Animal Testing Research Papers

A Bunny’s Voice
Are you an active makeup user? Have you ever wondered exactly what it takes to obtain that mascara you are currently using? Countless animals today suffer due to painful tests done by cosmetic companies which sole purpose is to create the newest skin creams, hair dyes, and makeup for their buyers. Animal testing has existed for a very long time, but now many countries are taking steps to ban the sale of cosmetics containing ingredients tested on animals. If you open up your makeup bag most likely you will come across a product that has been tested on an animal. In this essay I will explain animal testing in terms of animals tested on, type of testing, Europe new strategy for cosmetics, cruelty and non-cruelty makeup. Rabbits,
mice and guinea pigs are used by cosmetic lines to test their products. For seventy years rabbits have been the go-to animals used by cosmetic lines in their Draize eye irritation test in which a substance is injected into their eyes (Zissou). The Draize eye irritation test is just one of many tests out there performed on animals by cosmetic lines they are multiple other ones and each is more horrifying than the last. The acute oral toxicity test is another one of these hurrying test one in which a needle filled syringe is forced down the throats of rats the syringe is filled with a massive dose of a substance is injected into the stomachs of rabbits. Acute toxicity test is used to determine the amount necessary to kill the animal can experience diarrhea, convulsions, bleeding from the mouth, seizures, and even become paralyzed due to this type of test (Cohen). These procedures continue on a daily base for three months, sometimes even longer, but this time with a smaller amount of the dose. Carcinogenicity testing is another test performed on rats and mice where they are exposed to a daily substance for a period of two years used to determine if the animal has developed any tumors. With the toxicity test pregnant rats are forced-feed yes, you read right, they force-feed this method should not be done as animals should have the right to eat whenever they want to, not when someone is forcing them to eat. Many of these tests done on animals lead to deaths, even those that do not measure fatal doses Catherine Willet director of regulations for the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) explained “oftentimes you need to kill the animal to see what exactly has actually happened [on a] microscopic level”(Cohen). Cosmetic companies need to find out what has happened to the animals and so they need to kill them the methods they use are asphyxiated, neck – breaking, and decapitation. Today the days of Draize Testing seemed to be numbered as many governments are now approving the use of a cow or chicken corneas, which are usually left from the meat industries and are beginning to use them for eye irritancy testing (Cohen). Countries such as India, South Korea, and Europe are pledging to encourage countries such as the United Stated and China to stop animal testing among their cosmetic products. Europe has implemented three projects that they are using in order to create animal free genotoxicity a genetic intimation agent that damages the genetic information among the cells which causes mutations among them. “False Positives”, “3D Skin Model”, and “Metabolism” are the three projects currently taking part. The “False Positives” project optimizes current mammalian cell assays and showed that the predictive capacity of vitro micronucleus assay had improved dramatically by the selection of more relevant cells and more sensitive toxins measures (Pfunder).
Next, the “3D Skin Modle” a project developed using human reconstructed skin (RS) models with the combinations of micronucleus (MN) as well as Comet assays. These models reflect the use of conditions that dermally are applied to products, such as that of cosmetics. These two assays are going good and new stages of them are being created to make it that much better (Pfunder). “Metabolism” is the last of the three projects that investigated enzymes of the skin among humans then reconstructed them into skin models. The “3D Skin Model” combined with the “Metabolism” project determined that the capacity of metabolic is compatible to that of human skin, with this they confirmed that the project is useful (Pfunder). There are still some cosmetic lines that continue to use animal testing for their cosmetic lines such as MAC a well know cosmetic line. MAC admits to the use of animal testing they say that they hate the fact that animal testing even exist. This company was one of the first beauty companies that used alternative animal testing nearly a decade ago (MAC Cosmetics). According to MAC alternative testing does exist, but it does not extent anywhere else. The cosmetic line does not personally test on animals themselves, but due to requirements by law products and ingredients can be
tested on animals. Many of their ingredients and products come from China, where there is a requirement law set by the government. This law requires all products to be tested on animals to make sure that the cosmetic is safe since they are yet to accept alternative methods. MAC has recently partnered with the Institute for Vitro Science (IIVS) which develops and implements programs in countries that use vitro testing and that is not accepted in order to educate scientist of their violated safety methods. They funded IIVS International Outreach Program (IOP), which is working to make a difference between animal testing use. IOP provides a wide support that includes technical assistance in the form of lectures, workshops, and hand-on trainings to countries that rely on animal testing in order to determine the safety of their products and ingredients (MAC Cosmetics). All cosmetic lines should be cruelty free as cosmetic lines are taking the lives of animals that do not have a say. We as consumers should be the voice and make our voices be heard and the most powerful way we can get our voice heard is to be wise as to how we spend our money. Cosmetic lines should no longer test on animals and we should support and buy products that do not test their products on animals. They are so many different types of testing that does not include testing on animals. This practice of animal testing is an outdated method and countries should implement artificial tissue testing and test tube testing as alternative methods that can be used to replace animal testing (Cole). Many cosmetic lines such as Elf, bare minerals, Kat Von D, Too faced, among many others which you can find on the People for the ethical treatment of animals website should be used by all makeup users. (PETA). As a makeup user I will be choosing cruelty free cosmetics as I can bet the voice of that bunny that undergoes many tests just so that cosmetic users can obtain the latest trend