The Draize Test is one of the most controversial series of cosmetics testing in the industry. For years, this test has raised disputes on whether the companies who perform this test are in dissension from their social responsibility and whether the use of these tests violate animal rights. There are several variations of the Draize Test. These include the Draize eye irritancy test, which is used by companies in the cosmetic industry to test products and the reactions that may arise when they come in contact with the eyes by pouring the product into the animal’s eyes. Animals can be forced fed, washed in, injected with, or rubbed with the solution of a product in order to see what reaction they have. Everything from deodorant to lotion is …show more content…
Ulcers, blindness, bleeding, burns, convulsions, seizures, and death are regular occurrences during the Draize tests. Animal rights activists are trying their best to stop these violent tests. A quick search of the internet will result in multiple petitions that can be signed, demonstrations and protests are held multiple times a year, and numerous letters are sent and phone calls made to both cosmetic companies and senators and congress members. One of the most well known events occurred in the UK when a dozen activists wearing rabbit suits created a flash mob Some of these actions have yielded big results for these activists. In the UK, extreme regulations have been put into place to save innocent animals from immense pain while still allowing the companies to test new products. According to the Home Office in Britain, "physical and chemical properties are not such that a severe adverse reaction could be predicted" and "known corrosive substances or those with a high oxidation or reduction potential must not be …show more content…
It is completed by dripping, pouring, or rubbing a solution of the product into the animal’s eyes. The solution is left in for three days to determine if the animal will have a reaction to the test and if so what the consequences of the reaction are. Another form of the Draize test is the skin test. A section of fur is shaved off of the animal and the solution is rubbed onto the animal’s bare skin and left to see if a reaction occurs. Some of the severe reactions can leave the animal maimed but the animal is not euthanized until the scientists have seen the full reaction. There are cases where the product itself kills the animal before it can be euthanized. Once the tests are completed, the administrators have two options in dealing with the rabbits. Killing the rabbits is the most used option. However, some of the rabbits may be reused at a later time if they are allowed a rest period or “wash out” time. No one is able to determine which fate is worse for these poor creatures. But the question still remains, what can be done in place of the Draize
They are forcibly given toxic substances and pain relief is never an option. Killing the animals at the end of the testing is common practice, since the animals are no longer useful. In one example, rabbits acted as test subjects to test the eye irritation of certain shampoos. The bunnies were restrained, their eyelids forced open with clips for days and the shampoos were applied. Some of the test subjects experienced redness, ulcers, and bleeding and even blindness.
“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.
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.
Every year over 100 million animals die in the US; the cause for these deaths, animal testing. This injustice to animals involves testing products such as medical drugs or makeup, on poor imprisoned animals that don’t have the ability to stand for their own rights as most of us do. Animals used for testing are given products that may result in burning, poisoning, or death. These animals are forced to live in confined spaces where they wait until the next horrible experiment. They are, tortured beyond imagination as they are sometimes even cut open while they are alive (know as vivisection), either with expired analgesics or even without them.
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.
...ts on animals. China is also in the process of decreasing the amount of animal tested products in circulation as well (“Cosmetics and House-Hold Products Animal Testing”). Even though there are alternatives to using animals in this testing, companies in the United States still continue to torture animals for the sake of beauty. There are plenty more ways to experiment with products that do not involve animals in any way, and these tests also produce more reliable information. According to Earth Protect, Tests like this are often cheaper and produce faster results than animal research ever has. For example, there is a model of human cornea tissues that can be subject to eye irritation experiments instead of a rabbit, and there are models of skin cells that can be used for skin irritation tests instead of guinea pigs (“Cosmetic Animal Testing Facts and Alternatives”).
According to the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (2013) over one hundred million animals suffer and sometimes die from experiments to test chemicals, drugs, foods, and cosmetics (para 3). Although it is good that the companies are concerned that their products do not harm consumers, the law does not require most of these tests animals endure. Furthermore, these tests do not have accurate results, so the animals may suffer but the product is still sold to the people. While products that burnt bunnies’ eyes away are being marketed to consumers, government agencies are using taxpayers’ hard earned money to fund these horrible, pointless experiments.
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.
Approximately two to four million animals have been used in safety tests. Safety tests are conducted with a wide range of chemicals and products, including drugs, vaccines, cosmetics, household cleaners, and packing materials. This raises issues such as the ethics and humaneness of deliberately poisoning animals, thus harming them, for the sake of marketing a new cosmetic or household product.
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.
Animal testing is one the most beyond cruelty against animals. It is estimated about 7 million innocent animals are electrocuted, blinded, scalded, force-fed chemicals, genetically manipulated, killed in the name of science. By private institutions, households products, cosmetics companies, government agencies, educational institutions and scientific centers. From the products we use every day, such as soap, make-up, furniture polish, cleaning products, and perfumes. Over 1 million dogs, cats, primates, sheep, hamsters and guinea pigs are used in labs each year. Of those, over 86,000 are dogs and cat. All companies are most likely to test on animals to make patients feel safe and are more likely to trust medicines if they know they have been tested on animals first (PETA, N.D, page 1). These tests are done only to protect companies from consumer lawsuits. Although it’s not quite true, Humans and animals don’t always react in the same way to drugs. In the UK an estimated 10,000 people are killed or severely disabled every year by unexpected reactions to drugs, all these drugs have passed animal tests. Animal testing is often unpredictable in how products will work on people. Some estimates say up to 92 percent of tests passed on animals failed when tried on humans (Procon.org, 2014, page 1). Animal testing can’t show all the potential uses for a drug. The test results are...
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.
Animal testing is an act of barbarism, the fact that animals are being bred to be a victim of crude experiments and then euthanized is cruel. An Eye Irritancy Test is a test in which albino rabbits have a substance entered into their eyes that are held open with clips for seven to eighteen days. The rabbits are confined in stocks with only their heads protruding while experimenters record the damage of the eye tissue which can vary to being swollen eyelids, inflamed irises, ulceration, bleeding, massive deterioration, and blindness. Many rabbits break their necks as they struggle to escape from the pain. Another savage test is an Acute Toxicity Test, also known as lethal doses, or poisoning tests. This test determines the amount of a substance that will kill a percentage of a group of test animals. Substances are forced into the animal’s body by tubes to the stomach, cuts to the throat, introduced to the eyes, mixed into food or inhaled through a gas mask. Reactions to this test can include convulsions, heavy breathing, diarrhea, constipation, emaciation, contortion, skin eruptions, and bleeding. The testing period continues until at least half of the animals die, approximately two to four weeks. Keep in mind, anesthesia is absent during these procedures.
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.
A second practice involves taking a chemical that is used to produce a specific kind of make-up and rubbing it into the skin of an animal after its fur has been shaved. Skin irritation tests cause the chemical to seep into the body of the animal, not just the skin. This chemical process is also done on the eyes. The scientists will drip a certain amount of a chemical into the eyes of an animal causing excruciating pain. The animals are not given pain relief medication of any kind after the procedure to see how it affects them and if the effects are