We use cosmetics on a daily basis, from shampoo and conditioner to face cream, the cosmetics industry is a thriving market that is constantly being added to. However, many companies still test their products on animals to experiment what is unharmful to humans and benefits our bodies. We use animals that are genetically close to humans in order to do this, but many are questioning the ethics of using these animals for our own cosmetic benefit.

Many argue that we use animal testing for medicine as well as cosmetics and it is just using chemicals - they say that it helps research what is not only safe for humans to use on their bodies but also what is safe for animals to use too, which could benefit the animals cosmetically as well. Another argument is that these animals are bred specifically for this kind of testing, they wouldn't exist otherwise so the argument is that we are allowed to use the animal for that purpose.

However, there are many negatives to experimenting on animals. The main argument is that animals suffer from these tests, they feel the pain and although there are regulations in place to prevent unnecessary pain, companies still find loopholes to allow for these products to be used on animals without any pain relief to see how it reacts. The issue is the debate into whether animals have a soul or not - do they feel pain the same way we do? Therefore, is the pain tolerance the same for them as us? As well as this, they use never used before combinations of chemicals that could lead to the animals being weakened, blinded, paralysed for the rest of there lives all because we are testing cosmetic products on them.

The use of animals to test cosmetics products or their ingredients is banned in the UK and all other member states of the European Union. Since March 2013, it has also been illegal to sell cosmetics products within the EU which have been, or which contain ingredients, newly tested on animals. However, in many places, such as the US, testing cosmetics on animals is still practised today despite the obvious ethical and social issues.

There are however some alternatives to animal testing, such as using human volunteers or using our knowledge to apply to a computer model but most companies choose animal testing as it is seen as 'the easiest, most efficient' way to get results.

Links to websites for more information about animal testing:

TW: distressing images

https://www.peta.org.uk

https://www.humanesociety.org/all-our-fights/ending-cosmetics-animal-testing

https://www.rspca.org.uk/adviceandwelfare/laboratory/testingchemicals/cosmetics