The Ethics Of Animal Testing

Imagine a life locked away in a cage with no form of control on your existence. It’s cold, dark, and you are scared. You don’t have a choice of what you eat, where you live, or how you are treated. You are unsure if it is day or night or what will happen to you next. You are locked away in a prison cell and you committed no crime. This is the life of a laboratory animal. Animal testing is the use of animals for scientific research purposes and experiments. It can be used for the findings of cures and medicines to testing new drugs, to understanding the behavioral psychology of the animals themselves. “Around fifty to one hundred million vertebrate animals, ranging from fish to primates, are used in experiments each year” (Lloyd). There are

The majority of people believe animal testing is dreadfully wrong. As animal testing becomes a popular conversation argument, the main altercation is how unjust and crooked it is. Companies especially those in the makeup industry, have gained popularity and admiration for wiping out animals testing for their products even though the products have actually been tested before put out on the market. Animal testing is now grasped as an abhorrent business, but what others do not realize is that without animal testing, the medical world and other productions would not be as advanced as it is today. Even though it seems as though the cons outweigh the pros, there is definitely a balance between them. Animal testing can save human lives and the medications tested on animals can also become a medication for animals if it works; however, some animals contract diseases easier than humans and can suffer because of this testing.

Over the last couple hundred years, this world has expanded beyond its horizons and the new equipment and technology has allowed humans to advance in many areas, but has also damaged the basic ethics and morals of some. Today on television, one will see the over dramatized body spray commercials or the famous celebrity advertising their most favorable shampoo and stating its claims, but what most do not know is that a couple or couple hundred, animals were killed to approve, by law, of that product. This act is called animal testing, and its method is used in many companies for their products to be released. I do not agree with this practice simply because it harms innocent animals for products that we do not need to survive or remain with. I believe animal testing harms and tortures, innocent and helpless animals, by containing them in tight spaces, with chemicals drenched on their skin for several hours to see how they might react or the effects to analyze what worked and what did not work. My claim on this topic is that animal testing should be not be legal in any country or required for products to sell because I feel that their are alternative ways and I see many

Although many people agree with testing products on animals, they ask ‘Who else are we going to test our products on?’ Nobody! Don’t add harsh chemicals in the products and then the animals and humans are both healthier. Beyond millions of animals that die and are captured every year just from animal testing alone. Treating an animal cruelty is never okay, especially when they’re torturing the animals with harsh chemicals due to testing. If people would stand up and try to protect animals we’d be saving certain animals from becoming extinct and we’d also save a ton of money.

Everyday cosmetic products that many people use, such as lipsticks, shampoo, face wash, etcetera, are verified to be safe using animal testing. Chemical burns and other short term ailments are very serious concerns that plague Americans and the knowledge that the products they use will not harm them and their families is possible because of animal testing. Also long term effects, such as cancer, have been discovered through animal product testing and promptly stopped saving countless lives. “NOT TESTED ON ANIMALS YOU’RE THE GUINEA PIG” (Source C). Living day to day with the risk that the products trusted to use on your children and yourself is enough to validate

A rabbit lives its life trapped in a laboratory. It doesn’t get fresh air and has different products tested on it every day. The product can make the rabbit go blind or cause its skin to burn, but there is nothing the rabbit can do about it. This is what happens to animals every day from cosmetic companies who test their products on animals. According to Cruelty Free Kitty (2017), over 30 cosmetic companies continue to use animal testing to improve their products. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (2017), “the agency has consistently advised cosmetic manufactures to employ whatever testing is appropriate and effective for substantiating the safety of their products.” This means that if the company believes animal testing is the best option for their product they are allowed to do it. Testing cosmetics on animals is cruel and inhumane, and people should avoid using products that test on animals.

Cohen argues that humans may morally use animals for biomedical research, the study of biological processes and disease, because animals lack rights. He defines rights as moral claims that one human can hold against another, which are bound in both law as well as in comprehension of right and wrong. As animals lack self-conscious placement in a higher ethical order with the ability to weigh needs of self against the needs of others, they therefore lack the ability to have rights. (Cohen 1986: p. 215) To support the morality of animal research, I will show how it has led to many successful treatments of disease in humans, due to the common physiology that we share with other animals. Furthermore, I will argue that the pain caused on research

I also agree with this; however, I don't agree that it means we should be using animal skin either. Many of the cruelty-free brands use reconstructed skin tests to in order to assure a safe product before it hits the market. Companies like, EpiDerm, EPISKIN and SkinEthic are all known to help aid cruelty-free cosmetic companies by creating a reconstructed epidermis to test products on before they are released. In the article titled “About Cosmetic Animal Testing”, written by Humane Society International, when talking about alternatives to animal testing they claim, “Making use of a growing number of advanced non-animal safety tests that can better predict how humans will react to chemicals. More than 40 non-animal tests have been validated for use, and these modern alternatives can offer results that are more relevant to people, often more cheaply and quickly, too.” This reassurance that there are various other ways to test cosmetic products aside from harming live animals, possibly kill them, gives cosmetic companies little to no excuse as to why they are continuing this outdated and cruel form of testing. Cosmetic brands have been choosing animal testing to prove that their products are safe; however, they have the option to stop the torturing and killing of animals and switch

The issue of animal testing is a widespread and very controversial topic. It entails carrying out torturous and harmful tests and experiments on animals (most commonly mice or rats, but also other animals like rabbits and guinea pigs) for scientific research, whether it be for medical causes, products or cosmetics. In many cases, animal testing is unavoidable – it is impossible to rid the world of something humans rely on so dearly; however, it is imperative that we recognize the moral impacts of our actions and stop relying on it as a major research tactic. It is quite odd that it continues to be commonly used, despite being largely ineffective, the abundance of alternatives available, and the moral issues it brings into light.

It might not be happening at the rate people expect but progress is being made every day to stop the harmful practices seen in scientific laboratories. Now more than ever people are speaking up for their ethical beliefs and taking a stand against the companies that subject innocent animals to unnecessary torture. Brands are catching on to the direction of consumer’s moral compass and have begun advertising their lack of affiliation with harmful animal testing or seeking out endorsements from organizations such as PETA or Leaping Bunny. If you are unsure about a product being tested on animals on a finished product or ingredient level, there are many databases online that list out companies that do and don’t test on animals making it even more simple for consumers to choose cruelty

In Regent Street in London’s West End, a performance was staged in a Lush cosmetics store window. In a revolutionary step towards the elimination of animal testing, artist and activist Jacqueline Traide collaborated with Lush to present a disturbing display of the potential circumstances of animal testing. Traide was dragged across the floor, had her mouth stretched open with hooks, was force-fed, had ‘scientists’ give her injections, had her hair shaved off, and had products tested on her skin and in her eyes—all to create a harsh display for potential people passing by. This unsettling exhibit of something akin to torture was Lush’s attempt to covey to their emphasis of cruelty-free products and push for people to sign the petition

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.

Animal testing has been a controversial problem in today’s society and it affects people from all over the world1 not just animal activists or scientists. Most of the products and medicines used today have been tested on animals. These animals used in experiments have been thought to only benefit society but morally this hurts our society. This hurts our society because now animal testing has become a social normality and then humans have started to become null to this as time goes on. This slippery slope will only get worse if this is not stopped. This also hurts our society because scientist, physicians, and lawmakers must decide the justification for

Moreover, we can adopt cruelty-free product there are better ways to ensure product safety. Body shop for an example is a franchise in against animal testing for cosmetic, uses natural ingredients which are both animal and human-friendly which needs no animals to test on. According to the body shop, "animal testing is cruel, irrelevant and unnecessary" (animal testing and cosmetic 1988)

For example, in Europe, the world’s largest cosmetic company, it is illegal to sale or import any animal tested beauty products. Also, in other countries like Israel and India also apply this type of law. (dosomething.org) Other countries either have restrictions towards how they must handle their test subjects and even some countries are close to banning the act of animal testing in full. All of the American based companies who export to the foreign countries have to comply by the laws that are already in place, so most of the cosmetic companies already obey produce products that are not animal tested to be able to sell them in the distinct markets. Because these U.S. based companies who export internationally are already expected to comply by testing bans, more than 1.7 billion people can already buy cosmetics products that are not tested on animals.