As has happened many times before I managed to get shampoo in my eye while washing my hair. My first and only thought was “stupid me.” The suds did sting a bit so I rinsed out the eye and finished my shower. No permanent damage was done and no one but me decided to buy that particular shampoo – a product I chose for many reasons not the least of which was the declaration on the bottle that it was not tested on animals.

Animal testing of beauty products is not required by law. The FDA merely states that it recommends appropriate precautions regarding the toxicity of its products. To some this might mean that the products should be tested in some way, to others (including myself) it means that known toxic products should not be used and those that are in question should be avoided.

Product testing invariably has and still does include testing on animals. The two most common tests in use are the Draize tests and the LD-50 test. The Draize tests are two-fold – the Draize eye irritancy test and skin irritancy test. In both forms of the test the animals, most commonly rabbits, are restrained in a device that allows no movement so that the material being tested cannot be removed. The eye irritancy test also requires their lids to be held open with clips so they cannot blink. The skin irritancy test requires that layers of skin be removed by the repeated application and violent ripping off of adhesive tape – once the skin is sufficiently irritated the material to be tested is applied. Both forms of this rest require that the animals stay in contact with the material for several days, alive and often suffering with ulcerative and bleeding eyes or chemical burns on their skin. Once they have sufficiently suffered through this process they are then killed and their organs extracted and examined for any signs of toxic effects.

The LD-50 test – which stands for the Lethal Dose 50 percent – measures how long it takes for a toxic substance to kill half of those subjected to its forced ingestion, inhalation, or exposure in any other form. Animals are observed as they develop convulsions, diarrhea and bleeding from the eyes and mouth – those that do survive are killed at the end of the testing period. This test has been banned in Europe and is no longer supported by the EPA in the US.

Many companies are moving away from such brutal forms of testing. Europe has taken things even further and just recently in May of 2010 has moved forward to ban testing on primates for medical procedures. Animal tests are continued for many reasons – money, tradition, ego and legal concerns. They are absolutely unnecessary. It has been proven many times over that animal tests do not reflect the true effects on humans. There are many new testing procedures, none of which include animals that far better illustrate human reactivity to various substances that we use everyday as well as those for medical research.

Please consider exploring the group linked below and become a conscientious consumer. Animals are sentient – of this there is no longer any doubt – they need not suffer for the sake of our vanity, cleanliness or even our medicine cabinet.