Animal Testing
Prior to any product hitting store shelves they must be tested in order to ensure user safety. This is an obvious step that has to occur in order to avoid harm to product consumers, but the safety of animals is continuing to be sacrificed for this sake. Every year, more than 100 million animals are being killed in United States laboratories for experiments, biology lessons, medical training, etc. But one of the biggest contributors to this massive number of deaths is cosmetics testing. Many argue that cosmetics testing on animals is necessary, but there is no denying how unethical this practice is given the treatment of the animals as well as how many brands and companies successfully produce products without testing on animals.
According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), cosmetics can be defined by “any article that is intended to be applied to the human body for cleansing, beautifying, promoting attractiveness or altering the appearance without affecting the body’s structure or functions.” Perfume, moisturizer, makeup, shampoo are all everyday products that fall into this category. When labs are determining the safety of these products, mice, rats, rabbits, and guinea pigs are the most common animals to be tested.
The purpose of testing cosmetics on animals is to determine the toxicity of a specific product and see how the skin and eyes react to it. During the testing process, their fur is shaved and they are then doused in the product to observe any physical reaction. Some animals are even forced to consume/inhale cosmetic ingredients to see how big of a dose will cause death.
The testing process can take months and most animals are then euthanized afterwards. These animals endure physical and psychological abuse, confinement, and isolation at the hands of cosmetics testing.
Animal testing is not legally required for cosmetics that are sold in the United States, but it still continues to be a common practice in laboratories. The Humane Society has stated that animal testing is pointless when determining the safety of cosmetic compounds. Just because a moisturizer harms the skin of a guinea pig does not guarantee that it will have the same effect on human skin.
There are also a slew of products with ingredients that have been determined to be safe for humans, so any additional testing for these ingredients is unnecessary.
In recent years, animal testing has been banned in various countries like Australia, New Zealand, Turkey, Israel, etc. There are also eight states in the United States where laws have been passed to ban animal testing for cosmetics. However, cosmetics testing still takes the lives of millions of animals every single year.
Many people continue to vouch for cosmetics testing on animals, claiming that is necessary in order to ensure consumer safety, but popular brands like Urban Decay, Smashbox, NYX, and Too Faced, have successfully produced cosmetic products for years without utilizing the unethical practice of animal testing.
