When people think of animal testing, many usually think that these experiments can find important breakthrough medical information that can cure life-threatening diseases. The truth of the matter is that:

1. *Over 100 million animals are burned, crippled, poisoned, and abused in US labs every year.

2. *92% of experimental drugs that are safe and effective in animals fail in human clinical trials because they are too dangerous or don’t work.

3. *Labs that use mice, rats, birds, reptiles and amphibians are exempted from the minimal protections under the Animal Welfare Act (AWA).

4. *Up to 90% of animals used in U.S. labs are not counted in the official statistics of animals tested. 

5. *Europe, the world’s largest cosmetic market, Israel and India have already banned animal testing for cosmetics, and the sale or import of newly animal-tested beauty products.

6. *Even animals that are protected under the AWA can be abused and tortured. And the law doesn’t require the use of valid alternatives to animals, even if they are available.

7. *According to the Humane Society, registration of a single pesticide requires more than 50 experiments and the use of as many as 12,000 animals.

8. *In tests of potential carcinogens, subjects are given a substance every day for 2 years. Others tests involve killing pregnant animals and testing their fetuses.

9. *The real-life applications for some of the tested substances are as trivial as an “improved” laundry detergent, new eye shadow, or copycat drugs to replace a profitable pharmaceutical whose patent expired.

10. *Alternative tests achieve one or more of the “3 R’s:” replaces a procedure that uses animals with a procedure that doesn’t, reduces the number of animals used in a procedure, refines a procedure to alleviate or minimize potential animal pain.

11. *Several cosmetic tests commonly performed on mice, rats, rabbits, and guinea pigs include: skin and eye irritation tests where chemicals are rubbed on shaved skin or dripped into the eyes without any pain relief.

Many scientific experiments on animals are nothing more than testing to see if shampoo will sting your eyes, not for the important cures that could change our medical field forever. So the next time you use your cosmetics of toiletries, please remember that a poor innocent animal used it first.

As proud Americans, we need to make the protection of helpless animals our top priority in order to give these animals without a say, a voice.  

By signing this petition, you are agreeing that animals should only be used for tests that could potentially benefit science and life on earth and to create more laws besides the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) that make sure of it.

*This information was collected from https://www.dosomething.org/facts/11-facts-about-animal-testing