Wake up. Torture innocent animals. Rinse and repeat. Get dressed. Torture innocent animals again. Put on the finishing touches and walk to class.
No average college student would write this on his or her daily to-do list. Yet however unknowingly nearly every Pepperdine student probably follows this routine each morning. Through simple choices of body hair and makeup products people contribute to the torture suffering and death of innocent animals.
In order to test everything from soap to mascara to laundry detergent as many as 100 million non-human primates cats dogs rabbits mice birds and other animals are subject to intense distress and suffering and then (if they haven’t already died during the process of the experiment) killed. Among other things these animals are blinded burned forced to ingest toxins cut open and made to die a painful death all in the name of beauty.
Although the very fact that such testing causes these animals excruciating pain should be enough to justify why it needs to end the fact that it is unnecessary and ineffective adds to the argument. Due to the differences between these animals and humans as many as 95 percent of new products passing animal tests fail in human trials and are discarded.
Products that were perfectly harmless on animals have at times seriously injured or even killed human beings. Though these tests yield little usable results the practice continues. The amount of products for sale that have been tested on animals is astounding. On any regular supermarket shelf the majority of the products for sale are animal tested. Popular makeup brands such as Cover Girl Lancôme and Rimmel have tested their products on animals. Skincare products tested on animals include Neutrogena Oil of Olay Garnier and Aveeno. Hair care products such as Pantene Aussie and Herbal Essence are all tested on animals and any product under the umbrella of Clairol L’Oreal Johnson & Johnson Proctor & Gamble and Colgate-Palmolive have been tested as well. And these companies are only the beginning of an extensive list.
The unfortunate predicament that we as college students find ourselves in is that finding cruelty-free options often costs both extra time and money two things that we all seem to be short on. Many of us being unaware simply choose products because they are the cheapest the easiest to find or the ones we know we like. However armed with the correct information finding affordable compassionate alternatives to our normal beauty products is easier than it may seem.
The first step is to do some simple research. The list above can serve as a basic outline of products to avoid. In addition online resources are abundant and easy to locate. Web sites such as stopanimaltests.com and peta2.com provide lists of companies that do and do not test on animals and carningconsumer.com has perhaps the most comprehensive searchable list of cruelty-free companies out there. Once you get to the store check the bottles of the products you are considering buying. Many cruelty-free products will say so right on the bottle either with the statement “Never tested on animals” or with a small symbol surrounded by the words “Cruelty free no animal testing.”
Great alternatives to those companies that test on animals do exist. Some popular brands which are cruelty free include Almay Aveda Burt’s Bee’s Alba Botanica Physician’s Formula M.A.C. Nature’s Gate and Tom’s of Maine. Places such as Whole Foods The Body Shop Bath and Body Works and even our very own CVS pharmacy are wonderful stores in which to find cruelty-free products although they can be found at any supermarket or drugstore if you know where to look. Though some of these products may be more expensive than their cruel counterparts many cruelty-free products are within a similar price range and still very affordable for the student budget. And in cases where products are a bit higher priced the few extra dollars is well-spent to prevent suffering.Beauty is never worth the price of the torture and death of innocent animals especially when high-quality low-cost options for non-animal-tested products abound. Become educated adjust your shopping habits and be cruelty free!