Information about Animal Testing
As a consumer, you have a lot of power to help put an end to animal testing. By purchasing cosmetics and other products that are not tested on animals and by supporting compassionate charities, you send a powerful message to corporations and organizations that they will not receive your hard earned money as long as they continue conducting inhumane tests on animals.
Hundreds of thousands of animals are poisoned, blinded, and killed every year in outdated product tests for cosmetics, personal-care products, household-cleaning products, and even fruit juices.
Although more than 1,100 companies have banned all animal tests forever, some corporations still force substances into animals’ stomachs and drip chemicals into rabbits’ eyes. These tests are not required by law, and they often produce inaccurate or misleading results—even if a product has blinded an animal, it can still be marketed to you.
Fortunately, scientists have developed sophisticated product tests that are faster, cheaper, and far more accurate than blinding and poisoning tests, which were developed in the 1920s. Human cell cultures and tissue studies (in vitro tests) and artificial human “skin” and “eyes” mimic the body’s natural properties, and a number of computer virtual organs serve as accurate models of human body parts.
Please vow never to buy products from companies that use animals. Request our Cruelty-Free Shopping Guide and check out PETA’s database of companies that do and don’t test on animals in order to find out which of your favorite brands and products are animal-friendly. You can also find alternatives to products manufactured by companies that do test on animals.
And remember to support only compassionate charities when you write that end-of-the-year check! Some health charities ask for donations to help people with diseases and disabilities yet spend the money to bankroll horrific experiments on dogs, rabbits, rats, mice, primates, hamsters, pigs, ferrets, frogs, fish, guinea pigs, sheep, birds, and other animals.
Instead of ravaging animals’ bodies for cures for human diseases, compassionate charities focus their research where the best hope of treatment lies: with humans. They understand that we can improve treatments through up-to-date, non-animal methods, and they fund only non-animal research, leading to real progress in the prevention and treatment of disease.
Make sure your charitable donations are going to life-saving charities and not life-taking charities.