animal testing

Animal testing in cosmetics are

Every year, millions of animals suffer and die in painful and unnecessary tests to determine the safety of cosmetics. Cosmetics such as eye shadow and soap are tested on rabbits, rats, guinea pigs, so dogs, and other animals, despite the fact that the test results don’t help prevent or treat allergic reactions in humans. Animal testing in cosmetic industry,in my opinion, is hurting animals more than that it is helping us as human beings. Some people will disagree but hopefully after reading this essay a lot of minds will be changed on this subject and agree that animal testing is cruel and, in most cases, unnecessary. Animal testing has become a common in the cosmetic industry over the last ten years or so. Not only is the practice unethical, but is also ineffective.” Not only do animal models fail to help us better understand human diseases, they often lead us down the wrong path of investigation”. (Aysha Akhtar M.D,M.P.H). Also animal testing for cosmetics costs Americans billions and billions of dollars every year.

These tests are conducted on all types of animals, including rats, monkeys, rabbits, kittens, and dogs, and are used to determine weather or not a product is safe for human usage. The most common tests are skin and eye irritation tests, or the Draize test, (Wikipedia), where the animal (often a rabbit) is restrained, has its eyelids cut off so that it cannot blink, or has it’s stomach shaved ( unethical). Chemicals are then poured onto its eyes or bare skin and left for days or weeks, and checked by scientist to see how the toxins affect its skin or eyes. No anesthetics are used, and the animal must suffer through the pain until it is killed by the chemicals or by a human. Every year, about 70 million animals are hurt or killed for cosmetic testing in the US alone, and nearly $16 billion taxpayer dollars are spent every year on animal testing(PETA ESTIMATE). Even if we ignored the cruelty and expensiveness of testing, you cannot ignore that it may very well be unreliable. A PETA spokesman was quoted as saying, “Animals differ from humans significantly, making animal drug and cosmetic tests unreliable and dangerous. New research methods, such as computer models, cell cultures and human studies are more accurate, less expensive and much more humane”.

In 2009, the EU ( European union) passed a law to ban testing animals for cosmetic purposes, and in 2013 it was updated so it is illegal to sell products that have been tested on animals anywhere in the world. The EU is alone in this venture however, the leading animal testing nations which include the United States, Canada, Brazil, and China all continue to test on animals.

Animals should not have to suffer so that humans may look better. Animal testing is cruel, inhumane, and very unethical. To stop this, people should avoid buying products made by companies that use animal testing, such as Dove, Maybelline, Cover Girl, and L'Oreal. As Mark Twain said, “I am not interested to know whether vivisection produces results that are profitable to the human race or doesn't...The pain which it inflicts upon non-consenting animals is the basis of my enmity toward it, and it is to me sufficient justification of the enmity without looking further”.

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