Millions of Animals Are Tortured in the U.S. – All for Lipstick. Act Now to Stop This!

In the process of animal testing, countless rabbits, mice, rats, and other animals are subjected to horrific procedures that would make most people abandon animal-tested cosmetics once and for all … if only they knew what they were. During these tests, potentially harmful substances are being applied to the animals’ mucous membranes such as eyes, nose, and mouth, causing painful irritation, burning, and skin corrosion. What is more, around 50 percent of all animals used in tests die in lethal dose tests.

Obviously, knowing this it is hard to not have a guilty conscience about using products that aren’t cruelty-free, however, many people believe that these tests are needed to ensure safety. That, however, is just not true. Animal testing is not reliable – it has been proven that humans often react to chemicals very differently than the animals they are tested on. In effect, what we learn for sure by testing a substance on a rat with positive results, is that the substance is safe for the rat – not necessarily for us.

It seems absolutely ridiculous to torture billions of animals just so we can enjoy things like lipstick and mascara – especially considering most of the compounds used in these products have been proven safe over years and years of use. Additionally, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not even require that cosmetics be tested on animals before sale. It becomes even more untenable when we realize that humane alternatives to animal testing very much already exist.

The cruelty and impracticality of animal testing have, fortunately, already been recognized and acted upon by a number of countries. The European Union was the world’s first set of countries to ban cosmetics tested on animals and other places which introduced the ban include India and Israel.

There is no reason why the U.S. should not follow the good example of over 30 other countries that have banned cosmetic testing on animals. Luckily, the Humane Cosmetics Act that prohibits the tests for all cosmetics manufactured and sold in the country has just been reintroduced to Congress! Click here to sign the Humane Society of the United States’ Care2 petition to the U.S. Representatives to introduce the legislation that puts an end to inhumane cosmetic testing on animals!

Image source: Nataliia Melnychuk/Shutterstock