Consumers Beware: Safety in Cosmetic Products

1914 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: animals testing on cosmetics essay

Introduction

All cosmetics companies need to ban or stop animal testing altogether, and stop making animals suffer for human benefit. Even though it is just women buying these cosmetics, the harm extends beyond them and affects a wider scope including anyone buying household items. The harm is extensive, often not apparent right away, but the vast amount of dangerous chemicals inside these products could be doing harm unknowingly. By eliminating harmful ingredients in CoverGirl cosmetics then animal testing will significantly be reduced as well as the harm it has to consumers and the animals. Many companies that still do perform tests on animals are rather quiet about their practices, but there are other companies that are trying to change the approach to ensure safety of their products without animal testing.

Status Quo

New methods can replace animal testing and there is an ethical issue that needs to be taken seriously. Companies need to realize the harm extends from not just animals being tested but with consumer’s complaints of skin reactions from the potential 10,000 different ingredients with hidden dangers. Furthermore what is even more shocking is that most products aren’t regulated by the F.D.A, and that over 2,000 animals are being abused, tortured, and even killed per hour to “protect consumers”, which is evidentially false ("Animal Experimentation").

Need for Change

Proctor and Gamble and CoverGirl need to know the harm of these ingredients and the potential risks that consumers are facing from using their products. Therefore, animal treatment and our values and health and well-being need to be taken into consideration when choosing ingredients to be put into these different cosmetics. If the ma...

... middle of paper ...

...lity: Animal Welfare and Alternatives. Retrieved March 29, 2014, from http://www.pg.com/en_US/sustainability/policies_practices/animal_welfare.shtml

Stryke, L. (n.d.). natural organic make-up - basic skin care. natural organic make-up - basic skin care. Retrieved March 29, 2014, from http://www.organicmakeup.ca/ca/NaturalSyntheticCosmetics.asp

St-Onge, E. (n.d.). You Have The Right To Know: 17 Chemicals To Avoid In Cosmetic And Personal Care Products | Collective-Evolution. CollectiveEvolution RSS. Retrieved March 31, 2014, from http://www.collective-evolution.com/2012/04/10/you-have-the-right-to-know-17-chemicals-to-avoid-in-cosmetic-and-personal-care-products/

U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (n.d.). Animal Testing & Cosmetics. Retrieved March 31, 2014, from http://www.fda.gov/Cosmetics/ScienceResearch/ProductTesting/ucm072268.html

Show More
Related

  • Chemicals In Beauty Products The Story Of Cosmetics Case Analysis

    1196 Words  | 3 Pages

    Did you know, the personal care products you use every day have dozens of toxic chemicals that link to cancer, asthma, learning disabilities, and more? A campaign community working to build a healthier planet called The Story of Stuff and the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, created a seven minute film called Chemicals in Beauty Products: The Story of Cosmetics. The purpose of this campaign film is to inform its viewers, specifically women and moms, about the toxic chemicals in our everyday personal care products, from lipstick to baby shampoo, that we may not know about. It addresses the top harmful chemicals that we are putting into our bodies, the products they are most likely found in, and

    Read More

  • Annotated Bibliography On Animal Testing

    1631 Words  | 4 Pages

    SUMMARIZE: The article grants information on new models in cosmetics to take the place of animal experimentation. It goes on to talk about how the European Union has now banned using animal-based test for cosmetic reasoning. Pharmaceutical companies and regulatory agencies have been using computer-like tools to assess the toxicity it has for years. The author incorporates information on cosmetics and the outlook on further research. ‘According to experts, combination of laboratory-based with virtual work will be the future of testing and is progressing faster than they expected.” (87 words)

    Read More

  • Safety In The Salon Environment

    1577 Words  | 4 Pages

    "Toxic Chemicals Used in Salon Products." Women's Voices For The Earth. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2014. .

    Read More

  • We Must Eliminate Animal Testing for Cosmetics

    1515 Words  | 4 Pages

    Animal testing has long played a part in the science of testing, and it still plays a very important role in the medical world. Testing on animals in order to create a cure for AIDS is one thing, but testing on animals for human vanity is another. Animal testing is used to test the safety of a product. It has kept some very unsafe substances out of the cosmetic world. However, in this day in age, animal testing is not the only way to test the safety of a product. Animal testing in cosmetics has decreased over the years. However, it is still used by many companies in America. Animal testing is not only cruel, but it is also unnecessary in today’s advanced scientific world.

    Read More

  • The History On Madame C. J. Walker

    1873 Words  | 4 Pages

    We all know that cosmetics existed thousands of years ago. Cleopatra used a heavy arsenal of beauty aids to help her shake the foundations of the Roman Empire. Yes, cosmetics and perfumes have a long history, but the consumer industry we live in is relatively recent, a creation of the decades 1890 through 1920. The products hawked in the 19th Century by druggists, perfumers, barbers, physicians, and a colorful assortment of other enterprising individuals were primitive by our standards. Certainly, active ingredients were used with abandon, notably arsenic, lead, and mercury. These were products that really made visible differences, and the consumer was well-advised to be wary of the majority of these mysterious concoctions.

    Read More

  • The History of Makeup

    1233 Words  | 3 Pages

    "Some History and Background on Cosmetics." Some History and Background on Cosmetics. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.

    Read More

  • The Unseen Cruelty: A Critique on Animal Testing

    1045 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout history, beginning as early as 500 BC, animals have been used to test products that will later be utilized by humans (“Animal Testing” 4), what isn’t publicly discussed is the way it will leave the animals after the process is done. Many innocent rabbits, monkeys, mice, and even popular pets such as dogs are harmed during the testing application of cosmetics, medicine, perfumes, and many other consumer products (Donaldson 2). Nevertheless, there are many people whom support the scandal because "it is a legal requirement to carry out animal testing to ensure they are safe and effective” for human benefit (Drayson). The overall question here is should it even be an authorized form of experimentation in the United States, or anywhere else? The fact of the matter is that there are alternatives to remove animals out of the equation for good (“Alternatives” 1). They are cheaper, and less invasive than the maltreatment of the 26 million innocent animals that are subjected to the heartlessness of testing each year (“Animal Testing” 4). All in all, due to the harsh effects of animal testing, it should be treated as animal cruelty in today’s society.

    Read More

  • Cosmetic Testing with Animals is Cruel

    1300 Words  | 3 Pages

    Each year, thousands of animals are brutally tortured in laboratories, in the name of cosmetic research. A movement to ban animal testing for cosmetic purposes has been gaining popularity, with many companies hopping on the bandwagon against this research. New alternatives have been developed to eliminate the necessity to test on animals. This is only a small beginning of what is necessary to end these immoral acts. Animal testing in cosmetics is useless and cruel, and can be accomplished by other methods of research to end the suffering of animals.

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay Against Animal Testing

    1170 Words  | 3 Pages

    Since experiments are cruel and expensive, “the world’s most forward-thinking scientists have moved on to develop and use methods for studying diseases and testing products that replace animals and are actually relevant to human health” (“Alternatives to Animals”). Companies claim that this sort of cruelty will benefit the human population by testing the “safety” of the products, as they have been for hundreds of years, and although this may have been helpful in the past, scientists have discovered otherwise. “While funding for animal experimentation and the number of animals tested on continues to increase, the United States still ranks 49th in the world in life expectancy and second worst in infant mortality in the developed world” (“Animal Testing Is”). This evidence shows that while we still continue to support and spend money on animal testing, it is not working as well as we thought.

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Animal Abuse

    1224 Words  | 3 Pages

    Animal testing is one the most beyond cruelty against animals. It is estimated about 7 million innocent animals are electrocuted, blinded, scalded, force-fed chemicals, genetically manipulated, killed in the name of science. By private institutions, households products, cosmetics companies, government agencies, educational institutions and scientific centers. From the products we use every day, such as soap, make-up, furniture polish, cleaning products, and perfumes. Over 1 million dogs, cats, primates, sheep, hamsters and guinea pigs are used in labs each year. Of those, over 86,000 are dogs and cat. All companies are most likely to test on animals to make patients feel safe and are more likely to trust medicines if they know they have been tested on animals first (PETA, N.D, page 1). These tests are done only to protect companies from consumer lawsuits. Although it’s not quite true, Humans and animals don’t always react in the same way to drugs. In the UK an estimated 10,000 people are killed or severely disabled every year by unexpected reactions to drugs, all these drugs have passed animal tests. Animal testing is often unpredictable in how products will work on people. Some estimates say up to 92 percent of tests passed on animals failed when tried on humans (Procon.org, 2014, page 1). Animal testing can’t show all the potential uses for a drug. The test results are...

    Read More

  • Animal Testing in Cosmetics

    1021 Words  | 3 Pages

    Simple household items such as lotions, shampoos and cosmetics aren’t very expensive and are within reach for the public, yet the public is not knowledgeable of the fact that the products that they use everyday are put through a series of tests which involve the use of harmless animals. Several large commercial companies do not make products for animals; they decide that using these harmless creatures for the testing of their products, could be cause to be harmful to animals still go forward with these types of procedures on an everyday basis. Although these animals are unable to defend themselves or signs of any form of consent for the near death procedures, these companies find this as a cheap solution for testing their products before placing them on the market. There are many other alternatives to testing animals such as embryonic stem cell research. Animal experimentation is wrong and it can be avoided but companies which are greedy for money chose not to.

    Read More

  • The Cons of Animal Testing

    1354 Words  | 3 Pages

    According to the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (2013) over one hundred million animals suffer and sometimes die from experiments to test chemicals, drugs, foods, and cosmetics (para 3). Although it is good that the companies are concerned that their products do not harm consumers, the law does not require most of these tests animals endure. Furthermore, these tests do not have accurate results, so the animals may suffer but the product is still sold to the people. While products that burnt bunnies’ eyes away are being marketed to consumers, government agencies are using taxpayers’ hard earned money to fund these horrible, pointless experiments.

    Read More

  • Harmful Chemicals in Cosmetics

    1261 Words  | 3 Pages

    Reid, Brian. "Controversy Over Phthalates in Cosmetics" (2011): Our Stolen Future. Web. 2 Feb. 2015.

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Utilitarianism

    1026 Words  | 3 Pages

    A utilitarian approach to solve this dilemma is to use in vitro screens. Manufacturers can still test for irritation to the skin or eye, dermal and airway sensitivity, endocrine disruption, and others to determine risk. The use of this mechanism would make the public happy because they are not using animals and the trade standards and consumer protection laws would still be met. Thus, in vitro screens are the utilitarian answer to providing the most happiness to the most people ("Testing Cosmetics on Animals” pars. 7).

    Read More

  • Cruelty-free Cosmetics

    721 Words  | 2 Pages

    It still comes as a surprise to me that with all the technology in today’s society, we are still relying on animals for cosmetic research. Some people think that it is acceptable and even justified to test on mere animals rather than risk hurting people. So, for these kinds of people, animal testing makes perfect sense. However, in my opinion, animals are living creatures and have the right to live out their lives as nature intended rather than simply surviving in cages while being poked and prodded with whatever scientists fancy. I think it is depressing and sort of grotesque that I am using products that have been tested on animals that are even commonly bred as our pets. So, I began my research to find out what companies still test on animals, why they do so, and what other alternatives they could use in place of animal testing.

    Read More

More about Consumers Beware: Safety in Cosmetic Products

Open Document