According to the RSPCA website: It is illegal to test on animals for cosmetics or their ingredients in the UK and other EU members, and since March 2013 it was illegal to sell cosmetics products within the EU which have been tested on animals or which contain ingredients newly tested on animals.
However Britain has voted against staying in the EU, and these laws will no longer need to be followed by the UK, as well as many other laws and regulations provided by the EU. Britain voted to brexit in 2016, however stats from 2015 show that 4.14 million animals were experimented on in Britain. Although for now it is illegal to test on animals for cosmetics (as article 50 has not yet been used), there is always loop holes to laws, for example: As acne is a medical condition, make-up can be tested on animals as it helps cover acne.
Recently the Home Office released its annual statistics on the number of scientific procedures performed on animals in British laboratories, with a staggering 4,14 million animals being tested on. These experiments were conducted on:
3 million mice
21,831 on guinea pigs
8,356 on Horses and other Equids
4,643 on Dogs
3,612 on Primates
126,000 of these animals didn't regain consciousness after experiments that were classified as 'non-recovery', and a further 185,000 experiments were classed as 'severe' in the level of suffering caused to the animals. If that wasn't bad enough a further 56,000 animals were forced to suffer extreme pain and distress without even being used in experiments. These are genetically modified animals which will often have painful unnatural mutations.
Its embarrassing that in 2015 we are still using methods used 400 years ago and have not yet been able to progress into a less cruel and humane society. Although there are many new ways to test medication without harming animals, but these are more expensive ways. These new methods include:
human-on-a-chip
3-D human skin cultures
high speed computer models
These methods are not only less cruel but the results are far more accurate. It has been proved over and over again that animal testing doesn't work, that even though we share 95% of our DNA with a mouse testing on these animals doesn't work. With FACTS such as:
Ninety two percent of experimental drugs that are safe and effective on animals fail human clinics because they don’t work or fail.
Less than 2% of human illnesses are seen in animals. Over 98% never affect animals. So, how can we test vaccines and medication on animals for human beings?
In the UK an estimated 70,000 people die or are severely disabled every year caused by unexpected reactions to drugs. These drugs had passed animal testing.
In the UK’s House of Lords questions have been asked regarding why unexpected reactions to drugs, which have passed animal testing, kill more people than cancer.
According to a thorough study, 88% of stillbirths are caused by drugs which have passed animal testing.
70% of drugs that cause human birth defects are safe in Monkey pregnancies.
One of the things that surprises me the most is that even though in 2015 we have more ways to test medications without the harm of animals, the number has increased quite significantly in 2014 being 3.8 million. In the UK we are supposed to be living in one of the most developed countries in the world, yet we still result to torturing 4.14 million animals.
Many of my blogs have been on this topic and i have been blogging about this for over a year, and i still feel as strongly about this subject as i ever have. Animals are living, breathing, feeling things, animals have emotions, animals feel pain, if we were to do what we do to animals to humans we would be sent to prison for many years, but for some reason its okay to do this to Monkeys, Dogs, horses e.t.c. and I cant thing of a good reason why its okay to do this, i suppose some people just seem to think that we are superior to animals and that its okay to torture and murder as long as its not a Human but to animals we share 95% of our DNA with.
