Concerns Over Cosmetic Animal
Testing
Cosmetic animal testing is a very hot
topic today. There are as many as thirteen types of animal testing conducted by the cosmetics industry. These include tests for eyes, skin, photo toxicity, photosensitization,
mutagenicity, acute and chronic toxicity, carcinogenicity, reproductive toxicity, teratogenicity and finished
product safety evaluation. Examples of five major cosmetic tests are given below.
Whole Body, Short-term Toxicity
This type of animal testing involves force-feeding animals different amounts of test
substances to determine what dose kills half of the animals.
Skin
Penetration
This cosmetic testing procedure is used to find out which cosmetic ingredients may penetrate the skin. There is as
much as a five hundred percent difference in the skin absorption rate of animals and humans.
Skin
Irritation
Rabbits and guinea pigs are used to test skin irritation levels. One problem with testing different types of
animals for skin irritation is the huge difference in irritation response between different types of
animals.
Eye
irritation
Frequently, albino rabbits are used to test cosmetic eye irritation. The test most conducted is called the Draize
eye test. The animals are restrained during the test. The problem with this test has been the variation in eye
response between humans and rabbits.
Skin
Sensitization
To determine the probability of cosmetic substances causing allergy related problems, guinea pigs are injected with
various cosmetic substances. Consistency in the type and amount of dosage plus interpretation of test results make
conclusions hard to make. Again, the differences in animal and human sensitivity can be great.
There appears to be some very
legitimate reasons for using animal testing in the cosmetic industry. One of the main problems is the large
variation in the results of animals and humans. If you have strong feelings, please contact the cosmetic companies
and express your concern about using animals to test their cosmetic products.
Cosmetic Animal Testing
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