Choosing a Vegan Lifestyle Essay

Millions of animals every year are being used in labs to test cosmetics. This problem has become a worldwide issue and the U.S. needs to make a change by prohibiting the use of animals in testing cosmetics for safe use.

When most of our time is spent recovering from school, doing homework and thinking about our future there isn't that much time for anything else.

Animal testing is a cruel way to try and develop new products. There are several other and much safer options that will get better results and potentially save up to two million animals every single year. The Animal Welfare Act is in place but only minimally protects certain animals and leaves many others, up to 95%, vulnerable to atrocious fates. The animals not protected by this act (mostly small or considered house pets) are most widely used and not related closely to humans. There are several alternative methods but they are being neglected since they are new and not being enforced because of it. A few countries and states have banned certain aspect of animal testing but others are encouraging this cruelty.

Over fifty-six billion animals are slaughtered yearly for consumption, but because we are conditioned from a young age to view animals as resources, we neglect that they are passionate and intelligent living beings. Cows want to enjoy their lives, pigs want to enjoy their lives, and many other farm animals want to enjoy their lives but instead are abused and confined in small cages. Ironically, though, when someone does likewise to a cat or dog, they’re prosecuted. The sole solution to these inhumane acts is Veganism. Veganism is the ideal diet because plant-based foods are plentiful, and it recognizes the unethical treatment of animals.

Most of us think nothing about using non-human animals for their meat, milk, or skins and not only do we use animals in these ways, but using them as we do almost always harms them. A common method for testing cosmetics, for example, involves restraining rabbits and putting the product into their eyes, leaving it for a set amount of time and then washing it out and checking for adverse reactions.

Gerhard Zbinden, a toxicologist described that “the testing of just one substance can involve using up to 800 animals.” The pain and suffering that the large amount of these animals go through is not worth the possible benefits to humans. When animals are used for product toxicity testing or laboratory research, they are forced to undergo painful and deadly experiments. The most common product safety tests are the Draize test and the LD50 test. Rats and mice are usually used for this experiment. Since both trials are the most painful and deadly of all, they are often avoided but still performed. During an LD50 test, tubes are attached to the esophagus of the stomach and force fed chemical products, causing the animals to then suffer with discomfort and pain throughout different parts of the body. The Draize test determines the consequences of getting a chemical into a human’s eyes. In order to determine the eye irritancy of a product, scientists place it into a rabbit’s eyes and look out for eye damage. Specifically, swelling, redness, bleeding, and blindness. After performing the Draize test, rabbits’ either often bleed or become blind. They experience these symptoms for up to 14 days until they are evaluated for further internal damage. When performing the Draize and LD50 test, animals are expected to fail. Though, some take days and even weeks to die. During their weeks of slowly dying, the animals’ experience vomiting, diarrhea, and internal bleeding. Because so many animals are forced to go through these intensely painful test runs, animals experimentation ought to end to prevent wate of animals

“Each year, more than 100 million animals—including mice, rats, frogs, dogs, cats, rabbits, hamsters, guinea pigs, monkeys, fish, and birds—are killed in U.S. laboratories for biology lessons, medical training, curiosity-driven experimentation, and chemical, drug, food, and cosmetics testing” says Peta.org. Animal testing can injure or sometimes even kill animals, some animals don’t even have any protection to help them through the process of testing, and if you think about it animals have many differences from humans, so whatever your testing on animals could work for them but not work for people and vice versa. Animals shouldn’t be used for any type of testing, whether it be medical or cosmetic.

If I could only use one word to describe myself as a person, it would be healthy. When I say healthy I do not mean your average american’s portrayal of the word. Healthy as in no animal products in my system whatsoever. Yes! That means no meat, no dairy, and no eggs; this is also known as veganism or plant based. Some may say that it is an extreme and completely unnecessary way to live, but for me it is a form of activism for the animals, our health, and our dying planet. Whether the word “veganism” has a bad taste in your mouth or not; I still would like to share my personal experience and how it has positively changed me mentally, emotionally, and physically.

The reason why people test the product is to make sure that the product is safe for humans to use. However, over 92% of products are safely made, and it is rather hurting the animals because it was not made for animals to use. Also,

In today’s society, our bodies have become the front image in all aspect of our lives.. Healthy living styles and tips have exploded all over media across the United States. Veganism is one of the upcoming lifestyles that thousands of families around the countries have adopted into their eating habits. Beyond the health benefits of cutting out any and all animal products, veganism has become the face to animal abuse, especially in the produce, handbag, and makeup industry. Companies like People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) create projects and advertisements to encourage people to go vegan. Recently, PETA has connected with Traci Bingham,a famous TV actor, to launch a digital and poster advertisement. The advertisement displays Bingham’s naked body painted like the parts of farm factory animals used for produce in supermarkets. The advertisement “All animals have the same parts” seeks to use ethos, pathos, logos, and kairos to argue that animals such as cattle have the same body parts as people, and therefore are of equal value to human. Traci Bingham’s credibility with the sponsorship of PETA use the image of a naked woman to draw the desire of veganism to both men and women in an era of health, fitness, and equality.

We are just now seeing some tests that are receiving approval from governmental agencies. I believe within 10-20 years animal testing of cosmetics will be practically non-existent, but until there are reliable testing alternatives (there aren’t yet) animal testing will be necessary. (“Animal Testing in the Cosmetic Industry”). Some alternatives are in vitro testing, computer (in sillico modeling), and research with human volunteers, human-patient simulators. In vitro testing is taking blood and tissue samples from patients and tests the samples.

Animal testing should not be used in cosmetic industries as a source of experimentation because it is unethical and inefficient. It is a cruel way of trying to find results that are not even always trustworthy. Everyone has a different reaction to different chemicals so why even bother animals for testing? Also different species can respond differently when exposed to the same chemical so animal testing can be inefficient. The results from animal tests can be quite variable and difficult to interpret therefore it may not be applicable to human beings. Thus, consumer safety still cannot be guaranteed even after these gruesome tests which are totally unethical. It is also unethical to torture and end the lives of these animals each year for our own luxury. Everyday cosmetic industries are using defenseless animals very cruelly just to carry out some most often useless tests. Instead they should use other alternatives which has been proved to yield better and accurate results than tests involving animals.

As different crazes and fads are appearing each day, we have come to expect them to simply fade away as the hype passes. However, veganism has stood the test of time in our fad society and is still increasing in popularity. Originally only thought to be a religious lifestyle, many people from different walks of life are becoming vegans. However, this poses many questions and sparks heated debates, mainly from omnivorous people who believe that veganism is against life’s natural order. Vegans, then, argue against an omnivorous lifestyle by bringing up facts about humans’ biological makeup and how humans are, contrary to popular belief, herbivorous by nature, not omnivorous. While both sides present good arguments to some, the veganism lifestyle contains more benefits and less harmful cons than an omnivorous lifestyle.

Animal testing has long played a part in the science of testing, and it still plays a very important role in the medical world. Testing on animals in order to create a cure for AIDS is one thing, but testing on animals for human vanity is another. Animal testing is used to test the safety of a product. It has kept some very unsafe substances out of the cosmetic world. However, in this day in age, animal testing is not the only way to test the safety of a product. Animal testing in cosmetics has decreased over the years. However, it is still used by many companies in America. Animal testing is not only cruel, but it is also unnecessary in today’s advanced scientific world.

Some would not be able to live without eating any animal products in their diets, such as, meat, fish, poultry, eggs, dairy products, and honey. For vegans, however, this is a normal way of life. Vegans are frequently misunderstood as either people who have eating disorders, or an unnatural passion for animal rights. It is time for people to realize that veganism, a challenging yet rewarding lifestyle, goes way beyond being skinny or caring for animals. In reality, veganism can be extremely advantageous to anyone who adapts it as a way of life and has many different benefits that come along with it.