Proctor and Gamble have joined the #BeCrueltyFree campaign and are investing millions of dollars towards the end of animal cruelty.
According to Cruelty Free International, animal testing is any scientific experiment or test in which a live animal is forced to undergo something that is likely to cause them pain, suffering, distress or lasting harm. Animal testing is used for a variety of reasons, from medical research to the development of new cosmetics. More than 100 million animals from rats to monkeys are killed a year as a result of animal testing—and these statistics do not include invertebrates (except octopuses in the EU) or, in US-based research, mice, rats, fish, amphibians, or birds. Although animal testing can save lives and prevent humans from having adverse reactions, often results of animal testing do not end up being applicable to humans, and there are alternatives that are not only cruelty-free but can be more accurate than animal testing.
Vitro-testing is a way of studying cells in a petri dish or test tube. There are multiple pros to using vitro-testing over animal testing. Vitro-testing is a cheaper and more effective alternative due to the necessary obligations of housing and feeding the animals. This way of testing allows for the use of human cells, as opposed to animal testing which is obviously used on animal cells. For example, experimenting on real human cells will predict correct human reactions up to 86% of the time, while the widely-known Draize eye test, which is used to determine eye safety of materials, only goes up to 60%. Vitro-testing allows scientists to replicate human organ functions and how they would react to certain drugs and chemicals.
Another effective switch from animal testing is computer modeling. With technology today, almost anything is possible; including the creation of highly detailed simulations. By feeding information about human organs and bodily functions into a computer, it is possible to estimate the reactions that the body will have. This could one day be a more accurate way of determining interactions with the human body rather than an animal’s.
However, these alternatives to animal testing will not be able to fully predict the suffering or miracles that medical advancements can cause. These alternatives may not be able to totally replace animal testing, but with more funding and research, animal testing can be further reduced. You can find funding opportunities for non-animal research here, or reach out against companies that are known to encourage the use of animal testing.
When purchasing a cosmetic product from any brand, look for one of these three-party certified logos. These are the most reputable and trustworthy logos that stand for cruelty-free products. Many other products from cosmetic companies may have stickers that claim to be cruelty-free, but really are not.