Draft: Choosing Cruelty-Free

Choosing Cruelty-Free

Animal Testing: Blinded for Beauty

What is Animal Testing?
Beauty and personal care companies are introducing new ingredients of lipsticks, foundation or shampoo etc. to the market almost every month, the updating speed of product becomes faster and faster in order to meet the rising variety of customer’s requirements. Every product should be tested before they were officially launched to the market to ensure that it is not irritating, non-toxic and harmless to humans. However, these tests are often performed with animals, called animal testing.

The common testing method as below:

• Draize Test

Animal testing at Wickham Labs

Draize test is used to measure the incitement degree of the product to human eyes. Mascara, eyeliner, hair care products, and even nail polish will use this test method. The animal with only one tear-duct is commonly selected as an experimental subject, like rabbits, though other species are used too, including dogs. During the test, cosmetics substances are dripped into the rabbits’ eyes, often causing redness, swelling, discharge, ulceration, hemorrhaging, cloudiness, or blindness. The rabbits are killed after the experiment is over (PETA 2017). Draize Test has been introduced and procedures unchanged since 1944.

• Oral/Dermal/Inhalation Acute Toxicity Testing

Toxicologists can use many kinds of animals but most often testing is done with rats and mice, to ingest chemicals to determine the dose that resulted in the death of 50 percent of the animals. The animals were, for example, force-fed by a tube inserted down the esophagus into the stomach, causing severe discomfort and extreme and unrelenting pain (Society). The experimental animals will die painfully.

• Reproductive Toxicity Testing

This test for evaluating potential developmental toxicity do not cause physical defects in newborns and usually performed with female mice and rabbits. The test substance can be administered by a variety of routes depending upon the routes of human exposure, usually beginning at implantation and continuing through the end of organogenesis or to full term. The pregnant animals are then killed and the fetuses are weighed, sexed, and examined in exquisite detail for external, visceral, and skeletal alterations (AltTox).

The other common tests also including Genotoxicity/Mutagenicity, Carcinogenicity, and Chronical Toxicity etc..

Why do I Resist the Cosmetics Brands of Animal Testing?

Traditional animal testing hurt animals. More and more research shows that the experimental results in animals cannot be applied directly to humans, therefore the animal testing are neither humanity nor reliability. Nowadays there are more than 5,000 kinds of materials that have been proven safe and do no need any additional animal testing, it means that the cosmetics manufacturers can choose these materials in the research and development process to ensure the safe to use. With the development of modern technology, there are dozens of kinds of testing methods has been proved effective and not needed animals involved in, or use alternatives methods to animal testing, such as in vitro experiments, synthetic skin, computer modeling and human volunteers etc. (Smith 2017).

Personally, since the second half of 2016, I have gradually turned my makeup products into cruelty-free after I unintentionally read a blog named Cruelty-Free Kitty. My point is trying to through individual behavior to reduce the impact on the ecological environment and other life on Earth, minimize my chance of harming animals. Living in the era of technologically advanced, it certainly not supports the cosmetic company which implements animal testing anymore since there are many cruelty-free beauty brands to choose.

How to Recognize Cruelty-Free

Cruelty-Free is a label for products that do not hurt or kill animals. With the growing outcry for against animal testing, a number of companies have printed Logo like “Cruelty-Free” or “Not Tested on Animal” on packaging in an attempt to pander to customers who value animal rights. But the U.S. FDA lacks supervision and control over the labeling of the packaging which caused several companies are capitalizing on the lack of oversight, thus it should be paying attention when we choose to buy cruelty-free products. So, what kind of products can be considered as the real Cruelty-Free? Here are three bunny logos can be trusted when you see them on the product packaging: Leaping Bunny logo, PETA’s cruelty-free logo, and the Choose Cruelty-Free logo. Any other symbol or logo of a bunny is unofficial and has not been accredited by a reputable cruelty-free organization (Cruelty-Free Kitty 2014). Which companies are added to the list of Cruelty-Free brands? The brand you will find in the list claims:1) They will not test the finished product or ingredient on the animal; 2) Their suppliers do not test on animals; 3) Their finished product or ingredient does not test on animals by a third party.

Three Real Cruelty-Free Logos

Some Fake Cruelty-Free Logos

Personal Tips

The good news is that choosing cruelty-free beauty brands does not limit our choice, most of the well-known brands have been certified by professional organizations that they are not tested on animals during the R&D process. 

Part of Cruelty-Free High-End Makeup Brands 

Part of Cruelty-Free Drugstore Makeup Brands 

If you want to try to start replacing your cosmetics and personal care products with cruelty-free, hope my experience can help you.

Tip 1
Throw out the expired or unused products.

Tip 2
Find a brands list from a reliable website as a reference, such as leapingbunny.org to check your makeup and personal care products which are Cruelty-Free or not. Mark a product that is not Cruelty-Free and stores them separately, and does not buy back after you finished them.

Tip 3
You are able to do some research before you purchase an unfamiliar Cruelty-Free brand. It is easy to get the answer that just searches “XXX Animal Testing” or “Is XXX Cruelty-Free” from Google or other search engines. Choosing Cruelty-Free products allows me to fully support those brands that match my values.

Another surprising benefit from choosing cruelty-free brands leads me to save a lot of money on cosmetics. My stance against animal testing also helps me shields many no cruelty-free brands makes more rational than before when I choose and buy a makeup product, also helps me avoid unnecessary expense from my budget.

Sources 

Share three blogs that are run by consumers which I read the most. These bloggers are verify the authenticity in person through contacted and questioned with the brand public relations which claim their products are all cruelty-free. They also share useful information for new consumers for popularizing the cruelty-free life style.

Cruelty-Free Kitten

http://www.crueltyfreekitty.com/

My Beauty Bunny

http://mybeautybunny.com/

Logical Harmony

https://logicalharmony.net/

Work Cite

Rabbits in Laboratories. (2017). PETA. Retrieved 16 June 2017, from https://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-experimentation/rabbits-laboratories/

Society, N. (2017). Product Development and Drug Testing | Animals in Science /…. Neavs.org. Retrieved 17 June 2017, from http://www.neavs.org/research/testing

AltTox.org. (2017). Reproductive & Developmental Toxicity | AltTox.org. AltTox.org. Retrieved 17 June 2017, from http://alttox.org/mapp/toxicity-endpoints-tests/reproductive-developmental-toxicity/

How to Spot a Fake Cruelty-Free Logo | Cruelty-Free Kitty. (2014). Cruelty-Free Kitty. Retrieved 16 June 2017, from http://www.crueltyfreekitty.com/cruelty-free-101/cruelty-free-bunny-logo/

Smith, M., & Health, J. (2017). FAQs. Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Retrieved 16 June 2017, from http://altweb.jhsph.edu/resources/faqs.html#3

Cruelty Free Brands: Makeup, S. (2016). Cruelty Free Brands: Makeup, Skin Care & Hair Care!. Beauty And Makeup Love. Retrieved 17 June 2017, from http://beautyandmakeuplove.com/cruelty-free-brands-makeup-skin-care-hair-care/