The Ugly Truth of Looking Pretty
Selena Sheth
Did you know that in several parts of the globe, animals are suffering confined in labs by testing products such as shampoo and eye shadow? The cosmetic products we use every day seem pretty harmless; however, it is anything but that to our furry friends. The chemicals are forced onto their skin, affecting more than 100,000 animals. These beauty companies go through some extremely ugly processes to make people feel pretty wearing their products.
Typically, animal exams for cosmetics encompass skin and eye irritation tests wherein chemical substances are rubbed onto the shaved skin or dripped into the eyes of rabbits; repeated oral force-feeding research lasting weeks or months to search for signs of standard illness or particular health dangers, consisting of most cancers or start defects; and even broadly condemned “deadly dose” assessments, in which animals are forced to swallow massive quantities of a check chemical to decide the dose that reasons loss of life. These exams can cause great pain and distress consisting of blindness, swollen eyes, sore bleeding pores and skin, internal bleeding and organ harm, birth defects, convulsions and death. The animals are not given pain relief and at the end of the test animals will likely be killed, commonly with the aid of asphyxiation, neck-breaking or decapitation.
There are also detrimental environmental impacts that stem from animal testing, Typically, facilities that engage in in this not only dispose of animals, but also dispose of potentially dangerous chemicals, food waste, and a variety of supplies used during the testing process. Additionally, animal testing also heavily impacts water and air quality. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), “waste from their animal testing facilities totaled 1.5 million pounds from 2011 to 2013.” This use of chemicals and supplies contribute not only to pollution but to adverse effects on biodiversity.
In a huge win for animals, the European Union (EU), Israel, and India have prohibited the purchase of any cosmetics or cosmetic ingredients that have been tested on animals. These marketing bans mean that large companies all around the globe will have to discontinue animal testing for cosmetics if they want to sell in these extensive markets. Unfortunately, there’s no ban on testing cosmetics or household products on animals in the U.S., so companies that produce and sell their products here can continue to conduct experiments on animals. So, what can we do, as Americans, to limit animal cruelty? What are different alternative forms of testing? What are some other environmental effects of animal testing?
https://faunalytics.org/animal-research-an-environmental-perspective/https://www.humanesociety.org/resources/cosmetics-testing-faqhttps://jaishroff.wordpress.com/2016/11/15/the-significant-impact-of-animal-testing-on-the-environment/https://shop.vita.world/blogs/news/the-truth-about-animal-cruelty-in-the-beauty-industry
6 comments:
I knew this was an ethical problem, however I was not aware of the environmental effects of this. As an American, something I can do to limit animal cruelty is probably to buy less from brands that test on animals. Different alternative forms of testing we could possibly use are lifelike scientific dummies? Some other environmental effects of animal testing are the methane they could produce,
Wow...I've always learned of testing drugs on rats as part of the scientific process, but the torture regarding household products sounds terrible (NO PAINKILLERS!). Furthermore, the environmental impact you described is often looked over. The experimental process definitely needs ethical improvement for large companies like Lysol, so we should follow the EU with bans on current unethical animal testing practices. Alternatively, we can grow human cells to test on. However, we do lose the ability to observe a full-body reaction to certain chemicals.
These issues involving animals are sometimes some of the worst ones because of the way they are treated. Forcing these animals to intake potentially toxic chemicals for our personal gain is something we would have done hundreds of years ago, because there are better ways of testing these products in the future. The closest thing we can do to stop the continued purchase of these animal tested products is to simply boycott it. Make people avoid buying it so that the companies that conduct these harmful tests realize that they don’t gain from hurting another creature.
I had no idea how cruel so many companies are to animals. The list of companies who do take part of animal testing shocked me as well. I personally can avoid companies that use animal testing and encourage others to follow to make a point that they should find a different way.
There are already companies who don’t partake in animal testing. I found this website, https://www.crueltyfreekitty.com/list-of-cruelty-free-brands/ . It lists all the cruelty free brands and you can easily search up a company or product to support brands that don’t use animal testing.
I've always hated that scientist use innocent animals for testing. I have researched many times about their cruel treatment and I hope one day we will be able to stop it. However, I did not know about the laws in other countries that prohibit the purchase of items that were tested on animals. I hope the US and all other countries implement that law some day.
Animal testing is an outdated practice that must be put an end to before further damage is done. In recent decades, consumers and companies have become more concerned with the ethics of industrial production; measures have begun to use sustainable fabrics and materials while also minimizing the output of harmful substances. Animal testing is one of the practices that is endangering innocent animals and taking no regard for their wellbeing. I think governments should take a more forceful stance on the issue and prohibit companies from animal testing or otherwise risk having to pay huge fines or the possibility of having to close their doors.
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