Introduction
All cosmetics companies need to ban or stop animal testing altogether, and stop making animals suffer for human benefit. Even though it is just women buying these cosmetics, the harm extends beyond them and affects a wider scope including anyone buying household items. The harm is extensive, often not apparent right away, but the vast amount of dangerous chemicals inside these products could be doing harm unknowingly. By eliminating harmful ingredients in CoverGirl cosmetics then animal testing will significantly be reduced as well as the harm it has to consumers and the animals. Many companies that still do perform tests on animals are rather quiet about their practices, but there are other companies that are trying to change the approach to ensure safety of their products without animal testing.
Status Quo
New methods can replace animal testing and there is an ethical issue that needs to be taken seriously. Companies need to realize the harm extends from not just animals being tested but with consumer’s complaints of skin reactions from the potential 10,000 different ingredients with hidden dangers. Furthermore what is even more shocking is that most products aren’t regulated by the F.D.A, and that over 2,000 animals are being abused, tortured, and even killed per hour to “protect consumers”, which is evidentially false ("Animal Experimentation").
Need for Change
Proctor and Gamble and CoverGirl need to know the harm of these ingredients and the potential risks that consumers are facing from using their products. Therefore, animal treatment and our values and health and well-being need to be taken into consideration when choosing ingredients to be put into these different cosmetics. If the ma...
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U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (n.d.). Animal Testing & Cosmetics. Retrieved March 31, 2014, from http://www.fda.gov/Cosmetics/ScienceResearch/ProductTesting/ucm072268.html
Did you know, the personal care products you use every day have dozens of toxic chemicals that link to cancer, asthma, learning disabilities, and more? A campaign community working to build a healthier planet called The Story of Stuff and the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, created a seven minute film called Chemicals in Beauty Products: The Story of Cosmetics. The purpose of this campaign film is to inform its viewers, specifically women and moms, about the toxic chemicals in our everyday personal care products, from lipstick to baby shampoo, that we may not know about. It addresses the top harmful chemicals that we are putting into our bodies, the products they are most likely found in, and
SUMMARIZE: The article grants information on new models in cosmetics to take the place of animal experimentation. It goes on to talk about how the European Union has now banned using animal-based test for cosmetic reasoning. Pharmaceutical companies and regulatory agencies have been using computer-like tools to assess the toxicity it has for years. The author incorporates information on cosmetics and the outlook on further research. ‘According to experts, combination of laboratory-based with virtual work will be the future of testing and is progressing faster than they expected.” (87 words)
Over the past couple of years many companies of these cosmetic products released that they are against animal testing including LUSH Fresh Handmade Cosmetics, The Body Shop, and many others. There are still companies that still do test with animals; over 250 on PETA’s website. A large percent of these are well-known companies such as Johnson & Johnson, Estee Lauder, Procter & Gamble, L’Oreal, and others that may surprise the consumer. The majority of these companies are producing the same products yet using different animal testing results. This causes the number of test subjects to be substantially larger than what is needed. The number of tests being conducted could be reduced if these companies either become anti animal testing or share results with other companies. This idea might seem like a long-shot since sharing information with their competitors seems ridiculous. If you take a step back from looking at each individual company, you’ll see that they are all conducting similar tests with similar products. Sharing results of these tests with other companies potentially selling similar products, with the same ingredients, will result in a large drop in animal testing (Search for Cruelty-Free
The use of parabens in cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and industrial products has been a strongly debated topic since 1960 (Hafeez, Maibach; 2013). Parabens are preservatives used in everyday cosmetics that protect the integrity of products by desisting the growth of harmful microbial organisms. It is important to come to a final conclusion as to whether parabens are safe to use because of the large daily intake per person world wide. Moreover, parabens are the most widely used preservatives since their discovery in 1930 (Cashman, Warshaw; 2005). In a compelling article by Livestrong.com (2013), they have highlighted some of the serious health concerns as a consequence of the exposure to parabens. Parabens have the ability to mimic hormones, thus making it a dangerous endocrine disrupter that can cause severe health problems (Mercola; 2013). This being said, a New York City dermatologist, Frank E. Cook-Bolden states, “Parabens have a long history of safe use, and that’s why they’re commonplace. New preservatives have less of a proven track record.”(2007). It has been made evident that this topic is still open to question, it is fatal to come to
There are over a thousand ingredients that are used in cosmetics that are already proven to be safe for human use. These ingredients can be mixed and matched creating new and unique products. Many people argue that this is not suitable for the demanding market. The craving for "new" and "im...
Millions of animals are being unneedlessly tested on for cosmetics, even though there are plenty of alternatives available and most of the results are unreliable or not applicable to humans. Although the fight against animal testing has made huge progress recently, America has yet to stop this cruel practice and chooses to torture animals while other countries are making a stop to the testing (“Animal Testing 101”).
These animals used for testing products commonly include mice, rats, rabbits, monkeys, hamsters, guinea pigs, dogs and cats. These animals are forced to test new products before they are sold to humans, and even though there are numerous valid substitutes for us to test products on, the law doesn’t require that we do. What’s even more horrifying is that no animal experiment is illegal, and therefore these ‘tests’ can be completely irrelevant to human health, and no matter how painful or cruel the test may be to animals it is completely legal. Some companies that test their products on animals include Almay, Johnson & Johnson, Clearasil, Axe, Lancôme (owned by L’Oréal), and Pantene (owned by Procter & Gamble).
Many beauty products have ingredients that can cause life threating illnesses. In Source A, U.S.
Animal testing is an inhuman and arrogant thing to do, if companies have to test the products on animals because of the chemicals in it, are you sure you still want to put that on your face or body. Most companies that do not test on animals use natural and real ingredients that you don’t have to think twice about. Stopping animal testing is an easy and immediate thing we can do. There is a list of over 100 ingredients that have been compiled together, and deemed to be safe. Companies just need an extra push in order to make this transition. Most people that want
There are several safety precautions that we as humans take to ensure our safety. Humans most commonly test things before selling or using them. This can avoid liability and make sure products are safe. Cosmetics are among the many types of products that are being tested such as fragrances, toiletries, and cosmetics that are tested on millions of animals each year. This has created several controversies between animal rights activists and cosmetic manufacturers. Especially in the European Union Council of Ministers where they want to ban animal testing as soon as they can develop enough alternatives (Milmo, 6). This is because several animals are used in experimentations to test if products are safe for us to use. Tests like the Draize Irritancy and Skin Tests, where products are put in the eyes of rabbits to test irritations, and the LD50, where several animals are exposed to a chemical are considered ways of torture. But luckily several corporations are discovering new and reliable ways to replace animals with science and technology to help reduce the amount of animals used. So because testing on animals are absolutely necessary for our safety, as consumers, we do not have the right to use animals in this type of manner, but we should reduce the amount of tests by replacing many with alternatives.
Each year, thousands of animals are brutally tortured in laboratories, in the name of cosmetic research. A movement to ban animal testing for cosmetic purposes has been gaining popularity, with many companies hopping on the bandwagon against this research. New alternatives have been developed to eliminate the necessity to test on animals. This is only a small beginning of what is necessary to end these immoral acts. Animal testing in cosmetics is useless and cruel, and can be accomplished by other methods of research to end the suffering of animals.
"Cosmetics Tests That Use Animals : The Humane Society of the United States." RSS. N.p., n.d.
Concepts of beauty change among people. However, this idea of beauty sticks to human minds, making it the centre of our lives. Media has been the most influential way to harvest those stereotypes of the perfect image in this society. One of the daily things used by women, although the number of men is growing, are cosmetics. Cosmetics are very handy and affordable ways to improve one's appearance. Mascara, foundation, lotions, creams, and treatments are flooding the market, promising to succeed in making us beautiful. Manufacturing processes for cosmetics vary depending on the product. Nevertheless, they all have in common the testing control point, to assure a safe and efficient product. This efficiency and safety is measured in the industry, using principally animals. Animal testing encloses numerous cruel practices, hurting our ecosystem. Some alternatives for reducing and finishing animal testing are, the use of in vitro tissue culture, computer modelling, as well as the usage of natural ingredients in manufacture.
Believe it or not, testing on animals for cosmetics continue regardless of the non-animal tests available. Instead of the Draize test, which measures how long it takes for a substance to burn away a rabbit’s eye, producers of the product can now drop that substance into cornea-like tissue configurations produced from human cells. Therefore, making the testing results more accurate and beneficial for human use. In addition, human skin can be grown and obtained for use in skin irritation testing of products. Many more experiments now in use are quicker and more precise at expecting human responses to a product animal tests ever were. Scientists say, “However, huge multiproduct manufacturers, such as Johnson & Johnson, driven by a fear of lawsuits (although animal tests have not proved effective in a company’s defense when a consumer sues) continue to poison, burn, and blind animals in tests” (Cosmetics and Household-Product Animal Testing,
I learned that drugs and cosmetics often contain chemicals that can be hazardous or have dangerous side effects. For example, a brand of mascara called Lash Lure caused many women to go blind and one woman even died because it contained a chemical that burned the skin when used as directed. After about 100 people died from using a cough syrup called Elixir Sulfanilamide, which was made toxic by its production method, the American public was faced with a decision and it caused our government to pass the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act in 1938.