An argument people have who are for animal testing in the cosmetics industry is that it helps humans survive and avoid suffering from poorly tested cosmetics. But if people are not to be subjected to these testing and experimentation methods, why are animals? Animal experimentation has been around since the early 3rd century BCE. Back then doctors would cut open and examine the insides of animals before then doing the same to humans (beauty sparkle). The animals frequently used are rodents, dogs, cats, monkeys, even fish and sheep (Beck). The bottom line is animal experimentation and testing in the cosmetic industry for human benefits should be banned everywhere in the U.S, and eventually the world due to the harsh and cruel nature of the testing methods, the stressful environments the animals are kept in during the research, and the fact that the results obtained from animals can be radically different from results obtained from humans. Animal experimentation should be banned because of the extremely stressful living conditions the animals can be forced to stay in during the research project. Granted many facilities do have well controlled environments in regard to humidity, temperatures, lighting, etc. the facilities do not take into account the stressors that surround their test subjects. They did not consider that many noises are stressors to animals such as: slamming doors, yelling, and the machinery that can be kept in there. Rodents account for about 90% of vertebrate animals used in testing and they are particularly sensitive to noises (Baldwin). This sensitivity does not subside or lessen over time and it can stress them out so badly it can alter their behavior which in turn can skew the results from the test. Research... ... middle of paper ... ...ps and bounds in regard to medical advancements, but it is not needed in the field of cosmetics. With all the alternatives available to testing on animals and with all the cruelty the animals face, it is time that the United States made animal testing and animal experimentation in the cosmetics industry illegal. Works Cited "Animal Aid." : Killing Animals and Humans. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2013. Baldwin, Ann. "The Stressful Life of Laboratory Animals." Project Syndicate RSS. N.p., 25 Oct. 2007. Web. 01 Dec. 2013. Beck, Nancy. "FAQs About Animal Testing." Do Something. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2013. "Fact Sheet: Cosmetic Testing : The Humane Society of the United States." RSS. N.p., 30 May 2012. Web. 30 Nov. 2013. Horne, Viola. "Cruelty Free Cosmetics: History of Animal Testing & Makeup | Beauty Sparkle." Beauty Sparkle. N.p., 01 May 2013. Web. 02 Dec. 2013.
The Web. 5 February 2016. Driscoll and Finley’s article, while including a historical view on animal experimentation, mentions information regarding the topics of product testing and the use of experiments simply for research. The use of animals to test cosmetics is introduced in their article.
Over 100 Million animals are burned, crippled, poisoned and abused in testing Labs every year. Animals are used to test the safety of products, advance scientific research, and develop models to study disease and to develop new medical treatments all for the sake of mankind. Animals should not be used for scientific research because animal testing is inhumane, other testing methods now exist, and animals are very different from human beings.
Putting aside the countless claims that animal experimentation is unethical and should be banned, it is incredibly necessary and useful for mankind. Experimenting on humans is inhumane and completely immoral, while animals that do not function in the same way humans do should be used in medical research and to test the safety of various products. If animal testing were illegal, how would worldly corporations determine the safety of products? Surely the valuable lives of human beings are not essential to risk, hence the reason that animal experimenting is necessary. In addition, medical research would be in great jeopardy if were animals were not permitted to be experimented on. Medical industries have already come so far in treating multiple ailments due to the tests performed on animals. Alas, it is safe to say that for the continued thriving of our society, forbidding animal experimentation would be detrimental.
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
The ethics behind using animals for experiments and tests has been questioned and debated for years. Many people believe that animal experimentations can be crucial towards medical breakthroughs such as the cure for cancer, HIV/AIDS or asthma. Meanwhile others argue that animals that are used to test cosmetics such as make-up and perfumes are inhuman because is not going to help improve the human race. Animals suffer through multiple types of torture such as being forced to ingest poisonous chemicals, blinded, burned, stapled, and infected with disease viruses. Even though animal experimentation may be considered inhumane to many, animal experimentation is crucial to advancements in medical research and can lead to a better quality of life; on the other hand, animal experimentation should not be used to develop cosmetics because such experimentation is cruel and unnecessary.
The testing of animals is rising from pharmaceutical and cosmetic companies because the companies are spending billions of dollars on animals testing in order to make products safer to humans. Test animals are also treated poorly and, because of how they are treated, the animals begin to act differently. The substances cosmetics companies inject into animals are very harmful and torturous to animals, so most animals end up dying or being severely handicapped from then on. Most of the findings and conclusions from animal experimentation do not end up working the same way with humans. Enormous amounts of money are spent on animal testing each year when there are better ways to put the investments for better benefit for our country. Advancements in technology should be used to speed up and improve the process of developing cures for humans instead of continuing to torture innocent creatures. Although animal testing is still being used, the European Union has banned it completely. There are many alternative ways that are in the process of being made but ultimately we need an alternative method that bans animal testing completely.
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.
“Over 1 million animals are burned, crippled, poisoned, and abused in U.S. labs” according to DoSomething.org. And although these animals may be considered protected under the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) they are still able to be tortured and mistreated in labs. On top of all this, there is absolutely no guarantee that results and data collected from these procedures are accurate. Our anatomic builds are similar in ways but not at all interchangeable. Even though it has saved lives, animal experimentation should be banned because it is not a guarantee that these procedures are done pain free and humans and animals react differently to the medicines and chemicals used.
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.
Simple household items such as lotions, shampoos and cosmetics aren’t very expensive and are within reach for the public, yet the public is not knowledgeable of the fact that the products that they use everyday are put through a series of tests which involve the use of harmless animals. Several large commercial companies do not make products for animals; they decide that using these harmless creatures for the testing of their products, could be cause to be harmful to animals still go forward with these types of procedures on an everyday basis. Although these animals are unable to defend themselves or signs of any form of consent for the near death procedures, these companies find this as a cheap solution for testing their products before placing them on the market. There are many other alternatives to testing animals such as embryonic stem cell research. Animal experimentation is wrong and it can be avoided but companies which are greedy for money chose not to.
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.
First of all, animal testing should be banned in order to protect the rights of animals. In other words, animals’ rights are infringed by experimenting on them. Animals and humans are similar in many ways. To begin with, they have similar levels of biological complexity. They both are aware that they exist and they both make conscious choices. Philosophy professor at North Carolina State University Tom Regan points out "Animals have a basic moral right to respectful treatment. This inherent value is not respected when animals are reduced to being mere tools in a scientific experiment." (F. B. Orlans) Experimentation on an animal ...
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.
Cosmetic animal testing has been a controversial topic for decades but has recently gained more attention from the media due to oppositional organizations such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). Those in favor of animal experimentation make the argument that they are taking animals’ lives to save humans’, but is it really necessary to subject animals to torturous conditions or painful experiments in the name of science? Animal experimentation needs to be abolished because it is unethical and selfish to destroy an animal 's life.