Ninety-four percent of animal testing is done to determine the safety of cosmetics and household products leaving only 6% for medical research! Cosmetic testing is banned in Belgium, Netherlands and the U.K.. Europe has been phasing out all products related to animal testing since 2002 and they plan to completely ban all products by 2009. This is a big step in right direction for millions of animals who were helplessly killed during tests for cosmetics and household products. Unfortunately the U.S. is still home to many companies who continue to legally perform horrible test on animals even though the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Consumer Product Safety Commission doesn’t require animal testing for cosmetics or household products!

Most of the animals that are used in testing are bred just for testing, but many others come from the pound. Mice, rabbits, dogs, guinea pigs, cats and monkey’s are the most commonly used animals for tests. It has been proven that there is already enough existing safety data, as well as in vitro (test tube) alternatives to make animal testing for cosmetics and household products even more unnecessary and unethical. By just listing the names of the tests I will be able to give you a better idea of what these poor animals go through. Whole Body, Short-term Toxicity, Skin Penetration, Skin Irritancy, Eye irritancy, Skin Sensitization, Phototoxicity & Photosensitisation, Mutagenicity, Carcinogenicity, Reproductive Toxicity, Teratogenicity and Finished Product Testing are all common tests performed on animals.

The LD50 test short for lethal dose, is one of the worst tests that was developed back in 1927 and is still in use today. Groups of animals are dosed with different amounts of a test substance in order to determine the dose which kills half of the animals! Animals are often force-fed the substance. The LD50 test is known to use huge, unrealistic doses that are completely unrelated to possible exposure levels. There are now other tests available that use less animals and lower doses, yet this old, discredited LD50 test continues. During another common test, the Draize eye-and skin-irritation test, rabbits are immobilized in full-body restraints while a substance is dripped or smeared into their eyes or onto their shaved skin. Rabbits often scream in pain and many break their necks trying to get free. The Draize test has been proven in studies to “grossly over predicted the effects that could be seen in the human eye, and does not reflect the eye irritation hazard for man". The human four-hour patch skin test has proved to provide chemical skin-irritation data that are “inherently superior to that given by a surrogate model, such as the rabbit.”

With so much going on in the world and our lives, I know it easy to feel overwhelmed and helpless. But by reading this article you have proved that you do care. I know it is hard and horrible to even think of what is happening behind closed doors. But right now there are millions of animals who are caged, tortured, and can’t speak for themselves. You can make progress and reach out to help them by taking just a second to sign this online petition here. By not purchasing products from companies that continue to test on animals you are also sending the message that it is not right.

More about Animal Testing:

• Should animal testing be banned?
• UK government taken to court over animal testing
• Modifying Creatures in the Name of Science
• Testing Sensitivity Without Skin