Animal testing on cosmetics Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Animal testing on cosmetics - Research Paper Example The debate on animal testing and the moral and ethical dilemmas that arise is not a simple black and white issue with clear supporters and opposes except for a few hardliners. As Monamy says â€Å"most people will not have to perform animal experiments†(2), and therefore many people are not fully aware of the processes involved in animal testing and are not involved in the procedures and therefore are not in a position to give an accurate opinion on the practice. Modern day debate has however changed as there has been a dilemma been faced in many regions where it is not a simple case of supporting or opposing. In Australia the population of Kangaroos frequently exceeds the numbers the land can hold and so they are culled. According to Monamy, â€Å"There is debate as to whether Kangaroos killed in pastoral areas when numbers become too high† (3). The discussion centers on why the animals have not instead been eaten the same way that cows and sheep are used or even as su bstitutes for guinea pigs. It would appear that for the opposers to this move it is better for the animal to have a dignified death in culling than have them humiliated in lab having tests performed on them. One of the main reasons that animal testing needs to stop is that in spite of efforts to ensure that there are standardized procedures that would ensure the fair treatment of animals, there are so many loopholes in the current laws that procedures that border on unfair treatment to animals can still be carried out without any action taken against them. The procedures have also become extremely numerous and thus difficult to regulate. Latham says, â€Å"This is exactly what might be expected given the incredible volume and variety of animal research† (38), even if the law were to come out and ban practices that it currently views as unacceptable, given the ever changing nature of research and development, it can be concluded that new procedures do come up faster than the t ime it takes to investigate and enact laws regarding their use. For this reason an outright stop to the practice of animal testing would be a more effective solution to the problem of animals getting harmed during research more so in the field of cosmetics where the end product is most of the time simply made to satisfy the vanity of an individual. According to Stephanie, â€Å"sixty-five percent of the population people support the use of animals for testing products for medical purposes (33).† It is for medical purposes that they support these procedures; the use of animal testing in the cosmetic industry does not have as many supporters. Animal testing must also stop due to the use practice of some experiments which from the start are outright to cause harm to the animal even if the purpose is to benefit humans in the end. An example of this is seen in the testing of the telos characteristic in animals. The telos characteristic is a trait that is observed in jackals and ra ccoons whereby if the leg is trapped and no amount of struggle will set them free then the animal opts to gnaw off the leg rather than be immobilized. An experiment that is set up to see if this characteristic is present in other animals has no excuse to say that it did not intend to harm the