Millions of people around the world use countless cosmetics every day.  Although consumers enjoy an enhanced appearance, most do not know that their favorite beauty products or even household items come from laboratories in which researchers use less than humane methods while testing on skin closest to a human’s.  Annually, various industries such as CoverGirl, Neutrogena or any Johnson & Johnson brand, L’Oreal, Sephora and the Body Shop report using more than 100 million invertebrates, cats, dogs and primates for brutal testing.  However, according to the Humane Society, 90 percent of all animals in these tests are not currently registered in the annual number of animals tested,  Animal testing is completely inhumane because scientists in these labs would never force regular civilians to endure these tests.  There are better alternatives to using these helpless creatures for our benefit and humans should not be allowed to wreak such horrifying and permanent effects on these animals who have no means of fighting for their rights.

Human beings would never perform these tests on other people, as they inflict intense pain and mental trauma.  To prove this point, almost 2 years ago, activist Jacqueline Traide from England stood in a shop window and endured the same exact practices performed on animals for the cosmetic industry.  However, her video only went viral in the U.S. a few months ago, signifying that Americans are far behind in the movement.  If researchers  continued to perform these tests on humans, there would be a universal outcry.  Although animals cannot verbalize the toll the testing takes on them does not mean humans have the right to abuse animals’ existence for their own profit.  To expect other creatures of Earth to endure things that we deem unbearable is hypocritical.

“Animal testing is unbelievably cruel, and if you would not do it to humans, why do it to other animals,” said Sophomore Jessica Abgaryan.

There are also horrific side effects on the animals that have these experiments performed upon their eyes, skins and internal organs.  Rodents are force-fed food and medication for weeks to see if they will die, and have chemicals dropped into their eyes that could essentially blind and burn them.  Animals suffer days and even years of testing.  After the testing, animals rarely see sunlight due to their immediate killing performed by the scientists.  Due to the idea that these animals are disposable, the effects of the tests do not seem, to most humans, as a large problem.

Animal testing is completely unnecessary, as there are alternative methods of testing that are proven to be just as successful as animal testing.  Researchers at Johns Hopkins University created the Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing in 1981 and have already discovered several alternatives to using animals to test products.  Their discoveries are ongoing, and new cell research has cleared the way for human cells to be created for testing, harming nothing and no one. These in vitro (in a test-tube) procedures are not harmful to any living creature besides the cells, which do not feel pain and are not even aware that they are alive. According to change.org, 95% of all medical schools use human simulations as opposed to animals for testing, and cosmetic companies should use these methods too.

There are ways that humans show their dominance over the world, but humans are not the dominant species.  Humans do not exist on the planet to destroy everything in their way, and animal testing is an avoidable practice that needs to end.