by Rachel Baker

Created on: April 22, 2008   Last Updated: January 10, 2010

It absolutely is not ok to test cosmetics on animals. Sure, different people have different definitions about right and wrong, and there are grey areas, but I do not believe this issue has a line you can blur. How can it be ok to make another living being suffer for vanity's sake? I find the act deeply disturbing. Is our society such that it is now justifiable to make living things suffer for the sake of our idea of "beauty?" Do you think that, if given a choice, the animals that are made to suffer this testing would agree to help the noble cause of vanity? I think not.

Yes, I wear makeup, but I make sure every bit I buy is not tested on animals. I do the same for my toiletries. I just don't understand the justification behind making innocents suffer for such a petty thing, when there are cruelty-free alternatives that work just as well. It's needless suffering. Ever heard the term "cruel and unusual punishment?" Well, this is just that, except what are they being punished for? They've committed no crime, they merely exist.

I don't understand the people who seem to think they exist merely to serve us humans. Every life matters, not just those of humans. I believe it is completely selfish to think otherwise. We are decimating our planet with no regard for the lives of those around us. Animal testing is just another branch of the destruction we sow. How would you feel if you lived in a cramped cage with no freedom, and every day someone burned your skin, or your eyes, and you were powerless to stop it? It's the stuff of horror novels, and it happens to these animals every day. Do these people not realize the terror they are causing on a daily basis? It's not fair to the animals.

Their lives are just as precious as ours, and they have feelings just like we do. We just can't understand them when they're voiced. Just because we don't speak their language doesn't mean we should hurt and kill them indiscriminately. It would be like me torturing and killing a person that doesn't speak my language, and rationalizing by saying, "Oh, well I can't understand him when he tells me I'm hurting him, so it doesn't count." I find the practice of animal testing completely revolting, on an ethical level as well as a moral one.

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