My Views on Animal Experimantation.

Annually, millions of animals suffer and die in painful

tests in order to determine the safety of cosmetics.

Substances like eye shadow and soap are tested on rabbits,

guinea pigs, rats, dogs, and many other animals, despite

the fact that the test results do not help prevent or treat

human illness or injury.

Cosmetics are not required to be experimented on

animals, and since non-animal alternatives exist, it's

difficult to understand why some companies still choose to

conduct these brutal and unnecessary tests. Cosmetic

companies murder millions of animals every year just to put

a few more dollars into their pockets. The companies who

perform these tests claim that they establish the safety of

both the products and their components. However, the Food

and Drug Administration (FDA), which regulates cosmetic

products, does not require animal testing in any way,

shape, or form. Some of the tests used on animals are eye,

toxicity, and skin irritant tests.

In eye irritant tests, a liquid, flake, granule, or

powdered material is placed directly into the eyes of

rabbits. The animals are often immobilized in cages from

which only their heads may show. They do not receive

anesthesia during the tests. After placing the irritants

into the rabbits' eyes, scientists record the damage to the

eye tissue at specific intervals over a period of seventy-

two hours. The tests sometimes can last anywhere from

seven, up to eighteen days. Side effects from these

experiments include swollen eyelids, ulceration, bleeding,

swollen irises, massive deterioration, and blindness.

During the tests, rabbits' eyelids are usually held open

with clips. Many animals break their necks while

restrained, attempting to escape.

Toxicity tests, otherwise known as lethal dose or

poisoning tests, record the amount of a material that will

kill a percentage, sometimes even up to one-hundred

percent, of...