Blog By: Grace McDonald
Substances are being dropped in the eyes, rubbed on shaved skin, and administered orally to animals all over the world.[i] After these torturous experiments are over, these animals undergo euthanasia and dissection.[ii] Moreover, the resulting mutilated animal bodies are improperly discarded, posing a risk of “dangerous exposure to radioactive materials and biohazards” to the environment. [iii] Why are we torturing innocent animals and harming the environment for the sake of moisturizing our skin and enhancing our features?
The cosmetic industry started experimenting on animals when the United States Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act (FD&C Act) was signed into law in 1938, mandating the “safety substantiation of cosmetic products.”[iv] The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) defines cosmetics as “articles intended to be applied to the human body for cleansing, beautifying, promoting attractiveness or altering the appearance without affecting the body's structure or functions.”[v] However, despite the FD&C Act advising manufacturers to ensure the safety of their products, the FDA “does not require the use of animals in testing cosmetics for safety.”[vi] Moreover, many non-animal tests are available, such as human cell-based tests and sophisticated computer models, that are more efficient, reliable, and cost-effective.[vii]
An often-overlooked result of animal testing is its significant negative environmental impact.[viii] Animal testing harms the environment in various ways, including the resources used in animal testing, waste production in laboratories, air pollution emitted from laboratories, and the biodiversity impact of removing animals from their natural habitat.[ix] Animal research facilities require specific, energy-intensive needs that are “up to ten times greater than offices on a square meter basis.”[x] Disposing millions of animal bodies—along with contaminated needles and syringes—produces harmful substances and air pollutants.[xi] These animal carcasses and laboratory supplies emit toxic gases into the environment upon incineration.[xii] Additionally, the “soil contamination and runoff of animal waste can result in groundwater contamination, exacerbating the problem of drugs in public water supplies and contaminating public drinking water.”[xiii] Lastly, local environments are being disrupted by losing species at an alarming rate as animals are being removed from the wild and bred in captivity for animal research. [xiv]
If animal testing is unnecessary, inhumane, and damaging to the environment, then why is this cruel practice still present? Many countries and a few American states have acknowledged and acted on this question. As of August 2023, 11 states and 44 countries have adopted laws banning the sale of animal-tested cosmetics.[xv] These states include California, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon and Virginia.[xvi] Some countries that have banned animal testing entirely include every country in the European Union, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and, most recently, Canada.[xvii] In July of 2023, the Canadian government passed Bill C-47, which amends the Food and Drugs Act to ban “both the testing of cosmetic products on animals and the sale of products relying on animal testing data.”[xviii] The bill specifies that no tests causing “pain, suffering or injury, whether physical or mental, to the animal” shall be conducted on animals.[xix]
It is time for the United States to follow the many other countries that have banned animal testing in the cosmetic industry nationally. Not just for the sake of preventing the torture of innocent animals but also for the sake of preventing harm to the environment, all for a needless and avoidable cruel human practice.
[i] Cosmetics, Cruelty Free Int'l, https://crueltyfreeinternational.org/make-change/cosmetics#:~:text=These%20tests%20include%20dripping%20cosmetics,will%20be%20killed%20and%20dissected (last viewed Oct. 21, 2023) [https://perma.cc/M9G7-B9KZ].
[ii] Id.
[iii] Sherihan Radi, Public Awareness of the Impact of Animal Testing in the Cosmetic Industry (Feb. 23, 2023), https://www.intechopen.com/chapters/1121293 [https://perma.cc/G2KM-VQMT].
[iv] Timeline: Cosmetics Testing on Animals, Humane Society of the U.S., https://www.humanesociety.org/resources/timeline-cosmetics-testing-animals#:~:text=1938%3A%20The%20United%20States%20Food,testing%20their%20products%20on%20animals (last viewed Oct. 22, 2023) [https://perma.cc/W29T-LAAE].
[v] Cosmetics Animal Testing FAQ, Humane Society of the U.S., https://www.humanesociety.org/resources/cosmetics-animal-testing-faq#:~:text=The%20Food%20and%20Drug%20Administration,polish%2C%20makeup%20(such%20as%20mascara (last viewed Oct. 22, 2023) [https://perma.cc/67BZ-5N9U].
[vi] Animal Testing & Cosmetics, U.S. Food & Drug Admin. (March 4, 2022), https://www.fda.gov/cosmetics/product-testing-cosmetics/animal-testing-cosmetics [https://perma.cc/WR5U-4U4S].
[vii] Cosmetics Animal Testing FAQ, supra note iv.
[viii] Rebekah Corbett, Animal Research: An Environmental Perspective, Faunalytics (Sept. 16, 2019), https://faunalytics.org/animal-research-an-environmental-perspective/ [https://perma.cc/Y6P7-G2HZ].
[ix] Id.
[x] Id.
[xi] Id.
[xii] Id.
[xiii] Id.
[xiv] Id.
[xv] Cosmetics Animal Testing FAQ, supra note iv.
[xvi] Id.
[xvii] Id.
[xviii] Zoe Sottile, Canada has Officially Banned Testing Cosmetics on Animals, CNN (July 2, 2023, 6:00 AM), https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/02/americas/canada-ban-animal-testing-cosmetics-trnd/index.html#:~:text=Canada%20has%20joined%20more%20than,ban%20cosmetic%20testing%20on%20animals.&text=Canada%20has%20moved%20to%20ban,in%20a%20Tuesday%20news%20release [https://perma.cc/5NUF-VVWC].
[xix] Id.