LOS ANGELES—After animal activists repeatedly protested POM Wonderful executives and owners Stewart and Lynda Resnick for months about unnecessary animal testing on their health juice, they final achieved a victory this past week as the popular pomegranate juice makers have a change of heart and decide to halt animal testing.
   A press release from the North American Animal Liberation Press Office (NAALPO) stated that Whole Foods Market Customer Communications Specialist Jessie Walker said Whole Foods would pull POM Wonderful products off their shelves nationwide April 1, unless the company stopped testing on animals.
   POM Spokesman Seth Faison provided an update last Wednesday and said via e-mail, "there is breaking news on this topic today:  POM has ceased all animal testing."
   This was confirmed in a letter from POM Wonderful executives to retailers on the same day, coming less than 24 hours after Whole Foods Markets threatened to pull the products off store shelves early April if animal testing was not stopped.
   Owners Lynda and Stewart Resnick stated in their letter that "POM Wonderful pomegranate juice has ceased all animal testing and we have no plans to do so in the future." 
   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 NAALPO stated that 487 bottles of the POM juice had been tainted with some kind of gastrointestinal irritant, according to a statement in the news release.  This was after the company was exposed last year as funding cruel and unnecessary animal experiments involving mice and rabbits.  It also prompted Wild Oats grocer to pull the product off their shelves at that time.
   The Resnicks also mentioned in their letter that they have never funded medical research of any kind of POM Tea and have no plans to do so in the future.
   Last month, a company press release stated that POM vice president Fiona Possell resigned her position as company spokesperson, acknowledging animal rights activists as the reason for her resignation.
   The NAALPO 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.

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