ISABEL BERGE

In 2013 The Animal Bill of Rights, an online petition, was started to provide basic rights to the animals. As an animal rights activist I think every one of the rights presented in this bill are totally reasonable and should have been laws from the beginning, but one point especially is heavily debated in today’s society. I’m talking about paragraph 2 which states: “The right of laboratory animals not to be used in cruel or unnecessary experiments.” This is a paragraph I absolutely agree with! Animals can’t say stop if something is hurting them. They have no way of letting us know when enough is enough. The sad reality is that most of these innocent little bunnies, guinea pigs, mice etc. will either die or be in excruciating pain from the experiments they never signed up to be part of.

 

I know people are concerned about what to use to replace animals. If we can’t continue torturing these sweet little creatures, what are we then to use?

 First of all, other some even more reliable methods for testing already does exist. The Lethal Dose 50 is in my opinion one of the best examples for this. In this experiment they stuff a group of animals with large doses of medication until 50% dies, and the rest is later killed, and still the accuracy is only between 61-65%, however in Sweden a test using donated human cells was invented, which has up to 85% accuracy. This is in every way a better testing method!

 

 Second, the bill only says that they would have the right not to be used in cruel and unnecessary experiments meaning we can still, at least till we find a better option, use animals for medical testing in which animals give the most accurate results, which I do agree is necessary at the moment, but stop using them for commercial testing. T[1] here are several brands that has either stopped testing on animals completely or never tested on animals at all, so there is clearly other ways! When brands say there are no other options, it’s just greediness substituting their hearts. The main reason for animal testing in cosmetics is not lack of other options, but laziness and greediness from the corporation's side.

 

I can promise you that if everyone were to boycott makeup brands that use animal testing, which I know is unrealistic, they would be quick to change their ways. Animal rights organizations can keep pushing and trying to convince, but as long as we users let them get away with it, nothing will ever change. It’s us, the users, who have the power to stop cruelty!

good-- you are addressing the nuances, not all or nothing in testing