How does cosmetic animal testing work

This in turn can cause severe damage to the animal, or worse—death. Unfortunately, these animals are often not protected under the Animal Welfare Act. Again, animal testing can be pointless because, according to the Human Society, "different species can respond differently when exposed to the same chemicals.

Animal testing is simply unnecessary. This doesn't mean that we should instead put humans in danger. A solution to animal testing is for companies to use products that are already deemed safe.

There are tons of ingredients that have already been confirmed as safe for human skin. They have been used for years and were tested in the past.

This means they do not require more testing, putting an end to animal testing, which is how so many companies remain cruelty-free. According to PETA, an alternative to animal testing that companies use is to use cornea-like 3D structures, which are produced from human cells. These human skin cultures can be grown and purchased specifically for cosmetic testing. Humane Society International estimates that ,—, animals suffer and die every year due to cosmetic testing. In these tests, the animals have chemicals forced down their throats, into their eyes and onto their shaved skin in order to document their reaction to ensure the safe use for humans.

These tests determine if these products cause general illness or health hazards like cancer or birth defects. They also conduct lethal dose tests, where the animals are forced to swallow large amounts of a test chemical to see what dose can cause death. These tests can result in immense pain, distress, blindness, swollen eyes, sore and bleeding skin, internal bleeding, organ damage, birth defects, convulsions and even death in the animals.

These alternatives use simple organisms like bacteria, tissues and cells from humans, computer models or chemical methods. These scientifically advanced tests are often quicker, cheaper and more reliable than the cruel and unnecessary animal tests they replace.

Find out more about the alternatives to animal tests. You can make help our work to end animal suffering for cosmetics by swapping your shopping. Switch to cruelty free approved brands for your favourite products and help make your world cruelty free. Our Leaping Bunny is the internationally-recognisable gold standard for cruelty free cosmetics, personal care and household products.

Search for Leaping Bunny cruelty free brands now. Search form Search. The safety of new product formulations made up from well known existing cosmetic ingredients can be assured using available non-animal testing methods. And multinational companies that sell cosmetics in countries such as China may be required to conduct new animal testing to meet the requirements of national authorities. A: Newly-developed raw ingredients may be subject to the same sorts of animal tests as any other chemicals.

At the end of a test the animals are killed, normally by asphyxiation, neck-breaking or decapitation. Pain relief is not provided. A: Yes, animal tests also have scientific limitations because different species can respond differently when exposed to the same chemicals. Consequently, results from animal tests may not be relevant to humans, under- or over-estimating real-world hazards to people.

In addition, results from animal tests can be quite variable and difficult to interpret.