How deep and committed is your love for animals? Deep enough to change your moisturizer? Committed enough to replace your cleaning products or shampoo?
Do you know if your mascara has been tested on an animal? Most people don’t!
I talk to people every day who fight passionately and tirelessly for animals, yet so many of them have no idea what is happening to dogs and other animals in medical research facilities or cosmetic testing labs; stuffed in cages and then tortured for their entire lives. To me, that’s just as abusive as a dog being beaten or dragged and left to starve. Many rescuers work themselves into a lather about animal abuse, then shower with products that have caused an animal to suffer. It’s certainly not intentional, but everyone who is appalled at the atrocities wrought on animals at the hands of humans, need to know!
Did you know that the FDA doesn’t require ANY company to do a test on animals before a cosmetic is approved for sale in the USA? Cleaning products fall under a different category, and some do go through rigorous testing, but needing animals to get something certified for market is unnecessary and not a law.
Animals will get sick and possibly die from eating grapes or chocolate. That alone tells us that an animal’s digestion and metabolism differs greatly from ours. I personally thrive after eating chocolate or drinking wine!
How many of you actually put the entire tube of mascara into your eye? Yeah-me either! But testing laboratories put more of these mixtures into the eyes of caged rabbits at one time than any of us would use in a lifetime. They use rabbits because, when they’re afraid, they don’t blink! And these tests are conducted WITHOUT anesthesia!
Many animal lovers picketed in protest before the opening of the Covance Labs* in Chandler. Sadly, the city opted to tarnish its image by welcoming the lab. And, it’s too bad they still use animals to do this instead of cloned human tissue or high-tech computer programs!
If this information incites you to do more research into the products you use now, I’ve done my job!
To learn which products have not been tested on animals, first read the label. It may feature the Leaping Bunny logo, or it might simply state that it has not used animals to get the product to market.
PETA stirs strong emotions in many people due to their oftentimes guerilla tactics, but they have extensive data on companies who do and do not test on animals. Go to http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-experimentation/animal-testing-in-depth.aspx for more information
*Covance is a contract lab hired by pharmaceutical and biotech companies to develop drugs, and test products on animals. To read more about Covance and the protests, read http://www.azcentral.com/community/chandler/articles/2009/04/05/20090405covance0405.html
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Feel free to contact me at petwelfareexaminer@yahoo.com with questions about any of my stories.
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