Many of the chemicals we use everyday have been tested on animals, including cosmetics and toiletries such as shampoo and deodorant, household cleaners, food additives, drugs, industrial chemicals and pesticides.
Animal tests assume that all species react in the same way to a particular chemical, but this assumption is often wrong. Some drugs that have been very useful in human medicine are dangerous to animals, for example, aspirin is poisonous to cats, and the antibiotic penicillin is toxic to guinea pigs. Thalidomide produces birth defects in humans but not in rats and mice. Animal tests are also cruel and cause great suffering.
Rats are animals with feelings, not lab tools.
The traditional tests
Eye irritation
In the Draize test, the test product is placed into one eye of rabbits to see if it will cause irritation or damage. The eyes are observed for at least 3 days for signs of redness, swelling, discharge, ulceration and cloudiness.
Skin irritation
Patches on the backs of rabbits are shaved and slightly abraded to make them more sensitive. The product is placed on these patches and covered with gauze for 4 hours. Researchers then look for signs of redness, inflammation, weeping or scabs after 24, 48 and 72 hours.
Acute toxicity
Products are fed to animals to see if they are poisonous when swallowed. The traditional test is the LD50 test, where increasing doses are given to different groups of animals until half the group (50%) dies. A single dose is delivered directly into the stomach by gavage. The animals are observed for 7-14 days. Rats and mice are most often used, although sometimes species such as rabbits, guinea pigs or dogs are also tested. At the end of all tests, the animals are killed.
If people are likely to breathe in or touch a chemical rather than swallow it, other tests are done to see what effects it has if inhaled or absorbed through the skin. Chronic toxicity tests are also done where repeated doses of the test chemical are given over a longer period of time. Tests for cancer involve giving rats and mice a daily dose of the chemical for 2 years.
The LD50 test was developed in the 1920s and the Draize eye and skin irritation test in the 1940s. Until quite recently they were used unchanged. Can you imagine any other area of science where methods fail to keep up with scientific progess in this way? The LD50 test is still used to test each new batch of Botox, which is used in very small quantities to reduce wrinkles. It is produced by the Botulinum bacteria and is one of the strongest natural poisons known. Each new batch is injected into mice to see how much it takes to kill half of them. Since Botox causes muscle paralysis, it stops the mice breathing and they suffocate, a very stressful death. The Humane Society US has been putting a lot of pressure on the maker of Botox to stop using this cruel test.
Modified tests
Authorities have in the last decade accepted some modified tests, so that the LD50 and Draize irritation tests are now used less frequently. The modified tests to replace the LD50 use fewer animals and do not always cause the animals to die, but they still cause suffering. They include the Limit Test, the Fixed Dose Procedure, the Toxic Class method and the Up and Down Method. For more details on these tests, go to Toxicology into the Future .
Some tests to replace the Draize eye irritation test use animal parts rather than live animals, which means there is no pain involved but they still depend on animals being killed. The Bovine Corneal Opacity and Permeability test and the Isolated Chicken Eye test use cattle and chicken eyes to investigate whether chemicals cause damage or irritation.
Regardless of what is done to animals during experiments, they are killed at the end, or as scientists prefer to say 'sacrificed' as if it were a religious ritual.
Many reliable in vitro tests have now been developed that use cells, often human cells, to test chemicals and so cause no suffering. Since 2000, authorities have accepted non-animal tests for skin corrosion and irritation, phytotoxicity and skin absorption. For more details, go to Toxicology into the Future .Progress in the European Union (EU)
The EU has passed the 7th Amendment on the Cosmetics Directive Animal Testing Deadlines which bans animal testing of cosmetics in all countries of the EU. This is the timetable:
2004 Ban on testing of finished cosmetic products
2009 Ban on testing of cosmetic ingredients. Ban on the sale of cosmetic products and ingredients tested on animals in all but a few areas where alternative tests are more difficult.
2013 Ban on the sale of cosmetic products and ingredients tested on animals in all areas.
Even though cosmetic companies claim they are in favour of alternatives to animal testing, there have been protests against this directive. France, home to huge companies such as L'Oréal, launched court action opposing the directive in 2003, as did the European Federation of Cosmetics Ingredients (The Guardian, 19/8/2003). Luckily their action failed. At this time, 38,000 animals a year were killed in Europe for testing cosmetics.
The situation in Australia
The products used in Australia are generally produced and tested overseas. There is an Australian Inventory of Chemical Substances, which is a list of about 40,000 chemicals that are licensed for use in this country. If a company wants to import a new product, for example, a sunscreen containing a new ingredient that isn't on the list, then it has to present information to the Commonwealth Department of Health and Aging to show that the product is safe. Companies still choose to do this by carrying out animal tests. Animal groups are lobbying the Minister for Health and Aging to follow the European lead and ban the import of products tested on animals, but so far the government has been unwilling to take this step.
Many product labels say “Not tested on animals”, but are they all genuine? There's only one way to be sure and that's to check the Preferred Product List compiled by Choose Cruelty Free in Melbourne. This organisation surveys companies on a regular basis. Any company wanting to be on the PPL has to fill out a detailed questionnaire regarding their ingredients and production methods. Companies are only eligible if none of their products are tested on animals – it is not enough to have a few product lines that aren't tested. The minimum standard is that none of the ingredients or the finished products have been tested on animals for at least 5 years, and that the products don't contain particularly cruel animal ingredients such as civet, musk or mink oil. For more details go to Choose Cruelty Free.
So what can you do to stop animal testing?
- Only buy products from companies that are listed on the Preferred Product List. You can download a list from Choose Cruelty Free or contact the Animal Liberation office to have a booklet sent to you.
- Join the campaign to stop the importation of animal-tested cosmetics into Australia. Find out how to send a postcard to the Minister for Health and Aging at Choose Cruelty Free.
- Most medical charities fund research, which mostly means animal experiments. To find out which charities don't support animal experiments, go to Humane Charities.
More information
Leaflet on Animal Testing
Factsheet "Toxicology into the Future", 8 pages with references
Files from the previous web site compiled into a pdf document.
For information on the numbers of animals used in experiments in Australia, go to Humane Research Australia.
For examples of medical experiments without animals in the UK, go to Dr Hadwen Trust for Humane Research.
For examples of medical experiments without animals in Australia, go to MAWA (Medical Advances Without Animals).
