Use Your Dollar Wisely: Don't Support Animal Testing

People all over the world wear makeup, but many do not know how their purchases affect animals. According to dosomething.org, most people are unaware that “over 115 million animals – mice, rats, dogs, cats, rabbits, monkeys, birds, among others – are killed in laboratory experiments worldwide for chemical, drug, food, and cosmetics testing every year.” When you pay for products that have been tested on animals you are supporting animal cruelty in the cosmetic industry. With our support, these companies will continue to test on animals. Are your makeup or hair products worth the suffering that animals go through?

Many makeup companies only test on animals because it is legally required in China, a large manufacturing country. However, the companies in question do not have to sell their products in China. Animals are not for people to test chemicals on and we should make a conscious effort to abstain from buying products from companies that do test on animals.

One alternative way to ensure a cosmetic product’s safety is to use artificial human skin – such as SkinEthic, EpiSkin™, and EpiDerm™ – which can be used to test cosmetics and save thousands of rabbits each year from harmful tests. Another option is to use chicken eyes, from chickens that have already been killed for meat, to detect chemicals that could be irritating to the eyes, instead of using the eyes of live rabbits.

The Humane Society notes that the Reduced Local Lymph Node Assay for skin allergy testing reduces animal use by up to 75 percent compared with mouse and guinea pig tests. Furthermore, the Fish Threshold Method can be used to determine chemical concentrations that are lethal to fish and aquatic life; it can reduce the number of fish used by more than 70 percent, in contrast to traditional testing techniques.

Brands that DO test animals: