The Pros And Cons Of Animal Testing

In America about 79% of households contain a pet. According to the American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, “78 million dogs and 85.5 million cats are owned in the United States” (para.6). That is not including the other animals like mice, hamsters, birds, rabbits and so on. These animals have feelings just like any human has, expect they cannot speak on what they feel. When these animals that are not household pets are chosen for testing of cosmetics they are forced to go through torture just so we can use everyday product on ourselves. Natacha Cole states in Cruelty-free Cosmetics 101, “Many cosmetic companies test their new products and ingredients by forcing rabbits, hamsters, and mice, among others, to endure horrific practices…”

Mentioned by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), companies that still do animal testing of their products are Covergirl, Estee Lauder, L’Oreal, M.A.C Cosmetics, Pantene, TRESemme, Dove, Old Spice, and Clean & Clear but there are many more companies out there besides these. On the contrary there are thousands of cruelty-free companies that do not practice animal testing. Companies like Lush Cosmetics, e.l.f., Aveda, Smash Box, Urban Decay, Paul Mitchell, Tom’s, Wet & Wild, and NYX. It just take a couple minutes to do the research and find out if the products one uses are cruelty-free or

With more than 100 million animal being tortured and tested on, reported by the National Institutes of Health, “spends between $12 billion and nearly $14.5 billion on animal testing every year” (para.3). It makes you wonder that what “Anthony Bellotti, founder and executive director of White Coat Waste Project say, ‘“$14.5 billion could provide a lot of tax relief for Americans. It could help pay down national debt or help prevent a shutdown,’” (para.4) is fairly reasonable. Besides American problems the money that is used on animal testing can be allocated to animal hospitals, no kill shelters, and finding other alternatives to test products with advanced