By: Kelsey Martin
2014 has been a fantastic year for the cosmetic industry. With sales reaching as high as 12.7 billion dollars, the industry has reached an all time high since 2002. For many, it’s a necessity. Some people can afford to go out one day without a touch of mascara or lipstick on. However what many people don’t realize is the procedures and safety precautions that are “necessary” in order to be able to put these products on the shelves, and many of these products have a common test group, animals.
Each year, more than 100 million animals are tested on. These include: mice, cats, dogs, fish, birds, and even guinea pigs themselves. The experimentations used on these animals include, but are not limited to, inhaling dangerous toxins or using injections on the test subjects. As a result, more than 90% of these animals either endure permanent damage or death.
Picture this: You have just gotten a brand new puppy, one that is the perfect fit. A week later, you find out that your new pet needs to get tests done, tests that you know nothing about. You figure it’s for their own benefit so you agree. When your pet finally returns home, something’s not right. Its skin is blotchy, its eyes are bloodshot red, and it’s not the same as when you got it. Everything is different, for the worst.
If you wouldn’t want these tests done to your pet, how could you let other innocent animals suffer?
It’s an injustice! Animals cannot interact nor communicate with humans, and experimenters take that for granted. Companies and scientists are allowed to use whichever experiments they consider necessary to get the best possible product out to their consumers. It does not matter to them what the animals have to endure in order to get the best results possible. To them, they are nothing more than laboratory equipment, and to the animals, it is deprivation, isolation, and misery.
These experiments that are conducted are not easily arranged. The costs of cosmetic purposed experiments alone can range anywhere from ten thousand to one hundred thousand dollars per examination. The costs contribute to getting access to the right chemicals, test subjects, and equipment. Not to mention, it takes a long time to actually analyze a test result and draw a conclusion based on the results. The average cosmetic animal’s experimentation can range from six months to two years. (Source 4) By the time these products are done, companies are already done developing new products that they eventually will need to be tested.
Even after millions of these experiments are done, many researchers have found that many of these experiments are inconclusive and ineffective. In other words, if a product was placed on an animal and was found to be harmful, many times it’s often found to be harmless to humans. And when products are found harmless to animals, later tests show that it could potentially be harmful to humans. Tests vary. Researchers need to take in to account the physical characteristics and body compositions of animals, for example mice and cats, compared to humans. It’s completely different, and because of that, the reactions of the products will often be different between the two species.
In some countries they have prohibited the technique of animal experimentation, and banned products that use them as their test subjects, including Norway, Israel and India. However, in the United States it is still legal.
Many companies believe that the experimentations are only used to protect the health and safety of humans. The tests confirm that the products can be used in their stores. However, there is no clear indication that these tests are safe on humans if they are safe on animals. Again, these tests vary, and there is a significant difference between animal test subjects and humans, so these tests aren’t always valid.
Other companies suggest that using animal testing gives them a competitive edge over competing companies that don’t normally use animal testing. But when it comes right down to it, which company would have the best reputation; the one that doesn’t use animal experimentations, yet has products that have passed safety regulations and are able to be showcased in their stores, or the one that uses animal tests that aren’t always accurate and are cruel and brutal to their test subjects, and they too are showcased in their stores? Is it really worth it to destroy animals to get the best products possible?
Aside from companies, some researchers even suggest that animal experimentation has its benefits. Some even argue that these tests are actually safeguarding the environment if they do these tests. While these products may be discovered to cause less pollution and harm to the outdoors, it cannot safeguard the environment if they are killing all the animals in the process. How could it better for the environment if they are no animals left? These tests could not at all be beneficial for the environment.
While it may be hard for some companies to comprehend, there are alternatives for animal experimentations on their products. Instead of using animals to use as test subjects for various experiments, you could use human testing instead. Millions of people every year sign up to donate organs and body parts after they have passed away. These donations can be used on cosmetic testing. Other research has shown that reactions can still occur on these donated body parts, including skin and eyes. While this may seem a bit disturbing, it doesn’t harm or hurt the lives of any animal whatsoever.
Another way to stop animal cruelty and testing is to boycott companies that used animal experimentation on their products. There are over 1,500 companies that do not use animal experimentations, including stores like Abercrombie and Forever 21. If we stop buying from stores that use these tests all together, than eventually they will not get enough consumers, and would have to make a choice between not using cosmetic animal testing, and shutting down completely.
Experimentations on animals are a very controversial subject matter today. With the cosmetic industry growing every year, the choice to stop animal testing will be harder to conquer. It’s important to be aware of the products you use every day, because many of them have had a negative effect on millions of animals. It’s time to start deciding what’s more important, your favorite bottle of lotion, or your favorite species of animals.
