Modern science, validating what we can observe in nature with our own senses, has now made clear that animals can and do suffer. They suffer pain, they suffer emotional distress, they suffer in captivity, and they suffer from the death of and injury to their family or social groups. In this way, they are very much like human beings, and we can thus reflect on their suffering by asking how we would feel if we, or our family members, were subjected to the kind of suffering to which we subject animals.
We try to justify what amounts to the torture of animals (more on that later), by referring to our dominant position in the world, and the need to have safe products for human beings. In other words, the desire we have for various kinds of products justifies whatever we choose to do to animals.
We forget many times that we are stewards, not owners, of nature, and thus, we have an obligation to act responsibly towards the creatures that share the planet with us, as stewards. This implies that we treat animals with honor and respect for their safety, well-being, and ability to live their lives without being made captive and tortured and killed by our desire to cleanse, moisturize, and decorate ourselves with personal care and cosmetic products.
The argument invariably then comes up as to how we are going to make sure our products are safe if we cannot test them on animals! In other words, we are willing to justify the pain, torture, and suffering of animals if there is some benefit to ourselves that we cannot find another way to achieve. We will explore this concept a little later, as there is a built-in assumption here that animal testing for cosmetics and cosmetic ingredients is the only way to ensure this benefit to ourselves, and that assumption is, at this time in history, simply inaccurate.
Most people have no idea what is meant by animal testing of cosmetics. There are benign images in our minds of bunny rabbits being shampooed and, therefore, the question that arises is, “What is the harm in that?”
The reality is unfortunately starkly different. In order to work properly, personal care products are made up of a series of ingredients, some of which lift dirt off of surfaces (surfactants), some of which moisturize, some of which balance pH, and some which provide a preservative action in one form or another. These are examples only. The complex formulas involved use ingredients that are blended together with water, glycerin, aloe, or other neutral items that tend to buffer the impact. The blending itself brings about a buffering and offsetting action of acid versus base, so that pH balance can be achieved. This route provides products in a pH range that is acceptable to human skin, and avoids extremely corrosive effects of products that would be either too acidic or too alkalizing in their effect. The problem arises in that animals used for testing are subjected, not to the actual balanced end-result formulation, and not even to the percentage of a specific ingredient in the formula, but to 100% strength of each ingredient tested. Thus, an acidic agent that is in a formula at 1% is tested on animals at 100%. An ingredient that is part of a “rinse off” product is applied to the animal and left on, not rinsed off. In other words, those who do testing are not even testing the ingredients under the conditions under which they are being used! Dropping a caustic or acidic ingredient at 100% strength into the eyes of a bunny (Draize test) is clearly a case of torture … and for what?
There are of course options available to avoid this continued torture of animals for cosmetics. There are now computer-generated tests, as well as molecular tests of skin cells, that can provide results without sacrificing the life, freedom, health, or wellness of animals, which can nevertheless ensure the safety of the products being marketed. There are a large number of ingredients that are either classified as “Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS)” due to very long historical usage or prior testing, as well as an even larger body of ingredients that were tested for safety in the past which no longer require testing at all, as their characteristics are well known. Combining this existing range of ingredients with the newer “cruelty-free” testing methods means that animal testing is not any longer even justifiable by the argument for “human need” overruling “animal need.”
Back in 1959, Lady Dowding in the UK recognized the need for compassion towards animals, and she started Beauty Without Cruelty, an organization dedicated to opposing animal testing of cosmetics. Her husband, Air Marshall Hugh Dowding, convinced her that it was not sufficient to simply talk about the issue, but that they needed to prove that cosmetic products could be formulated without using animal testing. Thus, in 1963, she founded the Beauty Without Cruelty brand of personal care products, which was the first brand to develop totally “cruelty-free” cosmetics and the brand which launched the “cruelty free / no animal testing” movement. Since that time, many countries have in fact recognized the issue and passed laws banning animal testing of cosmetic products and their ingredients, including the EU, as well as Taiwan, Australia, and other countries. Legislation has been introduced in the USA, and even China—long a holdout on animal testing of cosmetics—has been evaluating their stance and looking for alternatives that can eventually allow them to join the ranks of countries that do not require animal testing of cosmetics.
Today, many companies have committed to cruelty-free cosmetics, and organizations such as Leaping Bunny, the Humane Society, and PETA have worked to educate people about the need to avoid animal testing of cosmetics. Some, such as Leaping Bunny, actually have an annual third-party audit protocol for those who, like Beauty Without Cruelty, license the use of the Leaping Bunny Logo on products. This third-party audit ensures that brands live up to their commitments to not test ingredients or finished products on animals.
We see a shift in awareness all around the world as people begin to recognize that all the creatures that live on the planet have a right to live, and are part of an integrated, holistic biosphere that has each being tied into a web of interdependence with all the others. Without plants to breathe in our carbon dioxide and provide us oxygen, we would not even be alive! Each animal in the chain of life has a role to play in creating and maintaining the larger balance that makes the earth a world of bounty and beauty.
It is the role of human beings, who are capable of thought and of compassionate understanding, to nurture, protect, and support the balance and diversity of nature. Adopting cruelty-free cosmetics is one step towards a more harmonious world and existence.
The views expressed in opinion pieces are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of BeautyMatter.
