Animal Testing - The Ugly Truth

Here's the ugly truth about China’s animal testing policy and what it says about some of the brands we love. It seems an archaic and cruel practice, but in order to sell beauty products in China, which is the world’s largest consumer market next to ours, beauty brands are required by law to do animal testing on the products sold there.

Many of our favorite brands, some you may even use every day, are owned by huge mega-beauty conglomerates; such as L’Oreal, Estee Lauder and Shiseido. These companies are beholden to shareholders who apply tremendous pressure to increase profits. It comes to the point that these companies, and also many privately held companies, can’t resist the opportunity to enter this new and very lucrative market.

Some companies, who built their brands on No Animal Testing like Nars, which was sold to Shiseido in 2000, have now entered the Chinese market and have begun to do so. Mary Kay and Avon have also recently begun doing so for the same reason.

They claim they only do it when required by law. Regardless, they are doing it for profits.

What does animal testing mean?

Whether you’re an animal lover or not, you can agree blinding bunnies and injecting puppies full of poisons is an unnecessary and inhumane practice. Here’s an example, just imagine putting a bunny’s head in a vice and spraying irritants in it’s eyes at very high doses to see how much it takes to make them blind. And then they are disposed of. Horrible, right? 

Beauty products that have been tested on animals are banned in the EU (European Union) and many American brands, like Beauty For Real have safe ingredients that are not tested on animals in their formulations. It’s just not necessary to perform animal testing to create safe products to make you look pretty.

What's the answer to avoid animal testing?

A modern test-tube method can distinguish toxic from non-toxic cosmetic ingredients without cruel animal-poisoning experiments. Labs have also advanced by using artificial human tissue which is much more accurate in determining human sensitivity than live animals. Support PETA, educate yourself and tell your friends. What does PETA stand for? People for the ethical treatment of animals.

How can you help save animals from makeup testing?

How can you help? As consumers of beauty products in the United States, we are still the largest consumer market and we have power. How you choose your products and spend your money speaks volumes. You must research who owns the brands you buy (see the links below) and support brands that do not do animal testing. Please be sure your favorite mascara or waterproof eyeliner, which should make you look and feel beautiful, doesn’t become ugly by causing innocent animals to suffer. You can make a difference.

Stay beautiful!

- Leslie Munsell (animal lover and makeup junkie) @lesliemunsell

Here are links for more information: Link 1, Link 2

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