Against Cosmetic Animal Testing

There are hundreds of brands that test on animals for cosmetics, and not one of them is humane. Cosmetic animal testing has been a controversial issue for years. The first documented test on an animal was done in the mid 1850s by Charles Darwin. Soon in 1922, animal testing allowed insulin to be isolated from dogs (Murnaghan). In 1938, the United States passed the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic act, after an incident with a woman’s mascara led her to become blind. This law required proof of cosmetic companies testing on animals for safety regulations, which urged them to begin testing on animals. In 1944 the Draize Skin and Eye Irritancy test was developed. This became the gold standard for cosmetic testing; from there, the tests only got more

There are many cruelty-free brands, that are seemingly one-hundred percent against animal testing. However, many cruelty-free brands are owned by larger parent companies that do test on animals. For example; NYX, The Body Shop, IT Cosmetics, and Urban Decay are all cruelty-free brands owned by the parent company L’Oreal (crueltyfreekitty.com). L’Oreal does test on animals; this makes supporting the brands under it a harder decision. One of the reasons why people support these brands is because they hope that the parent company will take the hint. On the contrary, many people don’t support these brands because the money they spend will ultimately be going to the parent company (crueltyfreekitty.com). I have chosen to support these brands because after all, they are still certified as cruelty-free. Even if profits will end up in the parent company’s hands, I do believe that a message can be sent to the parent company, and possibly even stop testing. Another controversial issue is mistreatment of animals. There is a law in order that supposedly protects the wellbeing of animals, but around 95% of animals in testing are unprotected. This law intended to defend those who cannot speak for themselves, doesn’t do everything it needs to. One of the first cosmetic tests was the Draize eye irritation test. This test is usually performed on rabbits, and a substance is dripped into their eyes to test for redness, bleeding ulcers, blindness, and other signs of damage. The results of these tests are irreversible, leaving rabbits and other animals left with long term damage. There are also skin irritability tests, where the skin of what is usually a rabbit or a guinea pig is shaved, and the product is dripped onto the skin. This can also leave irreversible effects such as skin corrosion, inflammation, burns, lesions and scaling. (humanesociety.org). These tests are cruel, and even if they cannot speak for themselves, a creature