Introduction
When buying cosmetics and household chemicals, most people do not even think about how the product was created or whether it was tested on animals. Only a tiny part of the population is interested in the composition of the products purchased: what ingredients make up the product and what this or that labeling means. However, according to official data, about 150 million animals are killed each year in laboratories while testing cosmetics and drugs. Animals have been used throughout the history of biomedical research.
They are used in studies of the effects of various substances on humans because it is believed that the tests predict the human body’s response. Nevertheless, rodents are not humans; sometimes, testing distorts predictions, leading to real victims. Moreover, such experiments are often fatal for animals, so switching to other ways of creating products is necessary. Alternative means of testing provide an opportunity to create sustainably while saving the lives of millions of animals.
Causes of the Problem
Animals began to be used for scientific purposes on a truly massive scale centuries ago. It gives scientists the opportunity to monitor congenital diseases and the reaction of the body to these diseases to various drugs and substances. However, cosmetic tests are not about powdering rabbit hair or applying lipstick to the skin – experiments are conducted with the finished product and its components (Norman 846). It causes painful shock and agony, and the animal gradually becomes apathetic. The rabbit either goes blind or dies, but even if it survives the experiment, nothing ends for it – it is used for another test.
Suppliers need to find out if their products are safe to use, but how to do it is up to each company, based on the cost of the methods and the conditions needed for them. Animal testing is a proven and cost-effective option that can be profitable for many companies. However, society’s attitude towards cosmetics testing on animals is changing rapidly, and evidence of this can be found worldwide. With the massive population support, more and more countries are introducing bans on such actions. However, there are laws and countries in which barbaric methods still exist, exacerbating the problem.
For example, any cosmetic product sold in China may have been subjected to post-sale testing on animals without the company’s knowledge or consent. Even though the country is moving to abolish the obligation of this procedure, it is still widely used, thus increasing the number of brands with unethical products (Norman 848). Of course, any product used by humanity must be tested for safety before it hits store shelves. However, there are humane alternatives to testing, and above all, the government is responsible for ignoring the problem. Producers can continue killing animals forever and make money from it unless regulations are passed at the national or international level that explicitly forbid it.
Effects of the Problem
At first glance, the problem of animal testing does not affect people and society in any way. Moreover, to the negative impact on the animal body and their extinction, humans are also affected. Thus, back in the 1950s in Germany, thalidomide came on the market – a remedy for anxiety, headaches and even colds Norman 846). It was actively prescribed to adults, children, and pregnant women, considering it safe, as a study on rats did not reveal such a dose of the drug, which could cause harm.
However, a link was soon discovered between the drug and severe congenital disabilities in the babies born – thalidomide harmed 161 children. From this point on, it became apparent that animal testing was not always able to detect possible effects on the human body. Such cases, together with the understanding of the inhumanity of the approach, have led to several legislative acts, which are in force in many countries around the world. Numerous movements are aimed at introducing alternative methods of testing that are beneficial in both the short and long term. They are more cost-effective and can save money and lives in the long run.
Solutions to the Problem
There still needs to be a consensus on whether animal testing of cosmetic products can be abandoned forever. Animal examinations do not always predict the correct human reaction to the tested substance. Almost 25% of drugs tested on animals showed no side effects, but they were discovered later during human use (Merck 34). Moreover, no new drug should be put on the market without ensuring that it is safe for humans.
It is not straightforward to imagine the development of the cosmetics industry and even medicine without testing on animals. However, cosmetic companies that do not use in vivo testing are already successfully using other research methods that do not involve animals. For example, the solution was the use of in vitro cell culture testing when human skin, organs and blood vessels are grown in vitro using a puncture from a healthy human.
Three cell types can be combined in one tissue to achieve realistic behavior, and this technology has successfully demonstrated results. Alternative testing methods are much faster, cheaper and more efficient than animal tests, and their only limitation is the need for more sophisticated equipment. However, even considering this factor, the alternative method has had no failures. Toxicological testing on artificial human skin costs about $850 while testing on rabbits costs $1800 (Smythe and Ulises 12). The easiest method that has been proposed recently is human study. This method can only be used in some cases.
However, in some of them, modern technology and available knowledge about the human body can make such tests safe for humans. Of course, in this case, no one will rub the cream into the eyes of the person on whom it is being tested.
The same occurs concerning detergents: shaving a rabbit and rubbing the substance on it is unnecessary. It is enough to put a few drops of the substance on the skin of a live person who consciously agreed to it (Norman 846). However, it seems most humane to use computer advances. Scientific technology opens up the possibility of modelling and reproducing body parts and organs. There are now computer models of the heart, lungs, kidneys, skin, digestive organs and musculoskeletal system. Such models contain all the information about these organs and data about their reactions. Therefore, in this way, people can conduct virtual experiments: the computer will calculate the effects of substances on these organs based on the available data.
Conclusion
Experiments on animals are one of the most controversial issues in modern science. Scientists experiment on them for various purposes, including fundamental research into how organisms function, the development of potential treatments for human diseases, and the testing for the safety and quality of drugs, devices and other objects. Proponents of animal testing point to the enormous medical advances made possible by such experiments.
However, numerous examples have proven that such investigations are cruel and pointless since the results of animal experiments are not always applicable to humans. Numerous ecological alternatives allow quicker, cheaper and safer testing while preserving the animal’s life. Most notably, each individual can influence the solution to the problem by simply refusing products that have been tested on animals.
Works Cited
Merck, Melinda. Veterinary Forensics: Animal Cruelty Investigations. John Wiley & Sons, 2012.
Norman, Gail. “Limitations of Animal Studies for Predicting Toxicity in Clinical Trials: Is it Time to Rethink our Current Approach?.” JACC: Basic to Translational Science, vol. 4, no. 7, 2019, pp. 845-854.
Smythe, Brandon G., and Ulises A. “General considerations for on-animal ectoparasiticidal product evaluations.” Journal of Insect Science, vol. 20, no. 6, 2020, pp. 7-15.