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Annually, millions of animals suffer and die in painful tests in order to determine the safety of cosmetics. Substances like eye shadow and soap are tested on rabbits, guinea pigs, rats, dogs, and many other animals, despite the fact that the test results do not help prevent or treat human illness or injury.

Cosmetics are not required to be experimented on animals, and since non-animal alternatives exist, it's difficult to understand why some companies still choose to conduct these brutal and unnecessary tests. Cosmetic companies murder millions of animals every year just to put a few more dollars into their pockets. The companies who perform these tests claim that they establish the safety of both the products and their components. However, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which regulates cosmetic products, does not require animal testing in any way, shape, or form. Some of the tests used on animals are eye, toxicity, and skin irritant tests.

In eye irritant tests, a liquid, flake, granule, or powdered material is placed directly into the eyes of rabbits. The animals are often immobilized in cages from which only their heads may show. They do not receive anesthesia during the tests. After placing the irritants into the rabbits' eyes, scientists record the damage to the eye tissue at specific intervals over a period of seventy-two hours. The tests sometimes can last anywhere from seven, up to eighteen days. Side effects from these experiments include swollen eyelids, ulceration, bleeding, swollen irises, massive deterioration, and blindness. During the tests, rabbits' eyelids are usually held open with clips. Many animals break their necks while restrained, attempting to escape.

Toxicity tests, otherwise known as lethal dose or poisoning tests, record the amount of a material that will kill a percentage, sometimes even up to one-hundred percent, of a group...