Animal lab testing is cruel

By: Fiona M.

       Cries of dogs, hisses of cats, and squeaks of mice. That is what an animal testing lab sounds like. Some people think of animal testing as putting some makeup on a dog or putting lipstick on a cat. But animal testing is not that innocent; it's barbarous. Your favorite beauty company most likely uses animal testing where they shove pipes down throats of animals of all kinds just so you can use their product. Is that what humans are? So greedy we will do anything to get what we want? Animal testing makes it so that 110 million animals in the U.S.A die each year from getting brutally tortured and then put in a box to die. Animal testing is absolutely diabolical. 

       Animals of all kinds get abused from animal testing, from domestic pets like a dog all the way to farm animals like pigs to exotic animals like monkeys. These kinds of animals get abused every day by getting their bones crushed, their brains getting damaged, and getting drowned. After that only twenty percent of animals get pain relief. A quote from Peta says, “Video footage from inside laboratories shows animals who cower in fear every time someone walks by.” After this mad abuse animals get tumors, some might become blind, and some animals fight for their lives with cracked skulls. Most hapless animals do not make it as they either die from the experiment or they get dumped in a cage and left to die after all that anguish they had to experience; only three percent of animals survive.

       Many animals live their life in the lab, but some are lucky enough to be released from the lab. A nonprofit organization called the Beagle Freedom Project has shut down a tick and flea testing lab in Nowata Oklahoma, surrendering 200 cats and dogs and six groups of pigs. The lab was 30 acres long and made of small cages and electric fencing surrounding. All these animals were saved and got immense help. These animals got to be free instead of an object like they were in a lab. The project has given these animals the health that they need and upgraded their tiny cages to dog pens and barns with lots of landscape. Those animals will also get adopted to a forever home to get the life they deserve. Founder Shanon Keith says,  “This has never before been accomplished. We are overjoyed that not only will we give more than 200 dogs and cats their freedom and identity, but that we will also transform an animal testing facility into a place of hope, happiness, rehabilitation, and love."

       “Testing cosmetics on animals is both cruel and unnecessary because companies can already create innovative products using thousands of ingredients that have a history of safe use and do not require any additional testing,” says the Humane Society of the United States. The United States makes it legal to test cosmetics on animals, allowing them to infect animals with disease and stab their eyes with needles. Only 400 companies in the United States have a bill that would end animal testing in the U.S.

       The United States isn't the only one who uses animal testing; out of 195 countries, only 45 have either partially or fully banned animal testing. Animal testing isn't even accurate, which is unquestionably heinous. In this generation we are trusting products that might not even be human safe. Animals are way different from humans. A mouse does not have the same abilities as a human, yet here we are. There are many alternatives for animal testing like cell based testing where they use donated human cells or grow cells. Also, there are sophisticated computer models where computers predict the safety of drugs. These are faster, cheaper, and more reliable than a wild animal.

       48% of adults think animal testing is reasonable for science. Animal testing is a big problem, but there are solutions. Some ways we can start to end or slow down the rate of deaths is to support businesses that don't use animal testing. Another way we can help is to stop buying from the popular companies that use animal testing. Some popular products that use animal testing to look out for are Crest toothpaste, Windex, and Dove. To find brands that don't use animal testing  look at bottles that say animal friendly, or if it has a little animal on the back so you can know that you just saved a life.

       Animal testing is basically legal animal abuse.There are lots of people that think animal testing is okay. Imagine your pet, or your neighbor's pet, or one of your family members' pet, stuffed in a cage and tortured to their death just so you can use face wash. As the percent of animals in labs rises, and the years go on, one day all of those animals may be extinct. One can’t change the way of the ocean, but one can start a wave.