How Is Cosmetic Animal Testing?
History – The first known tests on animals were done as early as 300 BC. “Writings of ancient civilizations all document the use of animal testing. These civilizations, led by men like Aristotle and Erasistratus, used live animals to test various medical procedures”.
- This testing was important because it led to new discoveries such as how blood circulated and the fact that living beings needed air to survive.
- The idea of taking an animal and comparing it to how human beings survived was a completely new idea.
- It would not have existed (at least not as quickly as it did) without our ancestors studying animals and how their bodies worked.
“Proving the germ theory of disease was the crowning achievement of the French scientist Louis Pasteur. He was not the first to propose that diseases were caused by microscopic organisms, but the view was controversial in the 19th century and opposed the accepted theory of ‘spontaneous generation'”.
- The idea of germs and other microscopic organisms was a completely new idea and would not have come to be without the use of animals.
- In 1665, scientists Robert Hooke and Antoni van Leeuwenhoek discovered and studied how germs worked.
- They published a book about their discovery, which was not accepted by very many people, including the science community, at first.
After some time, scientists were able to give animals diseases from microbes and realized that microbes really did exist. From there they were able to use animals to understand how the disease worked, and the effects it could potentially have on the human body.
All of this has led up to something a bit more recent, the use of animals to test beauty products. This has become a very controversial topic in recent years. There are various people who are extremely against the use of animals for this purpose, and for a good reason. “Typically, animal tests for cosmetics include skin and eye irritation tests where chemicals are rubbed onto the shaved skin or dripped into the eyes of rabbits; repeated oral force-feeding studies lasting weeks or months to look for signs of general illness or specific health hazards, such as cancer or birth defects; and even widely condemned “lethal dose” tests, in which animals are forced to swallow massive amounts of a test chemical to determine the dose that causes death”.
This kind of testing can be vital in finding important information about products but can be harmful to the animals it is tested on. In 1937, a mistake was made that ended up changing the pharmaceutical industry drastically. A company created a medicine ( elixir sulfanilamide ) “to treat streptococcal infections”, and without any scientific research the medicine was out on shelves.
How is cosmetic animal testing cruel?
Animals are still suffering and dying to test shampoo, mascara and other cosmetics. Terrified rabbits, guinea pigs, mice and rats have substances forced down their throats, dripped into their eyes or smeared onto their skin before they are killed. With your support, we can end cosmetics testing on animals.
What companies do animal testing?
Companies Who Test on Animals – 
The grey area between brands, multinational companies, cosmetic companies, and cruelty-free brands has blurred. Many conglomerates like Unilever, Proctor and Gamble, S.C. Johnson, Johnson & Johnson, Henkel, Church & Dwight, and Reckitt Benckiser are multi-billion dollar companies that operate in many product segments.
Some companies trade in household cleaners, feminine hygiene, cosmetics, toiletries, and even baby food. One of the issues these companies face is that they can’t afford not-to-sell to the growing global demand of Chinese consumers and be cruelty-free. These companies are beholden to shareholders, and lab rats or monkeys can’t stand in the way of profit.
For the top 20 companies that test on animals, we will look at the big multi-product enterprises and cosmetic and fragrance houses that may not test on American soil but sell products in China, where testing is mandatory. For those searching for alternative cruelty-free brands for beauty and skincare products, PETA has a substantial list of Beauty Without Bunnies that are sustainability friendly.
What are alternatives to animal testing in cosmetics in the EU?
Alternative Testing Methods – Today, scientists and cosmetics brands rely on a wide range of non-animal testing methods. These include, but are not limited to, in vitro testing (using human cells and tissues), in silico testing (using computer modelling techniques) and research with the help of human volunteers.
Does Germany test on animals?
Figures of animals used for scientific purposes in Germany Old world monkeys like these rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) are for instance used for HIV-research and neurosciences at the DPZ. Photo: Karin Tilch In Germany all experiments with vertebrates must be approved and the number of animals must be reported to the relevant authorities.
However, in Germany this figure is only a part of the annual numbers of experimental animals. For animal tests in the scientific sense, interventions are made to manufacture products, substances or organisms, for training purposes or the removal of tissues or organs for use in alternative methods. Statistics for 2009 to 2021 shows that the numbers of test animals used in Germany are subject to only a slight fluctuation (Figure 1).
Over the past nine years between 2,5 and 3 million animals have been used annually. In 2021, 2,503,682 animals were used for scientific purposes. Included in this count are 1,859,479 animals used in animal experiments and 644,207 animals that have been euthanized for scientific purposes without experimental intervention, i.e.
Used to obtain cells for cell culture, for example. For the first time, the 2021 statistics also include data on animals that were bred and euthanized but not used for scientific purposes. This amounted to a further 2,554,560 animals. Breeding for animal experimentation inevitably results in animals that are not suitable for the animal experiments in question.
For example, in breeding, not all animals express the desired genetic characteristics (“Mendel’s rules”). Such biological laws cannot be overridden, and even with careful planning, animals will inevitably be born that do not carry all the desired traits as a result of breeding.
Do animals feel pain during animal testing?
How Much Pain Do Animals Experience in Animal Research? – Most animals experience only minimal pain or brief discomfort when they are used in research. According to the 1988 Animal Welfare Enforcement Report by the Department of Agriculture, about 94 percent of all laboratory animals reported are not exposed to painful procedures or are given drugs to relieve any pain caused by a procedure.
The remaining 6 percent of animals are exposed to painful procedures because to relieve them of the pain would defeat the purpose of the experiment. Even in these cases, however, the pain is usually neither severe nor long-lasting. A small fraction of animals do experience acute or prolonged pain during experiments.
But the researchers who conduct these experiments and the institutional committees that oversee them believe that this pain is justified by the magnitude of the problem the experiments are designed to solve. An estimated 85 million Americans suffer from chronic pain caused by arthritis, back disorders, injuries, cancer, headaches, or other conditions.
- The annual economic costs in terms of work days lost and health care expenditures from chronic pain run into the tens of billions of dollars.
- Without research on a relatively small number of laboratory animals, there is little hope that continued progress can be made in alleviating this widespread human suffering.
The statistics concerning pain in laboratory animals confirm a general conviction of the research community. Animal activists are wrong when they accuse researchers of inflicting needless pain on experimental animals. Researchers strive to cause animals either no pain or no more pain than is absolutely necessary.
What percent of cosmetics are tested on animals?
According to a survey among the 50 largest cosmetic brands in the world, 88% of them are not cruelty-free.
How are animals tortured in animal testing?
Imagine living inside a locked closet without any control over any aspect of your life. You can’t choose when and what you eat, how you will spend your time, whether or not you will have a partner and children, or who that partner will be. You can’t even decide when the lights go on and off.
- Think about spending your entire life like this, a prisoner, even though you have committed no crime.
- This is life for an animal in a laboratory,
- It is deprivation, isolation, and misery.
- On top of the deprivation, there are the experiments.U.S.
- Law allows animals to be burned, shocked, poisoned, isolated, starved, drowned, addicted to drugs, and brain-damaged.
No experiment, no matter how painful or trivial, is prohibited – and pain-killers are not required. Even when alternatives to the use of animals are available, the law does not require that they be used—and often they aren’t. Animals are infected with diseases that they would never normally contract, tiny mice grow tumors as large as their own bodies, kittens are purposely blinded, rats are made to suffer seizures, and primates’ skulls are cut open and electrodes are implanted in them.
- Experimenters force-feed chemicals to animals, conduct repeated surgeries on them, implant wires in their brains, crush their spines, and much more.
- After enduring these terrifying, painful procedures, animals are then usually dumped back into a cage without any painkillers.
- Video footage from inside laboratories shows animals who cower in fear every time someone walks by their cages.
They don’t know if they will be dragged from their prison cells for an injection, blood withdrawal, a painful procedure, surgery, or death. Often they see other animals killed right in front of them. No animals are safe from experimentation— cats, dogs, fish, mice, pigs, primates, rabbits, and rats are just a few of the species routinely used in these tests.
Check out PETA’s interactive timeline, ” Without Consent,” which features almost 200 stories of twisted experiments from the past century, including ones in which dogs were forced to inhale cigarette smoke for months, mice were cut up while still conscious, and cats were deafened, paralyzed, and drowned.
Without Consent You can help stop this. Sign PETA’s pledge to be cruelty-free, request alternatives to dissection, and support only charities and companies that don’t torture animals in cruel experiments.