Running head: ALTERNATIVES 1

Alternatives To Animal Testing

Brooklyn Benson

Arizona State University

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Abstract

Animal testing for cosmetics is a controversial issue that has been around for decades.

Scientists need to stop using animals for testing and start using alternative methods. This would

be beneficial by alleviating the unjust harm, so animals do not have to suffer and be in poor

environments every day of their life. Next, by using alternative tests it would give more accurate

results. This is important due to the amount of side effects happening from makeup products

around the world. Also, if scientists stopped testing on animals and used alternative tests it would

produce less waste. Animal activists have created organizations to help protect the animals and

create more alternatives. Animal testing is not necessary to determine whether the chemicals in

cosmetic products are safe or not.

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Women mostly in the Western and Eastern hemisphere use a variety of cosmetic products

such as mascara, foundation, and lip balm. What these women may not realize, is what numerous

amounts of innocent animals are forced to go through every day, so humans could apply their

cosmetics. Specific laws from the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act (FD&C) requires that

most cosmetic companies have to be ensured that their products are safe for everyone to use by

testing on animals. One of the many reasons scientists test on animals for is because not

everyone sees animals as being equal to humans. The cosmetic industry’s market value is

constantly growing every day and is currently worth billions of dollars. Due to the amount of

money that the industry is making, the cosmetic companies typically hire scientists who force

animals to undergo specific chemicals that cause them pain, suffering, and permanent harm

which usually results in death at the end of the experiment. Once the animals die, the scientists

will quickly replace them and repeat this process. Many activists believe that it is important for

animals to not be tested on, so they do not have to go through this pain and suffering daily.

People need to be educated on what animals are having to go through. Instead of testing on

animals, scientists should use alternatives because it would alleviate the unjust harm, give more

accurate results, and produce less waste.

Scientists need to use alternatives to animal testing because it would alleviate the unjust

harm. Just by using one alternative test, scientists were able to save 240,000 mice lives each year

(Phillips, 2007). A commonly known animal test is called the “draize test”. This is a horrific test

which in most cases leads the rabbit to death. It is where scientists will pin open rabbits eyes and

pour chemicals into them. They will not come back until days later to see how the rabbit has

reacted. This is an example of how humans get shampoo bottles that show that it will not be

harmful if they get the product in their eyes, because scientists have tested it. In the United States

about 80 million animals are being tested on, but there organizations that are striving to bring
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that number down. The ZEBET, which is part of the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, is

based on replacement, reduction, and refinement. They believe in safety for humans, but they are

also trying to find more alternatives to animal testing (Liebsch, 2011). There is another big

organization in Europe called SEURAT, which stands for Safety Evaluation Ultimately

Replacing Animal Testing. This organization started in December of 2015 and is advancing its

technology every day. SEURAT has two main ideas that it is focusing on right now to help

develop research for animal testing alternatives. The first idea is to find the best biological

targets to predict the level of toxicity in the chemicals, so scientists do not have to test on

animals. They are constantly working on proving these concepts. Their second main goal is to

apply the alternatives to testing. Specifically, they want to show the rest of the world these

alternatives (Daston, 2015). Also, Abbott explains that the European Centre for the Validation of

Alternative Methods, ECVAM, has created numerous alternatives to animal testing and they got

seventeen of the tests approved. Some scientists and cosmetic companies believe that it is

necessary to test on animals. Rene Descartes, a French philosopher, believed that animals could

not think or feel. That was when animal testing first started to begin, in 1596 (Archibald, 2004).

Specifically, in Europe, scientists have said that they need to test on juvenile animals (Baldrick,

2013). Juvenile animals are animals that are young animals that are not adults yet. Scientists

believe that by using juvenile animals it will help them better ensure whether chemicals are safe

to use or not (Baldrick, 2013). Animal testing quickly became a controversial subject. But like

Garattini said, that is not the subject of this paper, so they will continue to talk about the animal

experimentation. Scientists do admit that improvements could be made to improve the comfort

level of the animals (Garattini, 2017). Now, they just need to start implementing this.

More accurate results are given when alternatives are used. Many cosmetic products

often contain chemicals in them that were proven safe from testing on animals, but they end up
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having side effects. It is highly unlikely that 100% of all cosmetic products tested on animals are

safe for humans to use with no side effects. For example, in New York there was an eye makeup

product that ended up having lead in it that caused blinding in humans (Phillips, 2007). Also, in

the 1950s, some pregnant women were giving birth to babies with birth defects due to specific

cosmetic products they were using (Abbott, 2005). In Britain, almost one hundred people were

killed because of the use of a cosmetic product that had been researched for multiple years prior

to going out on the market. Also, more recently in New York City, the New York City Health

Department put out a warning to citizens in their area because of certain makeup products

(Phillips, 2007). The products included ingredients like kohl and lead. Neither of these

ingredients were in ingredients listed on the cosmetic product. Some may ask, why are some of

these animal tests failing? One simple reason is because humans organs are much more complex

than any animal. Another reason is that some trials will become inactive, due to the animal

showing different results every time. Although animal testing is not 100% accurate, scientists

still believe that testing on animals is better. They say they will eliminate the chemicals that are

extremely toxic. Scientists are able to transfer human genes into a small animal, such as a rat,

and then develop the mice until they are humanized (Garattini, 2017). For example, when a

scientist tests on a small animal such as a rat, he is able to see the way the rat reacts to specific

chemicals. The scientist can use the rat to compare how its reproductive cycle will react to

toxicity levels, and then use that data to see what the chemical would do to a human (Chapin,

2013). However, this technique is not always accurate. Numerous amounts of people are being

killed from products that were considered safe from being tested on animals (Tatchell, 2004). If

alternatives would be used instead of animal testing, the results would be more accurate and

numerous amounts of people would not get hurt.

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Along with alleviating the unjust harm and giving more accurate results, using

alternatives to animal testing helps produce less waste. Animal testing is extremely wasteful.

Shapiro states that some animal tests are unnecessary because the chemical being tested was

already well understood and could be evaluated with computer, cell, and biochemical tests. So,

not only are some scientists and cosmetic companies hurting innocent animals, but they are

testing on them when it is unnecessary. Scientists argue that they need to test on animals anyway,

because humans would not be able to be tested at the toxicity of the chemicals they are using

(Chapin, 2013). Scientists believe in a trial and error method, where they continue to test on

animals until they find a solution. Garattini explains that what they mean by trial and error

method is that there is no specific formula that they follow. They isolate the animals’ organs,

organisms, and cells to see how they have been affected (Garattini, 2017). Imagine if you or your

innocent pet were being tested on every day. Imagine your dog, who is your best friend, being

burnt alive, his eyes being pried open, and his arms falling off. They have to see their friends die

right in front of them, while being locked up in a cage when they are not being tortured. How

would you feel? In 1959, every single dog and rat that was tested on through the Merk, Sharp, &

Dohme died from testing (Tatchell, 2004). Tatchell continues to state that an alternative test

would have provided the scientists with the same information they got from testing and killing

the animals. Some of these scientists simply do not care about the animals lives. It is completely

unnecessary and wasteful to test on animals.

There are multiple specific alternatives that should be used instead of animal testing.

They test on any type of animal from rats, dogs, cats, rabbits, frogs, monkeys and more. Due to

what is happening, there are organizations all throughout the world that are rapidly trying to

create alternative tests to protect the lives of animals. With advanced technology, an in vitro test

has been created as an alternative to animal testing. It can develop and display any type of cell
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from humans to animals. Through this test scientists are able to see how chemicals are reacting

with any species functions (Garattini, 2017). There is an organization called the European

Partnership for Alternative Approaches to Animal Testing (EPAA) that contains animal activists

that are trying to find alternatives to animal testing. They are one of the biggest organizations is

Europe that are working towards creating alternatives. They are specifically researching the stem

cell project. This is a test where scientists can take human tissue and change the programming to

make the cell go back to its embryonic stage. This way the cells can recreate any type of model

and then scientists can use this to test as an alternative (Cozigou, 2015). In Italy, a group called

the Scientific Advisory Committee of European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods

(ECVAM) announced that they have five new alternative methods to animal testing. One of the

tests they are using is where they are able to mimic human skin. They can create different

circumstances, such as if the human would have oily or dry skin. There are two other tests that

the ECVAM found that will also take away the need for the rabbit eye test (Phillips, 2007). More

specifically, Phillips talks about how scientists are able to understand and determine if the

product would cause irritation in the eyes. Phillips mentions that another one of their tests can

save up to 240,000 mice. There are numerous amounts of alternatives that are still being

evaluated and created to this day. If any of these alternatives were implemented, they could save

thousands of innocent animals lives.

Animal activists are speaking out, because they feel that they are not being heard. They

would like to be consulted before any animal test is done (Wickenson, 2010). Wickenson

compares the right of animal activists to university communities, researchers, and administrators.

He does this by saying that those groups of people are able to have a discussion about anything

before it happens, but it is not the same way for animal rights activists. Wickenson continues on

that even if the animal rights activists and scientists did not come to an agreement with each
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other, he mainly wants both sides to listen to each other. This way both the scientists and the

animal rights activists will learn the reasonings from each side. Scientists attack animal rights

activists, because they accuse them of budging into conversations that they were not invited to be

in (Wickenson, 2010). If they were consulted, then there would be a greater chance that both

activists and scientists could come together and form a compromise. The activists could make

sure that the animals get better living conditions and the animals are only in tests that do not

harm them. David Blunkett is proposing laws that take away more rights from animal rights

activists (Tatchell, 2004). Tatchell explains how he is more worried about the activists than the

actual problem.

There are two main attitudes towards animal testing. The first is animal welfare and the

second is the conditions that animals are under. The activists strongly support animals being held

in safe and reasonable conditions. Americans tend to be more on the scientists side of testing on

animals. Usually, vegetarians tend to be extremely against animal testing as well. Also,

Americans are usually less enthusiastic about animal welfare. Animal welfare is also known as

animal care and the way the animals are being treated. Not surprisingly, women showed that they

were more against animal testing than men. Swami explains that activists are worrying, because

the number of animals being tested on every year are rising. There was a study done to British

undergraduates about their thoughts on animal testing. The majority of students were against

animal testing and against any laboratories that promoted animal testing . But, studies have

shown that some attitudes differ from this. For example, some students with different majors

were more against animal welfare, instead of for it. Studies have also shown that depending on

your personality, your viewpoint may be different. For example, people who have more

masculine and conservative personality traits tend to be more positive about animal testing

(Swami, 2008). Swami continues that while people with more sympathetic, tender-minded, and
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imaginative were more against animal testing. Believe it or not, there are a few scientists who do

not believe in what they are doing. They would much rather work quietly and not say anything

than get fired (Aziz, 2011).

Meanwhile, there are some scientists that do not say what they do because they are afraid

of the backlash and they do not want to be attacked. Although some scientists are afraid, there

are also scientists that will stand up to a crowd and defend what they do. Colin Blakemore is a

professor at the University of Oxford and he is not afraid to go out into public and tell everyone

what he does for work (Aziz, 2011). This did not end well. He had bombs sent to his children

and was attacked multiple times. So, scientists have stayed quiet about what they are doing.

Some researchers believe that because of this, animal activists have assumed that the animal tests

are useless and unhuman. But then, scientists will lie in debates. For example, scientists told the

animal activists that no animals were tested on when they were first discovering insulin (Aziz,

2011). Aziz continues to say that this was a lie. The scientists actually experimented on dogs and

prepared the chemicals on mice. Based on peoples sex, age, religion, political stance, and

personality all contribute to whether they believe in animal testing or not. There are many

methods and factors that can go into whether a person is more likely to become an animal

activist or not.

Overall, most scientists and animal rights activists have extremely different opinions

when it comes to animal testing. Based on gender, age, and personality there will be different

strong opinions. Animal testing will always be a controversial subject on whether scientists

should be allowed to test on the animals or not. Maybelline, Estée Lauder, and Clinique are just a

few brands that continue to test their products on animals.The easiest way to avoid this is for

scientists to just use alternative tests. By using alternatives, scientists can save thousands of

animals lives. There would be fewer innocent animals living their lives in cages just waiting their
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turn to be tortured for the use of cosmetic products. Also, they would produce more accurate

results that would also save human life. There would be less mistakes happening from the side

effects of the products humans use. On top of everything else, they would produce less waste.

There are so many alternative options that are available for scientists to use. If scientists used

alternatives to animal testing it would alleviate unjust harm, give more accurate results, and

produce less waste.

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