Why I Named My Site "Cruelty-Free with a Degree" and a Word About Animal Testing

I don't want to seem like the type of preachy and annoying "hippie" types that society may be used to in 2017. After all, there are heaps of self-righteous millenials who adopt a vegan diet, cut their hair, and claim to have saved all of the animals.

That's not me.

What I want to do is *peacefully* spread facts and statistics with people so that they know what they're getting themselves into when they subscribe to animal-cruel lifestyles. I, for one, always want to know exactly what I'm investing my time and money into-- not to mention what exactly is going into my body. I think that we take for granted to wide variety of products we have available today. If you look down the aisle at Target or Walmart, you'll see dozens of shampoos, soaps, detergents, makeup, perfume, and deodorant, just to name a few. There's always this blind faith that the testing that goes on when these products are in development is practical but not horrific. I mean, it's 2017, right? We tend to believe that the days of putting animals' lives in danger are over, and that there are laws in place to protect them. In fact, people as a whole tend to put a lot of faith in the legislative power of our government. They think that with groups like PETA and the ASPCA, that there must be something in place for test animals. That, or these people simply do not care, which I think is very sad. We share this planet, and are a lot more connected to the animal species than most would like to believe. In fact, we are animals. According to Stefan Lovgren, who is a journalist for National Geographic, some homo sapiens share 96% of their DNA with chimpanzees. 96%. We are closely intertwined with these animals, and their well-being reflects our own. How we treat these animals is a display of our basic respect for animal and human life alike.

As I said earlier, many people trust that our legal system has put certain laws in place to protect the rights of these factory test subjects. I can tell you now that that is not the case. In an article written for the Animal Legal Defense Fund, it was found that up to 95% of test animals don't qualify to be adequately protected by the Animal Welfare Act. The article went on to state that we may be one of the few countries still indulging in these cruel acts:

Laboratory testing on chimpanzees (our closest living relative) is banned in the United Kingdom. The U.S. is one of only two countries in the world whose government openly permits it. The U.K. has not licensed animal testing for cosmetics for nearly fifteen years. Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany have also banned the use of animals in cosmetic testing. As of 2013, no animals may be used in cosmetic testing in the European Union pursuant to E.U. regulations. In the U.S., California passed the first state law in 2000 (Section 1834.9) limiting product-testing where alternative non-animal tests are available. Other states, like New Jersey and New York followed California’s model.In 2007, the National Research Council issued a report on toxicity testing that recommended a move away from the use of animals in laboratory experiments. (Animal Legal Defense Fund)

I think that it's important to note the "where alternative non-animal tests are available," because that means that these tests exist and that it is possible to test the safety of a product by other means alone. In fact, these methods tend to be safer and more reliable than animal testing. To be honest, if the mixture of ingredients for a product has the ability to be deadly or injuring at all, then I don't really want those materials in or around me. If they are for foreign material, such as clothes or floors or tabletops, then why is animal testing necessary at all? The short answer is that it isn't.

We may think that there are base protections being afforded to these animals, but the truth is in the numbers: a gross majority of the animals are being testing on horrifically and in secret. The Animal Legal Defense Fund article went on to site a list of facts concerning the inspections that take place for the factories where animal testing takes place. They said that there is a serious understaffing of inspectors, and even when inspectors do see things that are not up to code, they lack the power and authority to do anything about it. Even with the few inspections that take place, many factories pass inspection even with heinous violations in protocol. It's sad, but it's also fact, and I urge anyone reading this to check out cruelty-free brands and products. They are just as effective and more than often more than affordable. It doesn't take an insane amount of money to be kind to animals, it just takes a little bit of research and the extra time to read the label.