Cosmetic testing with animals began when a woman had bought mascara darkener that later led her to lose sight in both eyes. The FDA then passed the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act in 1938. Over one-hundred million animals are used for testing cosmetics year round. Animals used range from mice, dogs, all the way to birds. ("Animal Testing Timeline.", n.d.) Companies hold animals in captivity for long periods of time, test products on their skin, and then dispose of the animals afterwards. Around 100,000-200,000 animals die from cosmetic testing each year. ("About Cosmetics Animal Testing.", n.d.)
As briefly mentioned before, animals are brought into captivity and tested. Chemicals get rubbed into shaved skin or dripped into their eyes. Animals are even made to drink chemicals just to see how much needs to be consumed to die. The tests
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There are systems that allow scientists to test skin reactions on three-dimensional human skin, using EpiDerm and SkinEthic. (Society, New England Anti-Vivisection.) Many people choose to simply not purchase products that test on animals. Going to brands that are "cruelty-free" help show the other businesses that they do not support what they do. Beauty guru 's on widespread social media like Youtube highly promote cruelty-free brands and all the reasons why they do. Many cosmetic brands like Kat Von D, Urban Decay, NARS, and Too Faced are 100% cruelty-free.
While animals are in captivity for testing, the testers have to pay for housing, feeding and grooming the animals. The costs to do the procedure are pretty high to just throw the animals out afterwards. Because animals are so different than humans in so many ways, they make poor test subjects. They have different bodies, different skin textures which results in different results. Many products that are tested on animals and "pass" are still not exactly safe for humans. ("Animal Testing – ProCon.org.",