What procedure do scientists go through to test cosmetics on animals?

Answer 1

There are three tests: the Draize test (securing rabbits' heads in a clamp and dripping the product in their eyes, then killing the rabbits after a while to study their eyes), skin reactivity tests (they use either shaved rabbits or hairless animals, apply the product to the skin, then kill the animals after a while to study their bodies) and the worst one, the LD50 test. The LD50 test is run on many products, not just cosmetics. It's especially run on medicines. They use 100 animals and either force down their throats, apply to their skins or inject them with a certain dose of the product. Two weeks later, they count the number of animals that remain alive. If only 50 are left, the test is over--LD50 is the dose that kills half the animals that receive it. (They then kill the rest of the animals.) If half the animals didn't die, they repeat the test with a larger dose, and continue until they find a dose that kills half the animals. The PETA and Humane Society of the United States people HATE this test with a passion because if the product will kill something, it will also cause it great pain.

Answer 2

Although they are not required by law, several tests are commonly performed by exposing mice, rats, rabbits and guinea pigs to cosmetics ingredients. These can include:

• Skin and eye irritation tests where chemicals are rubbed onto the shaved skin or dripped into the eyes of restrained rabbits without any pain relief
  
• Repeated force-feeding studies lasting weeks or months to look for signs of general illness or specific health hazards such as cancer or birth defects; and
  
• "Lethal dose" tests, in which animals are forced to swallow large amounts of a test chemical to determine the dose that causes death.
  

The researchers do not give the animals pain killers. At the end of a test, researchers kill the surviving animals. In the United States, over 95% of the animals used in such testing (such as laboratory-bred rats and mice) are not counted in official statistics and receive no protection under the Animal Welfare Act.

Answer 3

Scientists, in the LD (lethal dosage) tests, force the subjects to ingest deadly toxins until at least 50% of them die.