Their are two tests that I would like to tell you about. One of the tests is called the Draize Eye-Irritancy Test. This was designed to measure how harmful a substance was to human eyes by using rabbits eyes. This test was developed in 1944 by the U.S Food and Drug Administration. They use six rabbits for each substance that they want to test. The technician places the substance into the lower eye of the rabbit, then the rabbits eyes are then examined at different times. The technician records signs of damage, such as redness, swelling, inflammation and clouding of the cornea. The technician then uses a scoring scheme to say how much the substance has irritated the eye. This test is unreliable because rabbits eyes are very different to human eyes. Rabbits have a third eyelid and have a slower blink reflex, a less effective tearing mechanism and a thinner cornea than humans. These make a rabbits eyes much more sensitive to humans eyes and less sensitive to others. If this is the result then why do it in the first place. The rabbit may suffer from blindness, sometimes death and always pain. The Draize test proves no information apart from that the products that were tested irritate a rabbits eyes.
The other test I would like to tell you about is the Lethal Dose 50 Percent (L50) Test. This test is to estimate how poisonous that chemical would be to human beings by using animals. The substances tested can include drugs, cosmetics, household products, industrial chemicals and pesticides. This test needs between 60 to 100 animals to be sure what the lethal dose of a substance is. The animals will be tested on from 2 weeks to several years. The animals are looked at and recorded daily. The chemicals that are tested on them are bitter and have an unpleasant smell, the animal would refuse to swallow them so they are forced to swallow the substances in capsules or pellets. They are force fed the liquid chemicals by stomach tube or through a hole cut in the animals throat. Some of the animals die from this test because of the burns in their throat and stomach from the chemicals used in bleach and detergents. Their are other ways for the animals to take part in this horrific test, they can be forced to breath the chemical in, it can be injected into their body or they can have the substance put onto their shaven skin. During this test the animals aren’t provided with painkillers as this may affect the results. If the animals don’t die from the effects of the experiment they are either killed, used for an autopsy or if they aren’t badly injured they are ‘recycled’ and used for other tests.
Some people have tried using animal tested products and non-animal tested products for a month and they didn’t find any differences to each one. So the animal testing on cosmetics such as shampoo, soap, deodorant, mascara and other face make-up is not needed.
One reason for killing animals that people let happen is killing them for food, which I think is OK because the animal has not had to go through any pain at all if it is shot, also it is been used for a purpose. One way of killing an animal to eat that I don’t think is right is a method called ‘The slaughter House’ That is when a cows head is placed into a metal face cage and after the cage is locked the cows throat is cut and the animal is left to bleed to death. This is called Koshering. Only healthy animals can be slaughtered for use in kosher foods. Kosher species must have split hooves and chew their cud: this includes cattle, sheep, goat, and deer. The animals are then examined by a trained kosher inspector for cuts and bruises. If it is not 100% perfect the meat is thrown away. Koshering is a part of the Jewish religion and also eaten by non-Jewish people as a luxury. What if the slaughter house had glass walls and was connected to your favourite restaurant. Would you want to pick the animal of your choice and then watch it be murdered? Would that hamburger taste as good?
At the top of my list for the worst cruelty is what happens when animals are transported to other farms. You could describe this process as one of the slave ships from Africa. The animals are over crowded and left to live in each others excrement. The other diseases such as shipping fever that often takes the lives of many animals involved. The weather can be a method of death for these animals because chickens lose feathers in rough living conditions, transport in freezing temperatures result in frozen body parts, causing severe pain. Many of the animals are frozen in place by their own manure. There are animals that they call ‘downers’ that are too weak and sick to do anything. Even when electrocuted and beaten, the animal will refuse to go on. Approximately 350,000 dairy cows are ‘downers’ each year. Animals that are ‘downers’ are beaten and dragged by chains still alive to the ‘dead pile’. Another form of death is called captive bold head stunning. This is when a pistol of some kind is aimed at the animals head. A metal rod is shot into the brain, often missing the point of unconsciousness and has to be repeated. Another way of death is Electric head stunning, this is when an electric stunner is used to give the animal a seizure. When the animal is shocked, where it is often not unconscious and can still feel pain, the animals throat is cut. Farming has become the number one threat to our animals.
We must remember unseen they suffer, unheard they cry, in agony they linger, in loneliness they die. You can make a difference, you can be their voice.
