BEAUTY IS THE BEAST-ANIMAL SUFFERING IN THE
COSMETICS INDUSTRY
Everyone uses something in the "cosmetics and
toiletries" group even if it is only a toilet soap. Theoretically,
anything applied to the skin, eyes, mouth and hair for cleansing or to
make us look or smell nicer counts as a cosmetic or toiletry product.
This includes shampoos, lipsticks, eye-makeup, toilet soaps and many
other items.Animals serve two main functions for the cosmetics
industry-they provide raw ingredients for formulations and perfumes, and
they are submitted to laboratory testing in the name of innovation and
human safety.
Public opinion is turning against the use of
animals to test cosmetics.People find it unacceptable that animals are
suffering for their own vanity-hence the world-wide campaign against the
use of fur.Basically, animals are subjected to three main types of
tests.
- For toxicity: substances are tested to see how
potentially poisonous they might be. The most common toxicity test is
the LD50-a test to find out the dosage required to kill. Hence a group
of animals are force-fed large quantities of a substance such as
lipstick until 50% die.rats and mice are usually used for this test.
- For eye irritation: The Draize eye test is the
most commonly used test for this purpose. Rabbits are used as the
structure of their eyes mean that they cannot rid themselves of
substances in the eye. Products like shampoos or hairsprays are tested
by dripping them or spraying them into the eyes of conscious rabbits.
This can continue for up to seven days to measure the amount of damage
to the eyes.
- For skin irritations: Substances are applied
to the shaved skin of animals usually guinea pigs or rabbits. The
deodorant, face cream or whatever is taped onto the shaved area and
left for a period of time to see the reaction.
Cosmetic companies who test on animals defend
their action by arguing that:
- They want to ensure customers can use their
products without any harmful effects.
- They want to ensure that their workers in the
factories are safe when they handle ingredients and products in large
quantities.
However, animal rights organisations argue
that:
- Testing of cosmetics on animals is wrong-why
should innocent animals suffer for people's vanity.
-
- Animals do suffer in these tests and are
eventually killed.
-
- In scientific terms, these tests are crude,
badly designed and unreliable.
-
- Tests on animals are not representative of
human reactions. Shouldn't it be preferable to test products for
humans on humans?
-
- There are alternatives to animal testing such
as:
-
- Choosing ingredients which have a long history
of safe human use
-
- Cell culture tests or the testing of tissues
that are grown and tested under highly controlled conditions
-
- Computer simulations
-
- Tests on human volunteers
Those of us who are unable to accept animal
testing, can buy products that are labelled 'cruelty-free'.
'Cruelty-free' implies that the product contains no ingredients of
animal origin and at the same time neither the product nor its
ingredients have been tested on animals.
The production of 'cruelty-free' cosmetics and
toiletries is not a simple matter and firms that avoid animal testing
deserve our support. The choice however, is
yours.
