom.htm)

In addition, the National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Better Business Bureau has recommended POM Wonderful discontinue its "puffery" and hyperbolic health claims regarding its pomegranate juice. NAD Director Andrea Levine reported that the claims were the strongest she'd ever seen for a food product, yet POM continues to make outrageous claims that its juice benefits cancer, heart disease, and Alzheimer's disease.

As detailed in a company press release last month, POM vice-president Fiona Possell resigned her position as company spokesperson, acknowledging animal rights activists as the reason for her resignation.

North American Animal Liberation Press Office
www.animalliberationpressoffice.org
press@animalliberationpressoffice.org
(818) 932-9997

[IncredibleWeirdo]

Wow... Does Whole Foods have this much pull that it happens this fast?

For Immediate Release
January 18, 2007

POM Wonderful Halts Animal Testing!
Animal Activists Declare Victory as Pomegranate Juice Maker Halts Cruel Experiments

In a letter to retailers on Wednesday, POM Wonderful executives stated they would stop cruel and unnecessary animal testing on their products, effective immediately. Coming less than 24 hours after Whole Foods Markets threatened to pull POM products off the shelves April 1st if animal testing was not stopped, the move was an unmitigated victory for animal activists who have been protesting POM Wonderful executives and owners Stewart and Lyda Resnick for months.

"POM Wonderful pomegranate juice has ceased all animal testing and we have no plans to do so in the future," Lynda and Stewart Resnick, owners of POM parent company Roll International, wrote to all POM retailers by e-mail or post on Wednesday. Ironically, only last Saturday, company owner Stewart Resnick exited his Beverly Hills mansion and yelled at activists protesting there: "I don't care if you protest me for 45 years - I will never stop testing on animals!"

After being exposed last year as funding cruel and unnecessary animal experiments, in which baby mice were deprived of oxygen and rabbits had their penile arteries severed, POM has seen legal demonstrations at the homes of its executives and owners in Los Angeles as well as a recent claim alleging product tampering on the East Coast, where an anonymous communique to the North American Animal Liberation Press Office stated that 487 bottles of POM juice had been tainted with some kind of gastrointestinal irritant. Wild Oats grocers pulled the product off their shelves at that time. (full communique at here)

The National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Better Business Bureau has recommended POM Wonderful discontinue its "puffery" and hyperbolic health claims regarding its pomegranate juice. NAD Director Andrea Levine reported that the claims were the strongest she'd ever seen for a food product, yet POM continues to make outrageous claims that its juice benefits cancer, heart disease, and Alzheimer's disease.

As detailed in a company press release last month, POM vice-president Fiona Possell resigned her position as company spokesperson, acknowledging animal rights activists as the reason for her resignation. The North American Animal Liberation Press Office is currently seeking a written statement from POM Wonderful detailing their promise to stop testing on animals, either in-house or through the continued use of outside facilities such as UCLA.

[atouria]

:banana:

[Dandelion]

wow that's terrific!

[bluedawg]

holy moses!!

[veganshawn]

Now if the owner of Whole Foods would start acting like a vegan and stop selling dead animals :)

But yeah good news, and who says a little boycotting doesn't work?

[DTN]

Oh, this is great news!

[jaxin]

I just found out from a friend! My eyes filled with tears! If there was room in here I might have danced around or rolled on the floor! IM SO HAPPY!!!!!

[compassionate1]

It's great to see they're stopping the experiments, but a company dumb enough to need to do animal experimentation because of juice is never getting my $.

That stuff tastes like crap anyway.....

[VegeTexan]

wow, that's motivation to continue AR activism if anything is, thanks for posting the story, IW.

[grog]

It's great to see they're stopping the experiments, but a company dumb enough to need to do animal experimentation because of juice is never getting my $.

That stuff tastes like crap anyway.....

shhh, no no, we'll go buy tons of it now! ;)

[dropscone]

Great news.

"puffery" :laugh:

..uh, certain words are amusing me at the moment :)

[Dandelion]

Using the power of boycott is a major tool of people who are vegan. If we are successful i think we must reinforce the behavior and promote an upbeat congratulatory message. Pom is reading this right now (or one should assume such).

This would be a great time to thank them -> customerservice@pomwonderful.com

It's great to see they're stopping the experiments, but a company dumb enough to need to do animal experimentation because of juice is never getting my $.

That stuff tastes like crap anyway.....

[Vegan Dog's Life]

Using the power of boycott is a major tool of people who are vegan. If we are successful i think we must reinforce the behavior and promote an upbeat congratulatory message. Pom is reading this right now (or one should assume such).

This would be a great time to thank them -> customerservice@pomwonderful.com

Very good point, dandy. I'm definitely emailing them!

Great news, indeed!!

[Miso Vegan]

This may not be quite the message you had in mind, Dandelion :uhoh:, but here's my note of thanks (the quote at the end was randomly chosen for this email):

I just wanted to say THANK YOU for stopping the cruel and unnecessary animal tests.

While I find it incomprehensible that they were performed in the first place, and I don't know why it took economic pressure from Whole Foods Market to force the change instead of moral clarity, I'm relieved and excited that POMwonderful has changed course, and I applaud your willingness to right a wrong.

As a lovely gesture demonstrating your new understanding of animal plights, may I suggest donating some percentage of your profits to animal protection agencies?

Sincerely,
[Miso Vegan]
Seattle, WA

-------
“Faced with the choice between changing one’s mind and proving that there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof.” ~ John Kenneth Galbraith, economist.

[Dandelion]

nice!

[veggieliz]

i emailed them too:D
....I may try the juice once i know for sure that it is no longer tested....

[bird]

Miso is the MISTRESS of letter writing to companies! :sunny:

Yay for this good news!!!

[downwithapathy]

1. Very good news! :)
2. I'm writing!
3. ...but I'm too shy to share :)

[rantingsteve]

This is wonderful news for the animals, but I'm still not going to buy it. I don't want to support this guy:
Ironically, only last Saturday, company owner Stewart Resnick exited his Beverly Hills mansion and yelled at activists protesting there: "I don't care if you protest me for 45 years - I will never stop testing on animals!"

[Dandelion]

This is wonderful news for the animals, but I'm still not going to buy it. I don't want to support this guy:
But the point is to reward the good behavior and not support the bad. As seen in the Pregan Confessions thread many of us have done some pretty horrific things in the past. Holding a grudge for behavior is not constructive when an attempt is made (for whatever the reason) towards resolution. You can do whatever you like but i'm wondering what good it does.

[gur]

1. Very good news! :)
2. I'm writing!
3. ...but I'm too shy to share :)
+1

[atouria]

Well said, Dandy.. Great points. And I think your letter is perfect, Miso! :smitten:

[Vegan Dog's Life]

IDA posted this on the MySpace bulletin about 45 minutes ago, saying that the POM boycott is not over yet. :umm:

If you sent POM’s press release to lists, please be sure to send this letter to those same lists. Thank you. Find out what you can do to help at www.POMHorrible.com.


January 18, 2007

Matt Tupper, President and CEO

POM Wonderful, LLC

11444 W. Olympic Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90064

Dear Mr. Tupper:

We have received a copy of the January 17, 2007, statement issued by Stewart and Lynda Resnick to POM retailers claiming that “POM Wonderful pomegranate juice has ceased all animal testing and we have no plans to do so in the future.” Although some assertions made in this statement are troubling, if POM is truly no longer associated with animal tests in any way, we will certainly end our campaign. However, let me state our concerns:

First, there is the statement that you made during your meeting with Lisa Lange, our senior vice president of communications, on July 10, 2006, that POM could declare itself cruelty-free while the animal testing could simply be placed under the auspices of the Stewart and Lynda Resnick Trust and no one would be the wiser. We must question whether that is now your plan, as the Web site of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) details a commitment by POM/Resnick Trust to fund a stressful animal experiment through June 30, 2007, conducted by the ARS’ Jim Joseph titled, “The Effects of Pomegranate Juice on Cognitive and Motor Deficits in Aging,” which involves forcing elderly rats to balance on an accelerating spinning rod and to find a hidden platform submerged in a difficult water maze in order not to drown. The 2006 Annual Report for this experiment states, “The agreement between ARS and Pom-Wonderful has recently been approved and we will be starting the study within the next two months.” POM’s current funding of this experiment directly contradicts the Resnick’s assertion from the January 17 memo that POM’s “juice has not been tested since last year.” Please address this issue specifically.

Secondly, we are also concerned that the Resnicks continue to make inaccurate assertions in their statement to retailers. They state that “preliminary animal data is often required to initiate human studies at top universities.” This is false, as you should know. In our letter to you of July 20, 2006, PETA’s director of our Regulatory Testing Division explained: “[C]ontrary to your earlier assertion, animal tests are not necessary to gain Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval for proposed human research protocols. It is the responsibility of IRBs to evaluate the risks and benefits of submitted human protocols, and the risk in testing a conventional food is extremely minimal. The Department of Health and Human Services provides written guidance to IRBs that makes it clear that animal testing is not required (http://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/ humansubjects/guidance/45cfr46.htm ). We have corroborated this fact with other sponsors of human nutritional trials, and as you know, many juice companies with which PETA has been speaking have never conducted or have now agreed to stop funding animal experiments.”

Thirdly, the Resnicks state that “[m]any companies make claims that are unsubstantiated.” It’s not clear how this is relevant to your memo, but beyond that, it is disingenuous not to include POM here, given that the National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Better Business Bureau issued a news release on April 12, 2006, recommending that POM discontinue or “substantially modify” several of its health claims for lack of scientific evidence. NAD also determined that some of POM’s photos and headlines accompanying its antioxidant advertising campaign “are, when accompanied by language regarding the prevention and/or risk reduction of specific diseases, beyond the realm of puffery and hyperbole.”

Additionally, the Resnicks characterized PETA’s letter-writing and peaceful (and legal) street theater protests as “harmful and destructive … tactics.” As you know, and as we have reiterated before, PETA has engaged you through a face-to-face dinner meeting, phone calls, e-mail, and lengthy letters that you ignored—hardly “harmful and destructive” tactics. That is how we have conducted ourselves.

For PETA to end its campaign against POM, we need for you to either sign the enclosed statement of assurance or issue a written statement pledging that POM, the Stewart and Lynda Resnick Trust, and all affiliates and subsidiaries will neither conduct nor fund tests on animals for any ingredients or products including POM juices, teas, or supplemental POM products or food additives such as POMx or POMo. Once this assurance is given to us or placed on your Web site, we will contact all retailers that are continuing to boycott POM and our supporters to let them know that our campaign against POM is over.

We look forward to your quick reply. I would be very happy to discuss the campaign, what we need, and any concerns that you might have. I can be reached at 757-962-8342.

Sincerely,



Bruce Friedrich

Vice President

International Grassroots Campaigns

Enclosure: POM Wonderful Statement of Assurance

cc: Lynda Resnick, Owner, POM Wonderful, LLC

[Dandelion]

:o!

[gur]

But also on Wednesday, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals told Reuters it would not call off a boycott of POM drinks until it had an assurance that the Resnicks would not shift the animal testing to another entity they control.

Asked about such a possibility, a spokesman for POM directed Reuters to the letter, in which the company stated it will not sign a PETA petition saying POM has stopped funding animal research because the company will not be "bullied or extorted." (http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?view=CN&storyID=2007-01-18T012235Z_01_N17353909_RTRIDST_0_POM-ANIMALTESTING-UPDATE-2.XML&rpc=66&type=qcna)

heh.

[compassionate1]

the company stated it will not sign a PETA petition saying POM has stopped funding animal research because the company will not be "bullied or extorted."

No, they just save their bullying and extorting for the animals. :mad:

They can still kiss my ass.

And, seriously, their juice tastes like cranberry deer urine.

[Dandelion]

PeTA claims victory (http://www.peta.org/feat-pom-victory.asp):
In a letter to PETA, Matt Tupper, POM president and CEO, stated: "Neither POM Wonderful nor its related entities provide funding for ongoing animal testing on POM Juice (or POM Tea). Moreover, there are no plans to do so in the future."

This is a huge victory for animals who are being tortured and killed in laboratories, and it exposes just how ridiculous the vivisection industry is as a whole-torturing animals to promote fruit juice! With this announcement, POM joins other compassionate juice companies like Welch's, Naked, Frutzzo, Old Orchard, Lakewood, and many others that have provided written assurances to PETA affirming that they do not fund or conduct any experiments on animals.

Please thank POM for making the compassionate decision to end all animal tests and for showing that good health never has to come at the expense of animals' suffering in labs:

Matt Tupper, President and CEO
POM Wonderful, LLC
11444 W. Olympic Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90064
310-966-5800
customerservice@pomwonderful.com

[rantingsteve]

But the point is to reward the good behavior and not support the bad. As seen in the Pregan Confessions thread many of us have done some pretty horrific things in the past. Holding a grudge for behavior is not constructive when an attempt is made (for whatever the reason) towards resolution. You can do whatever you like but i'm wondering what good it does.
It's true we should reward good behavior, and we've done horrible things in our pregan days, and we shouldn't be judgmental. They didn't decide to stop animal testing until Whole Paycheck threatened to pull their product. It was only when they thought it would affect their bottom line. I don't want to reward people for being good capitalists. It's not about holding a grudge. I do not believe this is a company I want to support, and I see no benefit in doing so.

At least that's my take on it. I'm not going to get vegan-police holier-than-thou on anyone who decides to consume POM. I just won't consume it myself.

[stegan]

They didn't decide to stop animal testing until Whole Paycheck threatened to pull their product. It was only when they thought it would affect their bottom line. I don't want to reward people for being good capitalists.
I understand what you're saying, but in the end, the way our capitalistic society is set up, the only way a large corporation is going to change their practices is if they see the effect on their bottom line, either positively or negatively. Really, there are very few food producers who don't have blood on their hands for one reason or another- ignorant labor practices, animal testing, etc. It's the wise ones who have changed, and I think that there is a value in rewarding them, regardless of why they made that change.

*for the record, I won't touch POM for two reasons- 1.) an aversion to red juices, and 2.) there's something about the bottle that creeps me out.

[Dandelion]

It's true we should reward good behavior, and we've done horrible things in our pregan days, and we shouldn't be judgmental. They didn't decide to stop animal testing until Whole Paycheck threatened to pull their product. It was only when they thought it would affect their bottom line. I don't want to reward people for being good capitalists. It's not about holding a grudge. I do not believe this is a company I want to support, and I see no benefit in doing so.

At least that's my take on it. I'm not going to get vegan-police holier-than-thou on anyone who decides to consume POM. I just won't consume it myself.
I don't understand why some people get so hung up on intention. When this capitalism makes a move in our (the animals) favor we would be wise to reinforce it. What about this company makes you not wanna support it?

[Nanashi]

Enter Pom Tea. Be prepared, this is a pro Pom post, (pPp).

Pom introduced a new container for their teas that is pretty cool. After the tea is gone you have a reusable glass, and the lid still snaps on.

Say it with me... reduce, reuse, recycle!

link to picture (http://pomwonderful.com/pomTeaHome.html).

[Dandelion]

Enter Pom Tea. Be prepared, this is a pro Pom post, (pPp).

Pom introduced a new container for their teas that is pretty cool. After the tea is gone you have a reusable glass, and the lid still snaps on.

Say it with me... reduce, reuse, recycle!

link to picture (http://pomwonderful.com/pomTeaHome.html).
brilliant! and they get a boat load of ad space in your cabinet. i'm glad POM uses glass in their products that's one good thing.

[rantingsteve]

I don't understand why some people get so hung up on intention. When this capitalism makes a move in our (the animals) favor we would be wise to reinforce it. What about this company makes you not wanna support it?
What it comes down to is this: if there are people out there doing the right thing for the right reason, I'd rather support them instead. Also, POM is friggin' expensive!

[Vegan Dog's Life]

PeTA claims victory (http://www.peta.org/feat-pom-victory.asp):

Woo hoo!! :daisy:

[Dandelion]

What it comes down to is this: if there are people out there doing the right thing for the right reason, I'd rather support them instead. Also, POM is friggin' expensive!
right on but that wasn't the issue. also support for one 'people' doesn't take away from any others anymore than my activism takes away from "starving kids in africa". heck i'd probably never buy pom products anyway just rarely buy juices. i'm just trying to figure out the griefing.

[Dandelion]

Woo hoo!! :daisy:
i'm skeptical because i didn't see anything that addressed the issues brought up in Jan 18th's letter from Bruce.

[Vegan Dog's Life]

i'm skeptical because i didn't see anything that addressed the issues brought up in Jan 18th's letter from Bruce.

Hmm... good point. :umm:

[rantingsteve]

right on but that wasn't the issue. also support for one 'people' doesn't take away from any others anymore than my activism takes away from "starving kids in africa". heck i'd probably never buy pom products anyway just rarely buy juices. i'm just trying to figure out the griefing.
I do understand your point and in most cases I would agree, however it does take away from others when it comes to my money, which is woefully limited. :umm:

[Dandelion]

I do understand your point and in most cases I would agree, however it does take away from others when it comes to my money, which is woefully limited. :umm:
ahh, i was confused and talking along the lines of moral support.

[jaxin]

Enter Pom Tea. Be prepared, this is a pro Pom post, (pPp).

Pom introduced a new container for their teas that is pretty cool. After the tea is gone you have a reusable glass, and the lid still snaps on.

Say it with me... reduce, reuse, recycle!

link to picture (http://pomwonderful.com/pomTeaHome.html).


Yeah those have been around a bit. I have a few of those glasses myself. Which they now all have a big perm. marker "NO" around the logo. You know, like the circle with the line through it. That is a pretty cool idea though, reuseable glasses. But I'm still not keen on Pom.