Animal Testing Must Stop Now: Speak Up and Act

Photo Courtesy / Pixabay Innocent animals become harmed so humans can take care. Photo Courtesy / Pixabay
Innocent animals become harmed so humans can take care.

By Cassandra Sedler
Staff Writer

As consumers, we often blindly purchase a multitude of products from the beauty supply or drug store.

Little to no thought goes in to question the manufacturing process, let alone what ingredients and chemicals were put in the makeup, soap, shampoo, lotions, etc. we use every day.

Companies advertise these products as if they were made delicately by hand, along with the best intentions and ingredients.

Sadly, this is far from the case, especially in the makeup industry.

Each year, more than 100 million animals are tortured in the U.S. for animal testing, the majority of which is conducted by the cosmetic industry.

Bunnies, guinea pigs, mice and rats are subjected to cosmetic animal testing that is just abusive and already proven to be unnecessary.

The methods practiced by many top companies are unethical immoral, and obscenely cruel.

Under testing, products are applied directly to the animal’s skin, or the animal is forced to consume or inhale the toxic chemicals.

After suffering through a painful death, the animals are examined to study the extent of damage to then determine which chemicals were lethal.

Animal testing has been in practice since the 1920s to establish the safety of a new product or drug before being sold or used for humans.

However, considering the immense technology we have at our disposal in the 21st century, there is no excuse for animal testing to continue.

Animal testing should be obsolete as alternative methods are already being practiced such as the use of computer simulations, synthetic human skin or stem cells to test the safety of a product.

If you are a conscientious consumer, the best way to collectively put an end to animal cruelty, especially in the cosmetic industry, is to stop purchasing these products from top companies that test on animals.

By supporting cruelty-free brands by only buying makeup not tested on animals, we are making it harder for the animal testing industries to sell their products.

Without sales, the big companies would have no choice but to alter their unethical production methods.

For these reasons, it is incredibly important for us as consumers to be mindful of the products we buy, what goes into making those products, and what companies we are consequently supporting.

Email Cassandra at:
csedler@live.esu.edu