The Ugly Truth Behind the Beauty Products: No More Animal Testing

Did you know that the shampoo you use was probably shoved down the throat of a rabbit, mouse, or maybe even a dog? Cosmetic animal testing is an injustice that few people dare talk about in our society. For those few who do talk about it, even fewer do anything about it. These animals go through daily torture for products such as deodorant and eyeliner. Not to mention the utter uselessness of these tests and the crazy costs!

Cosmetic animal testing is cruel and unethical. Hundreds of thousands of animals around the globe suffer and die from cosmetic testing every year. In many parts of the world, animals in laboratories are still suffering and dying to test cosmetics such as lipstick and nail polish. Chemicals are forced down their throats, dripped into their eyes, and rubbed onto their shaved skin. It’s the ugly secret of the beauty industry has tried to hide from us. At the end of a test, animals are murdered, normally by suffocation, neck-breaking or decapitation, all extremely painful deaths. According to the humane society, ‘animal cruelty encompasses a range of behaviours harmful to animals, from neglect to malicious killing.’ Does animal testing not cross the line into animal cruelty by this definition? We preach about non-violence, but just sit here and do nothing, while this is happening right now. Hypocrite much? (sympathetic/sad tone) These poor, innocent animals are tortured and deprived of freedom due to the selfishness of humanity! (emphasise) Animals are living, breathing, beings who have emotions and rights, yet we tend to forget it and often treat them like toys – once old and used, we throw them out. This is animal abuse – and absolutely outrageous.

In addition, using animals for cosmetic testing is ineffective and unreliable. There are anatomic, metabolic, and cellular differences between animals and people, making animals poor models for human beings. This means that some products tested on animals may be safe for them but be dangerous for us, or vice versa. Results obtained from animal testing are used to determine whether a particular cosmetic would have any side-effects on human beings. Yet people can’t seem to understand that the body systems of animals are different from those of human beings. It’s that simple! An analysis of over 100 mouse cell types found that only 50% of the DNA responsible for regulating genes in mice could be matched with human DNA. For example, aspirin is widely used for the treatment of fever, pain, inflammation, etc. in human beings. However, this very medicine proves to be toxic for mice. Animal testing is used is so that we can make sure that the chemicals used in products will not irritate our skin or eyes. In theory, this may sound like a good idea. However, if the chemicals are so harsh that they must test them just to make sure they will not melt your eyes. Would you really want to use those chemicals on your face? Allowing companies to do this brings us closer and closer sets us up for a chemical disaster!

Moreover, animal testing is an expensive method of testing cosmetics. Cosmetic companies spend millions of dollars each year to test new products or formulas and to purchase animals. Nevertheless, provide shelter and feed them some disgusting chemical diet. There are already more than 20,000 chemical ingredients available to producers of cosmetics products that are safe. Why can’t companies use one of those? Why are we allowing this? Why should animals have to suffer as a result of the unnecessary desires of companies? There are many alternative methods for testing products that are both ethical and inexpensive. For example, in vitro (glass) testing, studying cell cultures in a petri dish can produce more relevant results than animal testing because human cells can be used. This would eliminate the need for animals at all! Another alternative is testing the products on artificial human skin, which would produce the best results for cosmetics. Both methods are much more reliable and financially feasible for companies.

As Mahatma Gandhi rightly said, “You can judge a nation’s moral progress by how it treats its animals.” Animals shouldn’t need to suffer just so we can have our (sarcastic tone) millionth black eyeliner just so this one can magically make our eyes pop. It’s an unreliable source of information and produces unnecessary costs, when money could go towards things more important like preventing animal cruelty, because why would we need the latest hot, new red lipstick when animals are being deprived of food as we speak? This obsolete, outrageous practice should be made illegal!