Should make up and other products be tested on animals?

Many brands and companies around the world need to make sure their products are safe to be used by the public. Products such as make up, lotions, creams, sunscreens, hair spray, air fresheners, and cleaning products are tested on innocent helpless animals. This is to assure the safety of a product before putting it on sale. We need to make sure that these products full of chemicals are safe for us to use; therefore, testing on animals is an efficient way to validate the fact that our products are people friendly. What if they aren’t people friendly or if the product isn’t safe for us to use? Who finds that out the hard way? Animals do. We, the human race, use these products and chemicals, and make animals suffer to ensure our safety. Animals do not even wear the makeup or use the products they have to suffer for; we do. It’s not fair for them. This species does not intentionally hurt anyone; the only reason an animal would harm another living being would be because of self-defense or because of the food chain. That’s it. There is no evil in these animals; they could never intentionally harm someone. I understand that I’ve just broadened the topic to animal rights, but animal testing is an offense to animal rights. These innocent little creatures can feel pain just like we can, they can get scared just like we can, they can shiver, whimper, panic, cry, and feel tortured just like we can. Animals are good; what makes them any less important than humans? Why should we be able to take advantage of them just because they are unable to have a say for themselves? The human race is so selfish; we are destructive and do not care for anything but ourselves. Not only do we hunt, kill, eat, test on, and place animals in captivity against their will in order to satisfy ourselves. We also trash the environment around us; we’ve nearly destroyed the only known planet with life in the universe.

Narrowing it back down to animal testing, I don’t think its fair. Mainly smaller animals such as rodents, rabbits, cats, and dogs undergo testing. This makes the testing slightly inaccurate; all things considered our bodies differ from those of mice. Anyways, it does seem that companies have managed to sell safe products by using animal testing results. Just because we aren’t getting rashes, going blind, having chemical reactions, or getting poisoned doesn’t make animal testing right. Little bunny rabbits get chemicals directly put into their eyes, in order for us to know whether or not it’s safe to have these products near our eyes. Is it fair for little kittens to go blind, just to make sure our mascara is waterproof? In my opinion, no it isn’t.

Okay, fine, we’ve established that animal testing isn’t fair. Now what are the alternatives? We stop testing on animals against their will and start testing on humans against theirs? No. There are rational alternatives to testing on helpless animals, one of them being human volunteers. If we pay humans enough money, I’m sure that there will be humans willing to be tested on. That may increase the cost of the products, but I guess that’s worth it. A bottle of scented lotion isn’t worth the life of a puppy. Not even close. MAC Cosmetics is a high-end cosmetic line and is arguably one of the more expensive make up brands out there. MAC does not test their products on animals, so, maybe the reason its expensive is because they pay human volunteers to test their products. Other alternatives to testing on animals include “synthetic skin called Corrositex, computer modeling, statistical designs, and the Murine Local Lymph Node Assay”. The Murine Local Lymph Node Assay is a test that determines the reactions of chemicals. It reduces the pain and stress put on animals in testing and decreases the amount of animals needed to test on. I do not fully support this alternative but it is better than nothing. The past is the past; there is nothing we can do to change it. Therefore, we can use prior knowledge and results from prior tests on animals to determine the safety of a certain ingredient. If science and technology were able to create touch screen cell phones, laptops with the most impressive soft wares, and cars with built in navigation systems, than I am more than sure that they can find a way to test products without harming animals. In my opinion, science and technology can invent an alternative to animal testing but society has neglected the importance of animals too much for any scientist to put much effort into. In our society high tech cell phones seem more important than the lives of animals. Maybe, again that’s just my opinion.

Millions and millions of animals die every year because of animal testing. I encourage you all to pay attention to companies that do not test their products on animals. To distinguish those that do from those that don’t. Avoid buying products from companies that do use animal testing. This is a challenge considering the vast majority of companies that do, but please try. You will help save the lives of those adorable little animals that deserve nothing but love and care from us. Also, you can go and support PETA. PETA stands for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. If PETA gets enough support and attention then maybe they can take a stand and make a difference.