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Is it morally OK to test cosmetics on animals?

To me the question of morality as it relates to animal testing delves far deeper than its razor thin surface and reaches into the core of human perception. Animals feel pain and sense fear based on their awareness of life and their instincts for survival. Animal suffering isn't any less traumatic or less intense than human suffering since our will to survive is the same. An autistic child doesn't experience pain or fear to a lesser degree than a fully functioning child with strong mental agility simply because their level of intelligence differs.

People choose to believe animal pain is less significant as a means of justifying the inhumane things we do to them to absolve us from guilt. Is the morality of animal testing based on the fundamental principles of right and wrong or is it really a question of our attitude based on the human perception of superiority combined with our indifference to a life that is not our own? If using animals for experimental testing was simply a matter of right and wrong, then the question wouldn't need to be asked. It's wrong on every level, but we choose to be ambivalent in order to continue serving our own purposes.

Humans as the dominant race are the planet's primary keepers. We frequently abuse our power over other life forms because we can. The human attitude is one of elite supremacy as we regard ourselves masters of the planet rather than its humble nurturers. We do not consider ourselves as the blessed care takers of earth's vast fortune of resources instead we are conquerors squandering its treasures. Does our intelligence make us incapable of true compassion for anyone but ourselves? It's sad that as a race we are often frivolous and wasteful rather than grateful or appreciative.

Is our indifference to the pain and suffering of lab animals any different than our past indifference toward Native American Indians? It was the superior attitude of a people that decided another race of people was less important once they decided that their own needs were greater. Do we feel the same way about testing eyeliner in the eyes of our family pets? Lab animals and house pets feel the same pain yet it is our regard for them that makes a difference just as human regard once made Jewish children less human in the eyes of Nazi Germany.

Even when there is no threat to our power we can create one in order to justify our needs while diminishing those of others. We claim to be civil and moral

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