Is the use of Animals in Products Necessary?

When I walked into a Body Shop store the other day, I realized that all their products said no animal testing on the packaging. Not only do they not test their products on animals, but they only buy their supplies and get their products made from manufacturers who are strictly against animal testing too. I thought this was very interesting because Body Shop is a company that is huge worldwide, and has so many popular products. So how did they get where they are, without ensuring all their products were safe before launching them? When I researched more into this area I found out that animal testing is generally only thirty percent affective in letting us know whether or not the product is safe. In many cases, products that have been proven to be safe on animals have been harmful on humans. Many people are pro-animal testing because they believe that it is better to test the products on animals, and let them be in pain, than to test them on humans. However, what they are unaware of is that the individuals who first use the products are being ‘tested’ and are known as ‘human guinea pigs’ since animal tests are a very poor indicator of what will occur in humans. This led me to thinking is it worth putting animals through all that torture, giving them a slow and painful death, when this method almost always gives results that are not a hundred percent accurate. When I looked at how many brands and companies there are that are pro-animal testing, I was glad to see that some corporations such as the Body Shop are strictly against it.

From people using animals to test their products, I went on to looking at people using animals in their products. For examples, many products, especially from the fashion industry and soft consumer products, use fur and leather. Usually to get animal fur and skin, animals are killed brutally (click here for a short video), or in some cases they are even skinned alive (click here for a short video). Is this really necessary? Faux fur and fake leather have the same properties and are cheaper than real fur and leather. They will keep you just as warm or comfortable, and they look just the same! Then why do most designers choose to kill animals when there are alternatives available? Perhaps because wearing animals is expensive, it is almost a status symbol. However, there are many designers such as Stella McCartney, who is at present one of the most famous designers, who refuse to use animals in any way in any of their works. A Stella McCartney outfit is very expensive, and owning it shows status symbol, without wearing real fur or leather. Many designers are now following her lead and making their products fur-free and leather-free.