Animal testing is the reason that more than 100 million animals die every year. There is a law that protects animals against being tested on in laboratories, but it barely protects animals at all. Everyone, even students at San Pasqual High School can contribute to putting a stop to this horrific ‘protocol.’

Animal testing is a big issue worldwide. It’s actually been going on for much longer than one might think. The reason that animal testing is used is thatit is a cheap way to figure out if a company’s product is toxic or not; however, it comes at the risk of torturing animals.

“The AWA provides only minimal protection for certain species while excluding others such as rats, mice, and birds bred for research—who together constitute an estimated 90-95% of animals in laboratories” Neavs.org said.

Current law is quite useless when it comes to protecting animals because they exclude cold-blooded animals, fish, reptiles, amphibians. The list goes on to list all farm animals raised for food or used in other tests for improvement in animal reproduction.

However, there are alternatives that laboratories could use instead of torturing innocent animals.

“Some alternatives to the use of testing on animals include in vitro (test tube) test methods and models based on human cell and tissue cultures, computerized patient-drug databases and virtual drug trials, computer models and simulations, [etc.]…” Neavs.org said.

There are many products that are tested on animals, but there are many that don’t. The benefit of using cruelty-free products is the confidence that they do not have any toxic chemicals in them. Human skin is extremely sensitive and absorbs a lot of the stuff that it comes in contact with; for this reason, putting products like perfume, lotion, sanitizer, etc. on is not good for your skin.

Not many people know that products are being tested on animals, but those that do can help and spread awareness. There are some things people can do to help.

“They should not buy the products and I also think people need to be much more aware of it because everything they buy like makeup, shampoo, soap, everything is tested on animals. Know what they’re buying and that there was harm and suffering in those products,” said Laurel Bagby.