Animal+Testing

__Animal Testing__ __By Moriah__

Should cosmetics and/or drugs be tested on animals? There are different sides to that. There are the ones who think animals have rights just like humans. Additionally, there are ones that assume animals have as many rights as ants. What is your standpoint?

I certainly believe that animal testing is misguided. That's just my opinion. Some people suspect that we have to test on animals.

Some companies, countries, or areas have or are going to ban cosmetic testing. On April 3, 2001 the EU Parliament banned animal testing for cosmetics. There are many groups on excluding animal testing. One of the many is the PETA or the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

In addition, people are coming up with other selections than animal testing. One of the alternatives is using synthetic skin, instead of living rabbits, to test chemicals. Another alternative is one of the Vitro tests. A Vitro test is where they test substances in test tubes with chemicals. It can replace the Draize test. Another alternative is the Agarose Diffusion Method. There are many alternatives, but not all tests can be replaced by alternative ones. We can try though.

Moreover, do animals have rights? What do you assume? I presume they do. There are two different aspects to this confrontation. I'll list both, but I'm only on one viewpoint. Animals experience pleasure and pain just like us. Millions of animals perish every year in laboratory experiments. They are usually painful and cruel. Others think, to get progress in society, we need to use animals in scientific research. They've provided vaccines for numerous diseases. Animals have no ability to choose right from wrong. But they are very smart too!

Furthermore, some companies have found a loophole in the law. The law is directly saying to not test on animals. They use pig skin, that is from a pig that has been slaughtered for its meat. So it's an animal test, but it's not alive and living. It's just skin.

How long do certain people have to find alternatives? In some places, companies or organizations have a limited amount of time to look for other options for the animal testing. The EU Parliament announced everyone had the next 5 years to come up with an alternative test or tests.

Another fact is, animal testing has rules and standards. One of the standards they have to go by is making sure that the lab is sanitary. They have to go by those guidelines. If they don't they could be evicted of their jobs and/or their lab or company. Determining standards of reliability methods is not easy. It takes time to come up with the laws they have to follow.

To sum this up, I speculate that cosmetics shouldn't be tested on animals. You can help by not buying cosmetics that are tested on animals. Then you won't be supporting animal testing. If animals could talk, they would acknowledge you! Will you take action?

__Bibliography__

Bryant, Elizabeth. “EU PARLIAMENT BANS ANIMAL TESTING IN COSMETICS” __UPI__. April 3, 2001: n.p. SIRS Discover. POWERLibrary. 15 March 2010. []. "Ex Vivo Animal **//Testing//** Alternative Introduced." //Global **Cosmetic**// //Industry// 176.1 (2008): 8. //OmniFile Full Text Mega//. Web. 31 Mar. 2010.

Hunter, Beatrice Trum. "New alternatives in safety testing." //Consumers' Research// //Magazine// 83.5 (2000): 26-30. //OmniFile Full Text Mega//. Web. 31 Mar. 2010.

Monagle, Katie. “ARE ANIMALS EQUAL?” Scholastic Update. April 16, 1993: pp. 19-21. SIRS Discover. POWERLibrary. 12 March 2010. []

Rope, Bradford, and Ilia Jimenez. "Validation of **//test//** methods to ensure reliable results in the lab." //Global **Cosmetic**// //Industry// 165.4 (1999): 24. //OmniFile Full Text Mega//. Web. 6 Apr. 2010.