Animal Testing

50 million animals in the U.S. alone are suffering and dying for the sake of beauty products and medical research. While cosmetic animal testing has already been banned in 42 countries and 10 U.S. states, many would say that it’s still not enough. Critics say that we need to make it illegal to test animals for any reason. So here are some of the reasons why countless individuals think animal testing should be universally illegal.

Poor Test Subjects

Animal species differ biologically from each other in so many ways that it becomes even more unlikely that an animal experiment will show results that are correctly interpreted and applied to humans. The former National Cancer Institute Director Dr. Richard Klausner once said, “We have cured mice of cancer for decades, and it simply didn’t work in humans.” This most likely keeps on happening because mice have higher immune systems than humans, making their reaction to medicines stopping cancer more effective and less dangerous. But, according to many, that defeats the whole point of doing these tests in the first place. If the goal is to check if these products are poisonous or dangerous to humans, then testing animals is pointless because it doesn’t achieve that goal.

Cruel and Inhumane

Some say that the way animals are tested is both cruel and inhumane. They are put through excruciating pain such as being force-fed daily doses of chemicals, having their spinal cords damaged, being implanted with various devices, and being taken from their mothers as infants. The mascara that might be in your bathroom has likely been tested on rabbits who suffered skin and eye irritation from the chemicals being rubbed onto their shaved skin with no pain relief. Many believe that it is disgusting how much pain these animals are put through for the sake of research, and many notice how much mental and physical pain these animals feel. It's still not clear why there isn’t as much of a push to ban animal testing; a reason for this could be people’s ignorance of how these animals feel regarding these tests. But these creatures feel the trauma of being forced to live in small metal cages without room to move in. And it doesn't end there because when the experiment is done, these animals are sometimes killed so that their tissues and organs can be examined, making some wonder how it’s worth it to get that research in or that beauty product on the market for the sake of living beings' lives.

Alternative Methods Exist

Finally, new alternative methods exist that many say can easily replace animal testing. Research with human volunteers, sophisticated computational methods, and in vitro studies based on human cells and tissues are just some of the many new substitutes and alternative options that experts say we can use instead of animal testing. Since the use of animals as test subjects has so many limitations, many believe that we should be using these new methods that offer countless possibilities for creating more humane methods that accurately mimic how the human body will respond to drugs, chemicals, or treatments. The only reason people believe more of these companies aren’t making these options the norm is because of how expensive it is and some of the problems these methods have. But despite these setbacks, millions of brands with parent companies that don’t work with countries that still test on animals have already started using these new methods. And many say that these products work just as well as animal testing brands, only safer and more accurate. So with all of these alternative options and brands already using all of the new substitutes for animal testing, many wonder why they can’t be the norm for cosmetic testing and medical research.

Conclusion

According to the Humane Society and countless other individuals, animal testing is doing more harm than good to animals and humans. But many believe that if we use these new methods more often and ban animal testing universally once and for all, the world would be a better place for both animals and humans.

Sources:

https://www.britannica.com/story/pro-and-con-animal-testing#:~:text=Drugs%20that%20pass%20animal%20tests,predict%20results%20in%20human%20beings.

https://www.humanesociety.org/resources/animals-used-experiments-faq

https://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-experimentation/animals-used-experimentation-factsheets/animal-experiments-overview/#:~:text=Each%20year%2C%20

https://sentientmedia.org/animal-testing/#:~:text=Due%20to%20the%20combination%20of,confinement%20or%20other%20invasive%20procedures.

https://www.freethebunnies.com/cruelty-free-bath-and-body-brands/