As much fun as it can be to discover new cosmetics and share them with you, it often hits me as to the real reason I do makeup reviews. It is for purpose of educating people about the reality and truth of the cosmetic industry and the hope of encouraging people to go cruelty free. It may be hard to fathom that eyeliner or lipstick could really put an animal through tremendous suffering, however when you dig deeper you will find the cosmetic industry holds despicable dirty secrets.
Most lab animals are born into captivity. They never breathe fresh air, see sunshine, experience any form of freedom and are never loved. They are helpless to the forced experiments they must endure almost always resulting in death. Some of these experiments include breathing in fumes, pouring liquid into eyes and vivisection.
Director of PETA'S Laboratory Investigations Department Justin Goodman says, " They have chemicals dripped into their sensitive eyes and applied to their raw skin and often without any pain relief". He further stated, "Animals are force-fed increasing amounts of a substance until 50 percent of them die," and "Animals in the highest-dose groups may endure severe abdominal pain, diarrhea, convulsions, seizures, paralysis, and bleeding from the nose, mouth and genitals before they ultimately die."
Communications director Wendy Higgins of Humane Society International says that an estimated 50,000 animals die annually. She states, "The law doesn't recognize laboratory birds, rats and mice as "animals" that require recording in national statistics. As mice and rats make up a very large proportion of the animals typically used in cosmetic testing, you can imagine how much this affects the figures".
Is there hope cosmetic testing will end?
The Humane Cosmetics Act is seeking to ban all animal testing for cosmetics in the USA. To date 130 companies have pledged full support against testing. The United States however is lagging behind as 28 countries in the European Union as well as, India, Noway and Israel all have banned animal testing.
PETA is working with China to end animal experimentation. As you can imagine a great number of companies manufacture their cosmetics in China of which by law the Chinese government requires cosmetic animal experimentation.
Next time you spritz on your perfume, touch up that lipstick, spray your hair curls into place, spare a good moment to think of the innocent creatures in laboratories awaiting the next agonizing test. It is my sincere hope that we will leave our conscience clear by purchasing from companies that know what true beauty is. If our Eastern brothers and sisters can make this happen, so can we!
To check if your cosmetics are cruelty free please visit:
PETA'S BASE: http://features.peta.org/cruelty-free-company-search/index.aspx
LEAPING BUNNY: http://www.leapingbunny.org/indexcus.php