What you need to know about your make-up: animal testing

As years go by and new cosmetics are being released, ask yourself before buying them if they were once tested on unwilling animals.

Maryland, last month in May, had banned the sale of cosmetics tested on animals. 

Every past year, laws and bans such as the banning of the production of sales and the import of animal tested cosmetics have been placed in many countries and cities almost each month.  

The very first place to ban animal testing was the United Kingdom in 1998. All 27 countries in the European Union took 11two decades to pass the ban on animal cosmetic testing which was first introduced in 1993 and only passed in 2013. Though every day, hundreds of animals are still  tortured by lipstick tests and the harsh rubbing of brushes against their fur.

According to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), more than one hundred million animals are killed in American laboratories each year, “including mice, frogs, dogs, cats, rabbits, hamsters, guinea pigs, monkeys, fish and birds.” As stated by a popular campaign website, Humane Society International, many have been tested with poisonous chemicals which have burned the mammal’s skin. Pain relief for the animals while doing different types of tests is not being used. In addition to the pain of actual experiments, the animals inside the laboratory are deprived of all natural and essential things they need. They’re stored in sterile cages, removed from society, and psychologically traumatized.

PETA cites research that they say shows that animal experimentation is extremely ineffective and has caused harm to animals. While animal research has contributed to many medical advances, there are weaknesses to that practice as well. Diseases that are intentionally produced in laboratory animals, whether rabbits or monkeys, are never the same as those that show results in humans. And, because animal species differ biologically in so many ways, it can sometimes be uncertain how much animal responses tell us about human responses. 

As former director of the National Cancer Institute, Dr. Richard Klausner said recorded by PETA, “The history of cancer research has been a history of curing cancer in the mouse. We have cured mice of cancer for decades and it simply didn’t work in humans.” 

Sometimes, details showing how animals are used in research are leaked in ways that can be very disturbing. Once such incident occurred in 2019 when morbid undercover footage from a lab in Germany called the Laboratory of Pharmacology and Toxicology that tests on animals was released to the public.

 “It’s a nightmarish prison” said the employee who leaked the footage. “The experience was extremely shocking. It’s like a strange, secret world. The suffering, the hundreds of bored dogs barking, the monkeys in battery cages.” 

The employee said his goal in leaking the footage was to, “uncover the information that people need; I believe it’s not right in a democracy to keep entire industries shrouded in perfect secrecy.” 

With his successful plan in investigating what happens with confined walls, it was recovered that the facility once was fined 300 euros for bringing more new dogs to the lab with no permission. 

Image Credit: Flickr/Understanding Animal Research\