start the ball rolling...
Animal testings.
Animals are being used for drug, toxicology,cosmetic testings and many other scientific experimentations, while i feel that drug testing on animals is justifiable although not completely moral, cosmetic testings is truely unethical.
"Product testing is commonly performed on animals to measure the levels of skin irritancy, eye tissue damage, and toxicity caused by various substances used in the manufacture of cosmetics. In the Draize test, caustic substances are placed in the eyes of conscious rabbits to evaluate damage to sensitive eye tissues. This is extremely painful for the rabbits, who often scream when the substances are applied and sometimes break their necks or backs trying to escape the restraints. Lethal Dosage (LD) tests are used to determine the amount of a substance that will kill a predetermined ratio of animals. For example, in the LD50 test, subjects are forced to ingest poisonous substances (through stomach tubes, vapor spray inhalers or injection) until half of them die. Common reactions to LD tests include convulsions, vomiting, paralysis and bleeding from the eyes, nose, mouth or rectum. " - ISDUSA
whats worst is that lethal dosage is not accurate in proving that a substance is harmful to human because results from the LD tests are affected by age and sex of the animal tested on and their housing and nutrient conditions. in other words, test results cannot even be extrapolated from a mouse to a rat, let alone to a human being. how then should cosmetic animal testings be humane? in fact it is proven that non-animal testings give more accurate results. the FDA does not require companies to do animal testing, one reason why companies engaged in cosmetic animal testings is to shrug off certain liability in a case of a lawsuit because a consumer will bear part of the responsibility if he/she is harmed by the product, another reason is because doing animal testing gives the companies a supposed competitive edge over other rival companies. and with those pathetic reasonings, cosmetic animal testings make up more than 50% of all animal testings :(
" The Question is not, "Can they reason?" nor, "Can they talk?" but rather, "Can they suffer?" " - Jeremy Bentham, ethics philosopher
" God loved the birds and invented trees. Man loved the birds and invented cages. " Jacques Deval
Things you can do :
- support companies that do not test on animals
- encourage and spread this information about the torture of cosmetic animal testings
- write to companies that practice animal testings about how you feel about the situation
- boycott companies that practice animal testings
Some companies that are against cosmetic animal testings:
Almay, Avon, Bath & Body Works, Bobbi Brown, The Body Shop, Bonne Bell, Burt's Bees, Crabtree & Evelyn, E.L.F. , DuWop, Estee Lauder, got2b, L'Occitane, M.A.C., Mary Kay, Stila, Ted Baker, Too faced, Tommy Hilfiger, Urban Decay etc etc
Some companies that practice cosmetic animal testings:
Covergirl, Clairol, Loreal, Johnson&Johnson, Colgate-Palmolive Co., Max Factor, Olay, Pantene, Ponds etc etc
Source(s): mercy for animals org, idausa, caringconsumer.com
Read more : http://worldanimal.net/cos-background.html
http://www.stopanimaltests.com/
http://www.leapingbunny.org/whatcani.php