Beauty products are a part of our everyday life, whether we’re using moisturizer in the shower, makeup as we get ready for the day, or cleansers to keep our look fresh and clean before we go to bed at night. However, not everyone takes the time to focus on whether or not the beauty products they use everyday are cruelty-free.

Although we are committed to providing our customers with cruelty-free beauty products, animal testing is still a prevalent practice for other companies that must be stopped. Today, we’re helping readers to understand the scope of this traumatic practice and what you can do to ensure your beauty product is cruelty-free.

Animal Testing Statistics

Unfortunately, animal testing is far from an extinct practice. The statistics say it all, as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) reports that upwards of 100 million animals–including mice, rats, frogs, dogs, cats, rabbits, birds, fish, and others–are killed in U.S. laboratories as they’re being used from things like biology lessons, medical training, experiments, and chemical, drug, food, and cosmetic testings.

And that’s just one country. In China, animal testing is a requirement for the sales of all cosmetic products. A whopping 100,000 – 200,000 animals suffer and die from cosmetic testing around the world each year.

Traumatic Practices

There are many different types of tests performed on animals in connection with cosmetic products. Some of the more common and most cruel practices include products being tested for eye irritation, where chemicals are rubbed onto the shaved skin of animals or dripped into the eyes of restrained rabbits. These animals are not provided any pain relief, making it even more heartbreaking.

Additionally, animals are commonly forced to swallow large amounts of a test chemical to determine how much must be consumed to cause death to help with product warning labels. Finally, animals are typically force-fed products for weeks or months at a time, as testers are looking for health signs that indicate long-term illness, such as cancer, or that lead to eventual birth defects in offspring.

Sadly, at the end of these testing sessions, animals are almost always killed. Typically, this occurs via asphyxiation, neck-breaking, or decapitation. Again, in these instances, pain relief is not provided. Alarmingly, many animals used in U.S. labs are not protected under the Animal Welfare Act. This includes laboratory-bred rats and mice.

Government Laws and Organizations Fighting Animal Testing

There are several laws and standards centering around animal testing that do help the movement towards a cruelty-free world, but these laws and organizations alone are not doing enough. First, there is the Animal Welfare Act (AWA), which addresses the standard of care that animals should receive at research facilities. However, this law is minimally effective as it excludes about 95 percent of animals tested upon (like rats, mice, birds, and reptiles). Labs have no obligation to report non-AWA protected animals.

An organization that aims to help control the testing of animals is the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). However, the organization only has 120 inspectors and is responsible for overseeing an excess of 12,000 facilities, all involved in research, breeding, and the exhibition of animals. Federally-owned facilities are not inspected by this organization.

How We Work Towards Cruelty-Free

Besides providing beauty products that are cruelty-free, Tend Skin supports animals in the battle against all animal testing. Notably, we support the organization Angels in Distress. This group aims to rescue animals that are abused or in life-threatening situations. They are committed to providing rescued animals with the health care they need and to improving their quality of life, whether that means finding them a new home or releasing them safely back into the wild. A portion of our revenue is donated to this organization in the hopes of helping animals near and far.

Clearly, this is a large-scale problem that requires an abundance of attention. Animals don’t deserve to be treated this way, which is why all of our beauty products are proudly cruelty-free. You’d probably be surprised to learn that companies you purchase items from or support may be testing their products on animals! If they don’t explicitly say they are cruelty-free, be sure to reach out to the brand to confirm. At Tend Skin, we look forward to a world in which every beauty product is cruelty free.