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Author: Gina Lie, Amalie JulnerMarie Haugland

Animal testing

Oslo-Nordseter 2. 04. 2009

Cruelty without end

A lot of people don't think about animal testing when they buy body care products. If they did, they might buy more animal friendly products.

Today we know that between 500,000 and 1,500,000 animals are used in cosmetics test every year in Europe. We think this is not only unnecessary, we think it4s mean too. What if it was you that had to eat lipstick? Or what if somebody tried to put eye shadow in your eyes? - Would you like it? Would you?

Rabbits!
They often use rabbits because they are cheap, easy to handle and they have big, sensitive eyes so all irritation is easy to observe. The results of the tests are: swollen eyes, blood and pain. They do this just to find out how damaging a product is. And it seems like they don't care about the animals, or how much pain they are in.

The animals.
The most common animals the laboratories use are: pigs, cows, guinea pigs, rats, hamsters, rabbits, horses, cats, dogs, sheep and monkeys. These are just a few examples of what's going on in the laboratories: Guinea pigs with bloody eyes, rabbits with open wounds and pigs with necessary body parts removed! The animals are suffering but it seems like nobody cares! Some of the tests the laboratories perform on the animals are: The tests for internal damage are performed by forcing the animals to eat products to find out if they are dangerous. The tests for damage to the eye are performed by dripping the products in the animal's eye They remove hair and skin from their body and apply the product - that's how they perform the test for skin damage. Another way is to place the animal in a solution of chemicals.

OPINION POLLS
Here we have asked some pupils in our class about animal testing:
1. When you buy a product, do you check if it's tested on animals?
Yes: 20% No: 80%
2. Would you buy a product if you knew it was tested on animals?
Yes: 10% No: 60% I don't know: 30%
3. What do you think about animal testing?
Good: 0% Bad: 80% I don't care: 20%

We conclude that people don't check if the product is tested on animals and they don't think about it, or know what happens to the animals. We also think you should check the product before you buy it, think about the poor animals. People should get more information about what really happens to the animals.