Did you know that over 150 million animals are used worldwide for laboratory experiments every year? 500,000 of those animals die from cosmetic testing according to Humane Society International. When cosmetic testing occurs, chemicals are dropped onto the animal’s shaved bodies and into their eyes. Humane Society International also tells us that chemicals are placed onto the skin of the animal and are forcefully ingested into the animal’s body. During these unethical experiments, the animals have no pain relief or sedatives, meaning they can feel absolutely everything that is happening to them. Most of these experiments can make the animal’s dying process can last for days, or even weeks. Is your lipgloss worth the torture of innocent animals? 

On the other hand, these animal tests can be extremely beneficial to our society. These tests are often used to ensure that cosmetics are safe for humans to use. If the animal being tested on has a poor reaction to the cosmetic, it can be assumed that humans would have a similar reaction. Would we rather test these cosmetics on humans? Is it okay to experiment on humans if they voluntarily agree to the test? 

A solution is, that there are so many alternatives to animal and human testing. Two of the most popular are isolated cells and tissue, which is known as vitro testing, or computer modeling. Neither of these options involve humans or animals. This means that we can conduct these experiments without any species being harmed. Vitro testing is assumed to be more accurate and give more information when looking at the cosmetic results. Computer modeling is 87% accurate while animal testing is at a 81 percentile. These statistics are proven by NIH Central Resource for Grants and Funding Information.

I believe that testing on animals is wrong, especially since we are specifically speaking about cosmetic testing. I understand how testing on animals could help our society, however, if humans are voluntarily agreeing to the chances of harm during testing, why shouldn’t we allow them to do testing instead of the animals? Humans are the ones using the cosmetics, not the innocent animals. The animals have no voice or defense against us. We should be the animal’s protectors, not pursuing something that causes them harm. We are abusing these animals for our beauty benefits and it is wrong.