Stop rabbit experimentation for cosmetic products!

Millions of animals are used for animal testing in experimentation factories, rabbits are one of the common victims. 170,000 rabbits die each year in the U.S.A. They are mainly used for artificial beauty: cosmetics. Do thousands of innocent rabbits really deserve to die just for the sake of smearing makeup on your face? 

In the 20th century worldwide, animal testing became popular. In 1938, animal experimentation and testing began in the U.S. Rabbits and other small animals were commonly used for this. They were tested for drugs and other cosmetic products. The reason why we started experimenting on rabbits and other small animals is because humans wanted to experiment their products on something else before it goes to the commercial market. 

Countries have their own opinions and rules on rabbit testing. In certain countries such as: United States of America, China, Australia, Canada, Brazil, South-Korea, Japan, etc, still agree with animal testing and although they might have put certain laws in place, these countries still test animals and rabbits for cosmetic purposes. The EU has made it illegal to test cosmetic products on any sort of animal since 2004. It is still allowed to test them for medical/life saving purposes however, there are strict rules that they MUST follow to insure that the animal isn’t suffering and in severe pain. 

Popular cosmetic companies who still test their products on animals are: L'Occitane, Chanel, Giorgio Armani, Dior, Maybelline Newyork, Dolce & Gabbana, Cetaphil, etc. Although the EU prohibits testing cosmetics products on animals in Europe, cosmetic products that have been tested in other countries where it’s legal, can still be imported to Europe. This is exactly what most of the cosmetic companies do.

Rabbits testing and other animal testing is done for a specific reason, humans create a lot of new products every year and before selling them they have to make sure that those types of products won’t hurt us when we are using it on our skin. That’s why they decided to use animals, mostly rabbits and other small animals because it was easier to see how the products affect them. Throughout the years, the tests made on rabbits have changed, but the most used one consists in the Draize eye and the skin test. The two tests are mainly used on rabbits. 

Draize eye test:

The rabbits are locked into place and the experimenters squeeze a chemical substance into the rabbit’s eyes. They experience a lot of pain and their eye starts to swell and it becomes red and even can get infected. They can also become blinded for the rest of their lives.

Skin test:
 For this test, we shave a part of the rabbit fur and apply the chemical substances on the skin of the rabbit. Their skin can get severely irritated and this test is super dangerous for the animals. 

Humans have been testing on rabbits specifically for a few main reasons. 

 1. They are easy to breed. 
Rabbits are fertile from a very young age and they also can give birth to a maximum of 12 rabbits at one time. 

2.They are not particularly large animals
Smaller animals are often easier to test on and even to care for. They require less space and they are easier to test on since they are easier to hold in place whilst doing tests.

3.Rabbits can’t cry
Rabbits don’t have tear ducts which means that they are unable to cry unlike humans. This is helpful for doing tests which requires the use of putting products in their eyes. Since they can’t cry, the product will stay in the eye for longer.

Is it worth testing useless things (cosmetics) on rabbits (animals)

Rabbits are killed  and suffer a fate worse than death if they survive. They are completly tortured and even live in horrible and unstable conditions. It is not fair that they are put through this just because of cosmetics that we could live without. Studies have even stated that cosmetic products DO NOT need to be tested on animals. Nowadays, there are alternatives to animal testing which don’t require the suffering and pain of animals. We are totally against testing animals for cosmetic purposes, however when it comes to medical testing, there are some exceptions. Rabbits (and other animals) deserve to live in freedom in the wild, where they belong, not locked up 24/7 in experimentation factories.   

Alternatives

Even though there are still a lot of factories that test on rabbits, there are many alternatives which some cosmetic companies use which are completely cruelty free such as: The body shop, garnier, cover girl, beauty bay, etc. All of these companies have a PETA verification which means that they do not test on animals. All of these cosmetic companies use different ways to test their products. There are 2 main ways of testing cosmetic products in a cruelty free way:

Vitro methods
Silico methods
Vitro methods use human cells and tissues to test cosmetic products. This means that they test their products on those samples to see the reaction. 

Silico methods are made on a computer. This uses modeling techniques (which are very advanced) to test cosmetic products

(extra) human volunteers
Human volunteers are the least effective alternative since there aren’t too many people willing to get tested for cosmetic purposes. However, there is a tiny percentage of humans who volunteer for testing. 

Our goal is to ban all animal testing for cosmetic purposes. We don’t want any animal to suffer because their life is worth more than artificial beauty. We are doing this in hopes that some cosmetic brands will transfer to cruelty free ways of testing their products.

Bibliography 

Humane Society International. 2021. Rabbits: Blinded for Beauty. [Website] Available at: <https://www.hsi.org/news-media/blinded_rabbits

/> [Accessed 7 December 2021].

PETA. 2021. In Vitro Methods and More Animal Testing Alternatives | PETA. [Website] Available at: <https://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-experimentation/alternatives-animal-testing/#:~:text=These%20alternatives%20to%20animal%20testing,and%20studies%20with%20human%20volunteers

> [Accessed 7 December 2021].

PETA Kids. 2021. What Life is Like for Rabbits Used in Labs. [Website] Available at: <https://www.petakids.com/save-animals/laboratory-rabbits/

> [Accessed 7 December 2021].