Why animals?

Imagine being able to only live for 28 to 90 days. Living in a locked closet, not being able to control your life, not being able to choose how to eat or when to eat. Going to sleep with excruciating pain. Your entire life spent like a prisoner who did not do anything. Being tested on everyday until your death day. Going to sleep with your eyes burning, or Life as an animal in a lab should not even be considered a life.

According to people for the ethical treatment of animals (peta), the U.S. allows animals to be burned, shocked, poisoned, isolated, starved, drowned, and brain damaged. No matter what experiment it is, how painful an experiment can be, none of them are prohibited. Of course there is alternatives to the use of animals, but there is not a law that requires them to be used, and they are not even considered by companies.

Alternatives used are the Bovine Corneal Opacity and Permeability test which replace rabbits with cornea tissue which is a slaughterhouse byproduct. The tissue is exposed to a chemical and then light is transmitted through it. If the cornea tissue is undamaged it will appear transparents differentiating from a damaged cornea tissue that will appear opaque. Another alternative is the Cytosensor Microphysiometer test, this test is used to measure the changes in cell growth after exposing it to a substance. The Cytosensor Microphysiometer test and EpiOcular™ are irritancy test. After applying a substance on the tissue scientist are able to measure how many cells were killed in order to determine what could possibly be irritation on the human skin. Very reliable test are also made for irritation, using normal human cells from skin donated from plastic surgeries. L’oreal and SkinEthic teamed up to develop this test called Episkin.

The most worst cases of effects of experiments on animals are tiny mice growing tumors that are the same size as them or even bigger, kittens that become blind on purpose, rats suffer from seizures caused on purpose. After an animal has gone through an experiment in a lab, animals suffers even more by being put into a cage in closet with no pain killers whatsoever.

Imagine what it would be like to see someone killed right in front of your eyes, that what animals go through. They are able to experience death of their own kind with many of these experiments.

Everyone wants to be able to buy a product and be able to trust that it will be safe for one to use. Companies like NARS, L’oreal, MAC, Maybelline, Revlon, Chanel uses animals to test their products in order to give their customers the “safest products”. Without even thinking these companies harm animals when it comes to testing their products.

Rabbits are forced to eat a cosmetic ingredient for about 28 days while being pregnant. Eventually both the mother and the unborn baby are both killed. Rabbits are also forced to inhale the ingredient or even rubbed on their shaved skin for about 28 to 90 days. Guinea pigs and rats also go through the same experiment process as rabbits. Mice on the other hand have an ingredient painted in their ear in order to see if the ingredient makes any kind of reaction on their ear. Most people do not like mice, guinea pigs and rats, but there not the only ones who go through this experience. Even dogs are also forced to inhale and eat ingredients or have it rubber into their shaved skin for 28 to 90 days and are then finally killed.

Companies that do not use animals for testing, usually use the “leaping bunny” logo on their products. In order for companies to use this logo they have to be able to get it certified by the Coalition for Consumer Information on Cosmetics (CCIC) where the company has to pledge that they do not use animals to test their products. The companies will have to pay a one-time licensing fee that is based on the company’s annual sales. Once the CCIC approves the company is allowed to use the logo on their products website and anything else that promotes their products. This logo can also be confused with the similar vegan logo. According to the Leaping bunny program, in 2011 a poll showed that people are more likely to buy a product if it showed that it was not tested on animals. As of november 15,2011 there was 395 companies certified with the leaping bunny program.

According to peta companies use animals to test their products just in case anything happens to a customer when using the products, or if someone tries to sue them then they have something to defend themselves with. Companies prefer to keep everything out of court and would rather pay for the customers injuries so that their products and their testing do not get exposed/investigated.

According to “30 makeup brands that still test on animals in 2018” by Aly Laughlin, popular brands like NARS, L’oreal, MAC, Maybelline, Revlon, Chanel still use animals to test their makeup products. Laughlin also states that L’oreal is cruelty free in the U.S. but they do sell their products in in china, where animal testing is required for foreign makeup.

We people need to stop supporting companies that still use animals to test their products, with this it will reduce the prices for the companies and will eventually make them stop using animals for their testing and start using many of the alternatives available.

Cosmetics need to be tested in some type of way, whether is on animals or on humans, a customer should be able to feel safe when using a product. However there is many alternatives that could be used, instead of measuring how long it takes for a chemical to burn an animals eye, the scientist can drop the chemical on cornea-like 3D tissue that are produced from human cells. We need to stop this from continuing, animals have rights ,and in order to prevent animal testing to continue we need to be the voice for animals in order to help them.

Stop buying products from companies who test on animals, and make sure to write to the companies explaining your reasoning to not be using their products anymore. Tell friends and family on why they should not use products that are tested on animals. Also make many donations to many charities who support animal rights like Cruelty Free International, National Anti-Vivisection Society. Animals should not be tested on they should not be prisoners, and they should be able to choose how they life their life. Be the voice they need, and do not let them suffer.