Every woman has used the phrase ‘it hurts to be beautiful’ in their lifetime. But I wonder how many of those women have considered what really goes into their beauty routine. I wonder how many women have stopped to ask themselves if red lips or longer eyelashes are worth the pain and cruelty that really goes into being beautiful. Yes, I’m talking about animal testing and the very scary reality that these animals face. Before I started doing research on the topic I could never imagine how awful animal testing really is. I would purchase whichever brand of makeup and cosmetics I wanted without so much of an inkling of guilt.

Since delving deeper into this heinous industry though, I am very weary of buying just any product out there. Luckily there are some great cruelty free brands out there that you can easily find with a quick google search.
Now, let’s take a closer look at why I have decided to shop cruelty-free…
Every year over 65 000 dogs are used in laboratories around the US where they are tormented, mutilated and killed in tests for various products such as medication, household cleaners, pesticides and of course makeup.

Beagles are most often used for testing in laboratories where they are kept in 6ft by 6ft pens for a period of 40 weeks. They are given the freedom/of the hallway once a day before whichever chemical or substance they are testing is applied to their skin, force-fed or injected. If they survive the 40 week test period, they are killed anyway for post-mortem examinations.

In one case a surgically altered beagle was forced to run on a treadmill until he collapsed of a heart attack, he was then killed and his heart removed for studying. In another very cruel case a three week old beagle had his eyes cut out for tests.

Every year over 22 000 cats are used for testing in laboratories and are maimed and tortured. Cats used for testing routinely have holes drilled into their skulls in order to have electrodes attached to their brains. Some cats also have metal coils inserted in their eyes. Again chemicals and substances are tested on these animals daily and should they survive the maiming, probing and poisoning, they are killed and their remains used for further testing.
Cats, however, are less likely to be used in cosmetics testing and are more commonly used in neurological tests. Make no mistake though that some of the products tested on cats do make their way into the cosmetic or household market.

Dogs and other animals such as bunnies, guinea pigs and mice are more often used for cosmetics testing where they are subjected to chemicals which cause bleeding, ulcers, swollen eyes, irritated or cloudy eyes and even blindness. Apart from the fact that these animals are deprived of freedom, love and affection, they endure ongoing torture all in the name of our ‘safety’. Yes, these animals are stuffed into small cages and pumped full of toxicities to ensure that our cosmetics and other products are safe for our use. The cosmetic industry is a multi-billion dollar industry that is built on the principle of suffering and torture.

Personally, I would rather buy a more expensive mascara with the knowledge that it is cruelty-free than to keep funding the organizations that thrive off deliberate torture of helpless animals.

Article by Zerelda Daniels