Did you know that BY LAW any new drug has to be tested on two different types of animals at least and one of those animals has to be larger than a rodent?
There are ‘strict’ laws which enforce the idea that animals can only be used if there is no alternative and this, apparently, has to be proven.
I’m not here to harp on about how animal testing is wrong because, in my opinion, it IS WRONG and so there’s no point in me beating my drum and asking you to dance to it. What I did want to do is let you in on some facts and figures about how we legally test on animals, because I think the information will astound you.
FIGURES:
Over 100 million animals are burned, crippled, poisoned, and abused in US labs every year.
92% of experimental drugs that are safe and effective in animals fail in human clinical trials because they are too dangerous or don’t work.
According to the Humane Society, registration of a single pesticide requires more than 50 experiments and the use of as many as 12,000 animals
When used in cosmetic tests, mice, rats, rabbits, and guinea pigs are often subjected to skin and eye irritation tests where chemicals are rubbed on shaved skin or dripped into the eyes without any pain relief
It’s not just the smaller animals being tested on; it’s recently come to light that Beagles are being used in labs because of their, get this, “friendly, docile, trusting, forgiving, people-pleasing personalities. The research industry says they adapt well to living in a cage, and are inexpensive to feed. Research beagles are usually obtained directly from commercial breeders who specifically breed dogs to sell to scientific institutions”
COMPANIES YOU MIGHT NOT HAVE KNOWN TEST:
Aussie
Arm & Hammer
Kleenex
Colgate
Neutrogena
Johnson & Johnson
Andrex
Huggies
Kotex
L’oreal
The Body Shop
Kiehl’s
Lancome
YSL
The Mars company (as in Chocolate)
The list kind of goes on and on… here is a link to just one of the many:
http://veganrabbit.com/list-of-companies-that-do-test-on-animals/
As you can see there are some familiar names out there who still use animals 😦
And, just to answer the question that people often ask me – “would you rather a human being was tested on?” – my answer is always, unchangingly, YES. As a human you have the right to decide to be tested on. Animals don’t get that choice and that’s where we should, as civilised higher functioning mammals, draw the line.
Sam
Pretty Thoughtful Blog 