Makeup- Vegan Style!
Getting ready for your college farewell party? Confused as to what colour of lipstick and nail varnish would go with your dress? Before you open your make up kit, picture this:
Animals in hugely cramped quarters, often stuck in heaps of their own excrement. These are then subjected to shaving and have chemicals rubbed on their skin which can burn and cause blisters on it. After this torture, the animals are loaded into vehicles, roughly transported and eventually killed.
Every year, cosmetic companies kill millions of animals to test their products so that they can be rendered suitable for human use. Testing is commonly performed on animals to measure levels of skin irritancy, eye tissue damage and toxicity caused by cosmetics, thereby subjecting them to excruciating pain and ultimately death. Here are some instances to exemplify the level of trauma animals go through during this highly unethical practice.
· In the Draize test, caustic substances are placed in the eyes of conscious rabbits to evaluate damage to eye tissues. This is extremely painful for the rabbits who often scream and sometimes break their necks while trying to escape the restraints.
· In the LD 50 test, subjects are forced to ingest poisonous substances until half of them die, additionally causing vomiting, paralysis and bleeding.
Animal testing causes irreversible damage to their bodyparts. Animals can suffer complete loss of senses and can lose mobility. Numerous poor animals spend days in agony and fear, shrieking in pain until they are silenced forever.
A wide range of animals from mice and rats to guinea pigs and dogs are used as subjects. Permissible usage limits are determined by applying fatal amounts of chemicals on the animals. And if you think some mercy is practised while testing, you are in for a disappointment. No anaesthesia or painkillers are given to the animals to lessen their pain. The animals’ ordeal ends only with their deaths, once they are not needed for testing. What is even more disappointing is that even today, some companies use obsolete animal based testing techniques that date back to 1930s, 40s and 50s.
Failure of animal testing
Not only is animal testing inhumane, it is inherently inaccurate. Test results can be affected by age and sex of the animals and the housing and nutritional conditions and how the compound is administered. Humans generally live longer than most of the animals used in the testing process. So how can the results of animal testing be extrapolated to humans?
Humane and effective alternatives
A number of researches have led to the development of humane and more reliable methods of testing. These make use of cell and skin tissue cultures, corneas from eye banks and sophisticated computer and mathematical methods that simulate the real life effects of chemicals on humans directly. As Gordon Baxter once said, “If you have information on human genes, what’s the point of going back to animals?”
What can you do?
Consumers can use their purchasing power to send a powerful message to cosmetic manufacturers that animal testing is cruel and unacceptable. Not only buying from companies that do not test on animals but also encouraging friends and family to support humane companies can be of tremendous help. Animal test free logos ensure that the product has not been tested on animals. Campaigns can be used as a medium to spread awareness among consumers about usage of such products.
Go vegan!!!!
Vegan/cruelty free cosmetic brands are those that:
· Do not test their end products on animals.
· Ensure that raw materials used in their products are not tested on animals.
Few suggestions regarding vegan cosmetic brands that are available in the market: Tathaastu vegan line for women, Surya brasil, Lotus herbals, Ayur herbals, Avon, The body shop, Mary kay, etc.
It is estimated that roughly 50 to 100 million animals are used for testing annually with a continuous rise in the number year after year. Besides being an atrocious practice, animal testing does not even ensure the safety of the cosmetic products tested. Reducing animals’ misery is in our hands. Even they have feelings of anxiety, pain and above all, the fear of death. Fear or no fear, cruelty or no cruelty, veganism or non veganism, death or life, you decide.
Shruti Yadav
B.A. (H) Economics, 1st Year
Animals in hugely cramped quarters, often stuck in heaps of their own excrement. These are then subjected to shaving and have chemicals rubbed on their skin which can burn and cause blisters on it. After this torture, the animals are loaded into vehicles, roughly transported and eventually killed.
Every year, cosmetic companies kill millions of animals to test their products so that they can be rendered suitable for human use. Testing is commonly performed on animals to measure levels of skin irritancy, eye tissue damage and toxicity caused by cosmetics, thereby subjecting them to excruciating pain and ultimately death. Here are some instances to exemplify the level of trauma animals go through during this highly unethical practice.
· In the Draize test, caustic substances are placed in the eyes of conscious rabbits to evaluate damage to eye tissues. This is extremely painful for the rabbits who often scream and sometimes break their necks while trying to escape the restraints.
· In the LD 50 test, subjects are forced to ingest poisonous substances until half of them die, additionally causing vomiting, paralysis and bleeding.
Animal testing causes irreversible damage to their bodyparts. Animals can suffer complete loss of senses and can lose mobility. Numerous poor animals spend days in agony and fear, shrieking in pain until they are silenced forever.
A wide range of animals from mice and rats to guinea pigs and dogs are used as subjects. Permissible usage limits are determined by applying fatal amounts of chemicals on the animals. And if you think some mercy is practised while testing, you are in for a disappointment. No anaesthesia or painkillers are given to the animals to lessen their pain. The animals’ ordeal ends only with their deaths, once they are not needed for testing. What is even more disappointing is that even today, some companies use obsolete animal based testing techniques that date back to 1930s, 40s and 50s.
Failure of animal testing
Not only is animal testing inhumane, it is inherently inaccurate. Test results can be affected by age and sex of the animals and the housing and nutritional conditions and how the compound is administered. Humans generally live longer than most of the animals used in the testing process. So how can the results of animal testing be extrapolated to humans?
Humane and effective alternatives
A number of researches have led to the development of humane and more reliable methods of testing. These make use of cell and skin tissue cultures, corneas from eye banks and sophisticated computer and mathematical methods that simulate the real life effects of chemicals on humans directly. As Gordon Baxter once said, “If you have information on human genes, what’s the point of going back to animals?”
What can you do?
Consumers can use their purchasing power to send a powerful message to cosmetic manufacturers that animal testing is cruel and unacceptable. Not only buying from companies that do not test on animals but also encouraging friends and family to support humane companies can be of tremendous help. Animal test free logos ensure that the product has not been tested on animals. Campaigns can be used as a medium to spread awareness among consumers about usage of such products.
Go vegan!!!!
Vegan/cruelty free cosmetic brands are those that:
· Do not test their end products on animals.
· Ensure that raw materials used in their products are not tested on animals.
Few suggestions regarding vegan cosmetic brands that are available in the market: Tathaastu vegan line for women, Surya brasil, Lotus herbals, Ayur herbals, Avon, The body shop, Mary kay, etc.
It is estimated that roughly 50 to 100 million animals are used for testing annually with a continuous rise in the number year after year. Besides being an atrocious practice, animal testing does not even ensure the safety of the cosmetic products tested. Reducing animals’ misery is in our hands. Even they have feelings of anxiety, pain and above all, the fear of death. Fear or no fear, cruelty or no cruelty, veganism or non veganism, death or life, you decide.
Shruti Yadav
B.A. (H) Economics, 1st Year