The Life Of A Test Animal
Do you have a pet rabbit? Do you wish you did? How about a guinnea pig? Or a dog, or a cat...or even a monkey?
Rabbits, cats, mice, rats, guinnea pigs, dogs, monkeys, and many more animals are the helpless creatures that are forced to suffer. Thousands of them every year. Why? Because some big companies test their products on these animals. And it is very, very wrong.
Some test rabbits have chemicals dripped into their eyes. This is called a Draize Test or an Eye Irritancy Test. The scientists drip things like shampoo, mouthwash, whiteout, and disinfectant (to name a few) into the rabbit's eye. Most often the rabbit will suffer such ailments as ulceration, bleeding, and even blindness. When the rabbits are done in the Draize Tests, they are often put through other tests as well.
What Are Some Other Tests?
Inhalation Tests - The test animal is forced to breathe in huge amounts of products such as air freshener, deodorant, and hair spray until they die from poisoning.
Skin Irritancy Tests - Nail polish remover, furniture wax, hair removers, drain cleaners, and other things are smeared onto the test animal's skin. But before they can smear it on, the scientists have to shave the animal's fur off. The animal will usually suffer from blistering and bleeding that is very, very painful. Some of the chemicals eat right through the animal's sensitive skin and kills it.
Are The Tests Required?
Lethal Dose Tests - Toothpaste, lipstick, soap, ink, oven cleaner, and other chemicals are pumped into the test animal's stomach to find out how much it will take to kill the animal. Death comes from painful poisoning or from the stomach bursting.
There are no laws that say that make-up, household products, or office supplies have to be tested on animals. Companies kill poor, helpless animals not to protect you, but to protect themselves in case one of their products blinds or poisons you. The animal tests do NOT make sure the customers are safe.
Tell Your Parents Not To Use Pesticide! A lot of pesticides are tested on animals. If you don't use them, you could be saving an animal's life! Pesticides also harm wild animals, so if you don't use it, you're doing two good things in one!
NEVER Buy From Companies That Test! We know it can be hard to do, but there are animal friendly alternatives. Do you want to know what companies test on animals? And which ones don't? Well, click here to find out which companies DO test on animals, and click here to find out which companies DO NOT test on animals. Tell your parents to write it down or print it out so that they can make animal-friendly choices the next time that they go grocery shopping!
Don't Let Your Dog Get Lost! An undercover investigation showed some Humane Societies selling stray or lost dogs and cats to testing labs before even trying to find out who the owners were! This is not true for the majority of Humane Societies, but you can never be certain what will happen to your pet if s/he is lost. Make sure your pet can get back to you by putting an identification tag on the collar with your address and phone number.
Tell Everyone! The reason a lot of people still buy products that have been tested on animals is because they don't KNOW the product is tested. Tell everyone you know what happens to test animals. Also tell them that the company Procter & Gamble is the worst company in the world for animal testing and NEVER to buy their products. When people know what is really going on they can make more educated decisions.
Write To The Testers! Write or call Procter & Gamble head honcho Durk Jager. Tell him that you think testing on animals is the worst thing anybody could do and that his company should STOP testing RIGHT NOW. Tell him that you love animals and that they are just as important as the rest of us and deserve not to be hurt. Also tell him you and your parents will not buy from his company until they stop testing on animals! Here is his address and phone number:
Durk Jager, CEO
Procter & Gamble Company
P.O. Box 599
Cincinnati, OH 45202
1-800-543-7270
We want to know what you have done to help test animals! Send us your stories and any pictures of you helping animals (drawings are welcome too!) and you could win some prizes and have your story put on this website! Send your stories to:
Youth For A Better World
Animal Test Stories
16 St. Theresa Ave.
Harrow, ON N0R 1G0
We look forward to hearing from you! Keep fighting the good fight - help animals!