Beyond the Cage: an overview of animal testing

3 hours ago

4 min read

There’s a good chance most of us have heard of animal testing. If not, we’ve seen the little bunny or animal logo on the back of our products certifying that the product is “cruelty-free.” But overall, animal testing is a relatively unknown and not-talked about issue, not only at schools, but at home, on social media, etc. So if all of this is new to you, here’s your official quick overview about what animal testing is, what companies participate in it, and the controversy surrounding it.

Before I begin, I’d like to add that, while this article is fact-based, I have a bias towards ending animal testing, and I will try my best not to include that. Every statistic and all of the information is true and from my sources cited below.

First off, animal testing is essentially the use of animals in a laboratory to test products on them before releasing them to the market for humans. They live in laboratories, with different products tested on them each day. Many will die throughout their time in labs, and others develop defects and neurotic disorders. Simply looking up “animal testing” brings up horrifying images of various animals with deformed heads, needles sticking out of their bodies, and more.

According to PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), “mice, rats, birds, and cold-blooded animals…make up more than 99% of animals used in experiments—aren’t covered by even the minimal protections of the federal Animal Welfare Act and therefore go uncounted." In case you didn’t know, PETA is a well-known organization attempting to end animal testing completely and fights for the welfare of lab animals.

Over 40,000 dogs, 111 million mice, 115,000 rabbits, 45,000 pigs, 12,000 cats, 106,000 primates, and over 15 million fish (the actual number is unknown because of lack of animal protection laws for them) are used in laboratories each year in the U.S. (According to PETA and Britannica).

There are thousands of brands worldwide that participate in animal testing, including Band-Aid, L’Oreal, and Tide. Even some household cleaning products are tested on animals (Clorox wipes, Listerine, Mr. Clean, Swiffer, Windex, and many more). The most common example of animal testing that we think of is in the cosmetics industry, where companies test perfumes, foundations, etc. on animals before releasing them to the public market. Maybelline, Sephora, Aveeno, Johnson & Johnson, and hundreds more all test on animals. Unless the bottle says “cruelty-free” on the back, you are likely using something tested on an animal.

In addition, many universities also conduct experiments on animals through dissections and teaching exercises. While they have been done in classrooms for hundreds of years (literally! The first dissection was recorded in the 1500s), many animal rights activists argue that there are better and less cruel ways to learn about an animal’s anatomy. According to PETA, “Approximately 10 million animals are used for crude classroom dissection exercises annually in the U.S.” On the other hand, many teachers and students argue that these experiments can be a very effective way of learning about organs and animal body systems, and that many of the animals have “died from natural causes.” For the most part, this is not true. According to Britannica, “Fetal pigs used in schools are sourced from the meat industry and grown in horrific conditions…Animals sold to schools for dissection may have died by suffocation, electrocution, drowning, or euthanasia. Cats and dogs used for dissection are sourced from shelters that unnecessarily euthanize the animals instead of adopting them out to families."

So the next time you buy a product from the store, dissect an animal in your biology class, or scroll past a video about animal testing, take a moment to consider what’s really happening behind the scenes, because it’s likely not what you think.

For more on animal testing, here are the most well-known brands that test on animals: