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Banning animal testing
Animal testing ethical issue
Banning animal testing
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Every year, it is estimated that hundreds of millions of animals are used for experiments worldwide (Cohn). In those millions, an estimated 100,000 to 200,000 animals are used to test cosmetics alone (“About Animal Testing”). The tests are meant to irritate the animal’s skin and harm them for the sake of testing. These processes have been done for many years, but with the rise of new technologies and discoveries, there is no reason that companies should keep doing it. Along with this reason, animal testing of cosmetic products should not be allowed because it is cruel and inhumane, there are other effective alternative methods, and it simply isn’t necessary anymore.
Inhumane and Cruel
First and probably the most obvious reason that scientists
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For one, lists of ingredients that are safe have already been obtained through years of past testing. Therefore; companies need only to look at those lists to see which ingredients are harmful and which are safe (“Do Cosmetic Companies”). Companies, then, can just choose ingredients from the “safe list” to use in their products without having to go through the animal testing process over and over again. In addition to the “safe list,” corresponding lists of harmful ingredients also exists making animal testing a useless and impractical process (“Do Cosmetic Companies”). If that is not enough, animal testing is also a time-consuming and resource-intensive process that yield no new results from the ones from past tests (“About Animal Testing”). Because of this, animal testing of cosmetics should no longer be done today. The truth is that these tests just don’t benefit anyone – human consumers, science, and especially not animals – anymore, so isn’t it time to just leave it all in history where it …show more content…
But as mentioned above, animal testing is now unnecessary because of information already yielded from past tests. Today, being tested on animals doesn’t guarantee that a product is safe. Firstly, animal testing doesn’t always accurately predict human reaction to an ingredient because of the complex relationship between an organism’s higher functions and their underlying biology. This is illustrated by the instances where drugs that were shown to be safe on animals during tests proved to be dangerous when used widely on humans (Fellenz 73). More relevant to the beauty industry, however, is the fact that many brands (namely U.S. brands) that test on animals continue to put harmful ingredients into their products, meaning that being tested on animals doesn’t ensure that a product is safe (“International
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)
“If you want to test cosmetics, why do it on some poor animal that hasn't done anything? They should use prisoners who have been convicted of murder or rape instead. So, rather than seeing if perfume irritates a bunny rabbit's eyes, they should throw it in Charles Manson's eyes and ask him if it hurts.” (DeGeneres, DG). Think about those animals imprisoned in cold cages, having nothing to do but wait, waiting in fear, knowing that when the time comes their cages will be opened, but not to set them free. Unable to react, unable to defend themselves, they rot in pain and mourn with isolation. And yet all we, humans, do is sit back and watch them suffer. Animal testing is the abuse of animals to develop new products. Although some people are against animal testing others agree that animals are needed in researches to find upgraded and new cures for developing diseases, to find advanced aesthetic products, and to find refine household products leading to a more satisfying quality.
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
Thirdly, animal testing is unnecessary and unreliable because animal organisms are not the same as human ones. Hence, if a certain cosmetic product is determined to be safe after an animal test is done it does not necessarily mean that it is safe for human use. Therefore, we cannot rely on animal testing and we cannot be always sure that a certain product is safe for human use. So, there are lots of animal lives wasted, but many human lives could also be lost if some drug or product cause harm or even death. This is a strong reason why animal testing should be banned in order to save animals and people
Animal testing has long played a part in the science of testing, and it still plays a very important role in the medical world. Testing on animals in order to create a cure for AIDS is one thing, but testing on animals for human vanity is another. Animal testing is used to test the safety of a product. It has kept some very unsafe substances out of the cosmetic world. However, in this day in age, animal testing is not the only way to test the safety of a product. Animal testing in cosmetics has decreased over the years. However, it is still used by many companies in America. Animal testing is not only cruel, but it is also unnecessary in today’s advanced scientific world.
"Cosmetics Tests That Use Animals : The Humane Society of the United States." RSS. N.p., n.d.
There are many alternatives for products and cosmetics other than animal testing. Some scientists in the U.S. are moving away from animal testing because it is generally inapplicable to
Sadly according to the Humane Society International (HSI) article About Animal Testing “in the United states alone around 26 million animals are tested each year for medical and commercial research” (HSI) even though animal testing is not required to ensure that the cosmetic being sold are safe. From those 26 million animals being tested most are not protected by the federal Animal Welfare Act. The animal welfare act does not include birds, rats and mice bred for research, and it doesn’t include cold-blooded animals. Animals testing should be banned because the animals tested suffer immensely, also animal tested is unethical, and because there are many alternatives.
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”).
companies must not be able to test on animals without knowing that the product will be successful. Scientists and researchers use animals to test human products on. Animal testing is harmful and ineffective for humans.
The use of animals to test cosmetics is introduced in their article as well. The authors quote a vast amount of credible sources from prestigious universities such as Princeton and from well known animal rights group such as PETA. I will use this as my main source of information.
Throughout history, beginning as early as 500 BC, animals have been used to test products that will later be utilized by humans (“Animal Testing” 4), what isn’t publicly discussed is the way it will leave the animals after the process is done. Many innocent rabbits, monkeys, mice, and even popular pets such as dogs are harmed during the testing application of cosmetics, medicine, perfumes, and many other consumer products (Donaldson 2). Nevertheless, there are many people whom support the scandal because "it is a legal requirement to carry out animal testing to ensure they are safe and effective” for human benefit (Drayson). The overall question here is should it even be an authorized form of experimentation in the United States, or anywhere else? The fact of the matter is that there are alternatives to remove animals out of the equation for good (“Alternatives” 1). They are cheaper, and less invasive than the maltreatment of the 26 million innocent animals that are subjected to the heartlessness of testing each year (“Animal Testing” 4). All in all, due to the harsh effects of animal testing, it should be treated as animal cruelty in today’s society.
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.
It still comes as a surprise to me that with all the technology in today’s society, we are still relying on animals for cosmetic research. Some people think that it is acceptable and even justified to test on mere animals rather than risk hurting people. So, for these kinds of people, animal testing makes perfect sense. However, in my opinion, animals are living creatures and have the right to live out their lives as nature intended rather than simply surviving in cages while being poked and prodded with whatever scientists fancy. I think it is depressing and sort of grotesque that I am using products that have been tested on animals that are even commonly bred as our pets. So, I began my research to find out what companies still test on animals, why they do so, and what other alternatives they could use in place of animal testing.
Animal testing has become extremely costly. Animal testing results are not quick, especially for cosmetics. When testing a product it needs to be continually applied to detect if it’s going to irritate the skin or eyes. This can take days or weeks. During this time you have to keep the animals alive long enough to see the result. Therefore also having to supply food and water costing even more $$$. For example the eye irritant test involving rabbits to see how a product or chemical will react on human eyes cost around 1,800$ while the alternative in vitro method only cost 1,400$. Not only is the alternative more accurate but its much more cost effective and over time those 400$ will add up. Another common example is the skin sensation test, which is where a product is placed on a shaved animals skin to see how it reacts. The cost for the animal test is 6,000$ and the alternative is only 3,000$. That is a lot of money that could be used to make the product better or for the company to keep.