I recently wrote an article for a client on the subject of animal testing. Animal Testing….pretty straight forward, right? We all know it exists and what it implies – I mean, the name kinda says it all. Tests are performed on animals to make sure a product or ingredient is safe for use by we humans.
In the past when I saw a product with “no animal testing” or “cruelty free” or the little Leaping Bunny logo I thought “Good deal!” But my mind never really crept over to the dark side of what exactly animal testing really entails.
Over the decades animals have helped us confirm the safety of life saving vaccines and surgical procedures that would have been inhumane and unthinkable to experiment with on humans. Obviously, sacrificing small mammals is better than 1) sacrificing people, or 2) not having these inventions.
But in the world of beauty products we are not talking life or death, but more like pretty lips and eyes and fewer fine lines. And we need to put animals through misery and death to see if we can include one more toxic ingredient to the already huuuuuuge list of toxic ingredients used in cosmetics? And, just to be straight, when I say animals we are talking rats, rabbits, monkeys, and dogs. Yes, dogs.
This may seem naïve, but I never before investigated the actual tests being performed on animals to measure an ingredient or product’s toxicity. The only reason I am sharing this here is because it was a real eye-opener for me, and also difficult to read and write about.
One test that I cannot get out of my mind is called the Draize test, which measures the damage done to eye tissue. This is done by dropping amounts of the toxic substance into bunnies eyes and basically seeing how the animal reacts. The bunnies are not anesthetized so that there “real” reaction can be analyzed. Many rabbits break their own necks grappling with their discomfort. You can view a photo here of a bunny undergoing the Draize test.
Another one is the lethal dosage, or LD, test. The LD test measures how much of a substance it takes to kill a certain amount of victims….er, test subjects. It seems to me that if a substance is seemingly toxic enough to garner the LD test, maybe it hadn’t ought to be in cosmetics. Just sayin’….
And these tests are going on right here on US soil. The US presently has no laws governing animal testing, except that there be a licensed veterinarian on site to oversee the well being and handling of the animals. Read into that what you want.
The European Union is stepping up to the plate where animal testing is concerned, setting bans in 2004 and 2009 for laws regarding animal testing on products and ingredients. Read more on this subject here.
So, why on earth are we doing all of this harm to little furry animals in the name of beauty? You guessed it….money, money, money! Animal testing is big business (more than 100 million animals are killed each year) so, as you can imagine, many arms of the cosmetics industry are against bans on animal testing.
So, are all natural and organic beauty brands cruelty free? No. But most cosmetics manufacturers who are committed to using safe ingredients and manufacturing practices are opposed to animal testing, and/or certified by a body who disallows this practice.
Why did I choose to share all of this with you on a bright and sunny Friday afternoon in June? Because now whenever I see the Leaping Bunny – or a real bunny, for that matter – I think of the horrible Draize test and all of the animals who suffer in the name of cheaper and longer lasting chemical cosmetic ingredients. Ones that we don’t need to be using anyway.
It is one thing to save lives via animal testing. Quite another to destroy creatures only to bring consumers more of a bad thing.
And I promise to bring you something positively light and gorgeous on Monday!
Image: Inertia Creeps at Flickr.com, Creative Commons license.
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