CB READERS: SHOULD COSMETIC TESTING ON ANIMALS BE BANNED?

Dear CB readers, this topic was a research topic given to me at school to research on and make a speech out of it. After all the researches done, I have decided to publish this article to my blog so as to share with my readers.

              Testing cosmetics on animals is a type of animal testing used to test the safety and hypo-allergenic properties of products for use by humans. 

According to my research, I see that numerous animals are experimented on and then killed after their use, while others are injured and will spend the remaining of their lives held in captivity. That is

wrong. That is being cruel to animals. Animals should not be put through pain just to make humans look better. It is cruel and unfair. Humans can live without make-up. Why should they have to die for us? They can feel pain, and have emotions too. How would we feel if animals wanted to test on us? You wouldn't be happy, right?

              Statistics shows that 115 million, not including rats and mice, animals die each year from cosmetic alone. They are forced to live in cold cages, and wait until they are picked to be experimented on. Their blood pressure gets high whenever someone walks past there cage, they also get really scared and start walking around in circles, rocking back and forth and eating their skin and hair. This is not how we should be treating animals, we should treat them with respect. At least, we share this planet with them.

               Researchers and Animal Scientists have researched on the fact of testing cosmetic on animals. "I don't think we can justify using animals for cosmetics research," said Clive Page, a researcher at the University of London. Research shows that animal testing on cosmetics or their ingredients was banned in the UK in 1998. And in early 2014, India announced a ban on testing cosmetics on animals in the country, thereby becoming the second country in Asia to do so. Later India banned import of cosmetics tested on animals in November 2014. With all this, we can see that cosmetic testing on animals is wrong.

                  We know all things got advantages and disadvantages, but on the case of cosmetic testing on animals, advantages only goes to the company because that is what favours them.  

·         Companies who participate in cosmetic testing have a competitive edge over companies who do not test their cosmetics.

·         Companies feel that they are safeguarding the environment through cosmetic testing on animals.

·         Companies feel that consumers are pressuring for safe and improved products.

Listed above are the advantages of cosmetics testing on animals and are of the companies’ advantages. They are not putting animals and its environment into consideration. Here are the disadvantages of cosmetic testing on animals;

                                 

·         Numerous animals are experimented on and then killed after their use, while others are injured and will spend the remainder of their lives held in captivity.

·         The tests causes severe allergic reactions to the animals.

·         Cosmetic testing can lead to liver problems, swollen eyelids, ulceration, and bleeding.

·         The animals endure inhumane treatment. They are restrained and in the case of the Draize Test, the eyelids of the rabbits are held back for at least 72 hours during the test.

·         Animals have different distribution of fine blood vessels, so their skin does not react in the same way humans do; therefore, the results are not entirely reliable.

·         Many consumers are opposed to using animals in cosmetic testing.

·         Cosmetic testing on animals is expensive since animals must be fed, housed, cared for, and treated with some chemical substance.

                     “We are animals and testing on other animals is cruel. Most people forget that we are animals ourselves. If we want to test on animals, why not test it on ourselves? Sure, it would hurt us. But it also hurts the animal that you are testing on. Moreover, we test on animals against their will when we can choose if we want to be tested on or not. What if someone tested on a pet? Or even on you? Would you like that? Other animals also have families and you can't just break them apart. It would be like going into the street and killing someone who has a family that cares about that person. That is just wrong. That is why we have laws,” said Kahil Mohammed from Debate.org.

Therefore, we can conclude that cosmetics testing on animals should be banned and stopped.