There’s nothing pretty about testing products on animals. Have you ever wondered what the process of creating your everyday cosmetics entails? Every year over 100 million animals are burned, poisoned, crippled, and tortured in laboratories, solely for the use and discovery of new beauty products. You can do something about it by not supporting the worst offenders, and replacing the products in your makeup bag with cruelty-free ones instead.
Rabbits, guinea pigs, mice and rats are used freely for painful animal testing. These tests are harsh and the animals rarely see pain relief following the experiments. The animals that survive these experiments usually die shortly after or live the remainder of their lives with mutilating side effects.
The most common experimental tests include skin and eye irritation, repeated force-feeding and finding the “lethal dose” of a product. To test for skin the product is rubbed onto the animal’s bare body, to see if it causes any irritation or other negative side effects. To test eye irritation, the chemicals are sprayed or dripped into the animal’s eyes that are held open by a machine or person. The force-feeding test is to test whether or not long-term use of the product will cause harmful side effects, so animals are injected or force fed for weeks or months at a time. The “lethal dose” forces animals to ingest dangerously large amounts of chemicals to test the amount they can handle before they die.
These are only the most common experiments that are done on animals, a comprehensive list can be found on The Humane Society of the United States’ website. The law does not require these experiments on cosmetic products: they are only required on pharmaceuticals. Therefore, most are deemed ineffective because they are widely repeated and the results are sometimes not even worth recording.
Some companies that are known for animal testing and should be avoided include, but are not limited to a list of the following. Learn more about the list of products tested on animals and ways to protest animal testing in laboratories.
· Avon
· Bobbi Brown
· Chapstick
· Chanel
· Clinique
· Dove
· Elizabeth Arden
· Estee Lauder
· Garnier
· Head & Shoulders
· Herbal Essence
· L’Oreal
· M.A.C
· Maybelline
· Nair
· Neutrogena
· Pantene
· Revlon
· Secret
· Vaseline
Companies that do not test on laboratory animals include, but are not limited to the following list. These products should be promoted and purchased more to spread awareness for cruelty-free products. Here is a complete list of companies that have pledged to be cruelty-free.
· Bare Escentuals
· Bath & Body Works
· The Body Shop
· Burt’s Bees
· Conair
· e.l.f. Cosmetics
· Kate Spade Beauty
· Nordstorm Cosmetics
· Physicians Formula
· Safeway
· Ted Baker Fragrance
· Urban Decay
· Victoria’s Secret
· wet n wild
· Whole Foods Market
PETA has established a cruelty-free bunny logo, to help distinguish between which products test on animals and which do not. The logo is pink, but can come in variations of black and white. To see whether or not your favorite brands test on animals, or to help you with your next cruelty-free purchase, use PETA’s searchable database of companies that do and don’t text their products on animals.
A simple change in your lifestyle can save thousands of animals from excruciatingly painful laboratory tests and a lifetime of suffering. Look for the cruelty-free bunny logo on products before you buy them and start saving thousands of lives today.
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