Treatment of Animals

Animal Testing for Cosmetics

Introduction

Animals are subjected to a variety of chemicals and products , including medicine , cleaning agents , pesticides , chemicals in food , packaging , and cosmetics . These safety tests of chemicals and products uses at least 10 of the animals in the laboratories (about two million animals in the United States ) But the controversy on animal testing still lingers despite this relatively low figure . Controversies like , ethical issues whether deliberately subjecting animals to harmful or possibly harmful chemicals is right or wrong (Animal Testing , 2008

Legality

Any sort of

animal testing for cosmetics purposes is already banned in most parts of Europe . The European Union (EU ) has recently banned all kinds of product testing on Animals . The United States on the other hand , have yet to fully follow this trend (Consumer Product Companies n .d ) There are still companies that resort to this kind of testing because it is the cheapest way for them to test their products . The legality of animal testing depends on the country . In some countries animal testing for cosmetics is required to make sure that the chemicals used are not harmful to humans . Countries that banned animal testing for cosmetics believe that cosmetic companies have already done enough research and should stop animal testing . It has been made illegal thanks mostly , to animal rights activists that fought for certain laws to be passed

Ethical Issues

Logically , ethics dictates that we humans , the species that would benefit from the products (whatever these products may be ) should test these products on the same species . It is unethical that we test harmful chemicals on species that would not benefit from the product . Although we do test products on humans , but that is after we have already tested it on lab animals . News on abuse on test animals angered the public a few years ago . Companies that conduct animal testing suddenly were at gun-point from animal rights activists and the public , forcing them to shut down their animal testing program . They developed means of testing products that does not require animal testing (Jeantheau , 2004

What Drives You

It seems the debate on Animal testing on cosmetics have been concluded years ago . The ethical question that was left was whether animal testing for medical advancement . But there are still some organizations and persons that believe that animal testing for cosmetics is still vital for the safety of the consumers . In 2006 , a scientist from the United Kingdom commented that animal testing for the development of cosmetic products should still be practiced (Pitman 2006 . Companies that support animal testing are , understandably , big cosmetic companies

Animal Rights Activist on Animal Testing

For animal rights activist , animal testing is downright cruel . Animals are exposed to harmful chemicals that are going to be used by humans . It does not benefit the animals at all . Animals are powerless against humans , they are not willing subjects . Humans on the other hand , have a choice (and the morals ) to choose or not choose if they want to...