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opinion
Consumers
can stop animal testing
The next time you put Tide in the washing machine, apply your
favorite CoverGirl mascara or squeeze Crest toothpaste onto
your toothbrush, imagine these substances being pumped into
your stomach or forcibly rubbed into your eyes.
Millions of innocent kittens, puppies, mice, birds, bunnies
and other animals have to endure this sort of treatment every
year.
Proctor & Gamble, Lever Brothers and Johnson & Johnson
Inc. are just a few of the corporate giants that continue
to ignore the technological breakthroughs of modern science
that prevent using animals as test subjects.
Instead, these corporations pluck animals from pounds, habitats
and laboratories that specifically breed for testing purposes.
Some laboratories receive their animal test subjects from
pounds full of pets that have not yet been claimed; a method
called pound seizure.
If a pet has not been claimed after five days, some states
require shelters to hand over the animals for testing purposes.
This controversial topic is widely recognized as cruel because
these dogs and cats could have been loving house pets five
days earlier, but subjected to laboratory tests the last few
weeks of their life.
Cosmetic testing on animals began in 1933 after a woman died
from using Lash Lure mascara on her eyelashes.
What were women to do if they couldn't where their mascara
anymore and have full, thick, darker eyelashes?
Well, the Food and Drug Administration saw this as a problem
- an unprofitable problem. The FDA could not have women
not buying cosmetics.
The solution was to pluck animals out of their habitats to
use as test subjects in the name of human narcissism.
Some people might truly believe that animals are put on earth
to serve the needs of the human race, but torturing them is
extreme.
The world's population believes in some type of god or religion,
so what ever happened to respecting all of God's creatures?
However, some organizations and companies are fighting for
the rights of animals.
The National Anti-Vivisection Society, an organization dedicated
to educating the public about the use of animals in cosmetic
and product testing, is trying to break through corporate
barriers.
The Humane Society of the United States, All For Animals and
the NAVS are trying to win the public's help for cruelty-free
products.
In 1989, Revlon and Avon were the first major corporations
to switch from animal testing to an alternative solution.
Mary Kay also made the switch, in 1989, from animal to alternative
testing.
The Charles River Laboratories, one of the largest breeding
laboratories of animals for the strict purpose of testing,
delivers these animals to testing laboratories across the
United States.
The most frustrating thing about these cruel tests done to
innocent animals is the fact that the tests are no longer
necessary or practical.
Alternative methods of product testing require no animal involvement
and are cost effective, quicker and more reliable.
So why do companies still thrive off of animal testing?
It's simple. Alternative testing offers little financial incentive
for the money-hungry corporations and their allies, which
proves that American corporations are about profits, not the
welfare of living creatures.
No cosmetic, non-pharmaceutical products are required by law
to be tested on animals. Therefore, the government needs to
issue laws that require corporations to opt for alternative
solutions for cosmetic testing.
Consumers can influence these companies by not purchasing
cosmetics that are tested on animals and by sending letters
to Congress and to the companies who test on animals.
Amanda Versluys is a public relations major at Cal State
Long Beach.
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