23
Apr
Day Three: World Week for Animals in Labs
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It’s day three of PETA’s World Week for Lab Animals and we are dedicating today to the rat. Rats are intelligent, resourceful and sociable animals. Research has shown that they even ‘laugh’ while playing, yet they are abused in laboratory experiments all over the world – hundreds of thousands of rats are used in experiments every year in Britain. In psychology tests, rats are addicted to drugs like cocaine or alcohol, or are subjected to electric shocks. In pain research, pain is deliberately inflicted without any anaesthetics or painkillers.
Rats are also used in deadly poisoning tests, like the notorious LD50, in which they’re forced to inhale increasing doses of toxic substances until half of them are dead. What angers me, is that some of these tests are for the ingredients of everyday products like shampoo or washing powder – products that are already plentiful and perfectly safe. Although cosmetics tests are now banned in the UK (and many in Europe), companies can still test their products on animals in other countries and sell them here. Which, by the way, happens a lot.
But it’s not all doom and gloom. There are loads of companies that are animal-friendly, so you can still clean your house and beautify yourself without contributing to the cruelty.
