Animal Rights and Pressure Groups Free Essay Example, 1500 words

The U. S government openly supports the laboratory testing on Chimpanzees. However, UK prohibits it. Also Belgium, Germany, Holland and Austria have banned cosmetic testing on animals. In EU, as of 2013, the organization prohibited the use of animal testing in cosmetic testing pursuant to EU regulations. Use of animals in testing for cosmetics safety began in the United States around 1933 after an eye-lash darkening treatment known as Lash lure blinded a lady (Willet, 17). The incident caused a huge outcry, thus prompted Eleanor Roosevelt to campaign for stricter regulation of cosmetic products. Animal tests have been conducted to investigate; skin and eye itching, where chemicals are rubbed on bare skin or dripped into the eyes of animals. Repeated force-feeding research, it usually last for weeks to find out if any side effects, signs of general illness appear. In 1938, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) passed the FDA act to provide safeguards against harmful effects of cosm etic use. The U. S now required the use of animal test to ensure safety of cosmetics before human use. In 1966, the coalition for Consumer Information on Cosmetics (CCIC), a group of citizens including the Humane Society of the United States, developed the Corporate Standard of Compassion for Animals in an effort to create an international non-animal testing standard code (Willet, 16). We will write a custom essay sample on Animal Rights and Pressure Groups or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now In 2002, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Belgium banned use of animal testing for cosmetic safety. In 2009, the EU also banned the use of animals in cosmetic testing. L’Oreal, the global leader in cosmetic industry lodged a legal protest, however, other beauty and cosmetic products manufacturers supported the cruelty-free products. According to the U. S National Academy of Sciences, animals are used in testing cosmetic safety because they provide vital data for evaluating the hazardous potential of the cosmetic products used by humans. Advocates of animal testing argue that conducting the tests on humans is far much dangerous as it risks the safety of human subjects, thus endangering their lives. Animal testing is so as to protect the health and safety of human consumers. The concern in animal testing is about the ethical treatment of animals and reliability of the tests when evaluating its safety on human use. Studies have shown th at animal tests are not that accurate due to the differences in animal and human tissue, especially the distribution of the blood vessels and skin reactions. Also, the toxicity levels administered to the animals differs from what the human user applies or administers.