How many of you wonder

[KICKSTART]

I know we all have to take masses of drugs, do dialysis etc to stay alive but ..as an animal lover i often wonder if all this stuff is tested on animals? Iwould hate to think it was and that they suffered ...isnt it a dilemma ! I try to buy things that are not tested on animals , like makeup etc.

[rose1999]

Sadly it will have been tested on animals at some time and I don't like the idea either, but faced with that or death of yourself or a loved one then there's no choice.  I make sure that all the cosmetics, washing powder etc etc that I buy are not tested on animals but, despite the fact that animals often have different reactions to drugs than himans (e.g. thalidomide),  N.I.C.E. (in the UK) (and no doubt your equivalents) require animal testing before they pass drugs for human consumption. Can't see any answer to it other than to hope it is kept to a minimum.

[Deanne]

I think the same way. I emailed several product companies for products and told them I'd no longer be using their products because I learned the did animal testing. Mostly cleaning products, some health / beauty products. I'm hooked on "How Clean is your House" and I'm going to try some of their cleaning tips when I run out of the products I have.

[twirl]

 wonder if an animal had the same side effects I had with sensipar

"bless the beast and the children, they have no choice"


glad I read your topic
I never looked at it like that before    I wish I could have a drink

[stauffenberg]

It is interesting how people tend to worry about killing animals in service of their own needs only when it comes to medical research or testing new drugs, when in fact we kill animals in nearly everything we do all the time we act.  Every mile of road constructed kills dozens of small burrowing animals.  Every fruit or vegetable you eat has survived to grow and make it to your kitchen only because the farmer has poisoned or gunned down the birds, rabbits, and other creatures which have tried to eat it or the seeds before you. By taking up space on the earth you disrupt the hunting ranges of animals and starve them to death.  By just existing, humans claim a huge amount of the earth's resources for their own sustenance, which in turn starves out the other animals.

So with all this death of animals caused by us happening all around us all the time, it is positively silly to make a fuss over whether just one tiny factor harming animals -- such as testing cosmetics on lab rats -- is so important that it is worth cancelling one's use of that product.  Odds are, whatever else you use or do instead will similarly involve some animal deaths.  

Few people realize that every single product that we use, from dish soap to house paint, is first assigned a 'Lethal Dose 50' number before it is released for human use as safe.  The LD50 is determined by exposing a large group of lab rats or mice to the substance in ever increasing doses, and the dose at which the substance kills 50% of the test animals determines the LD50 number, which is use by product safety scientists as their standard of comparison for how toxic the substance is.  So you can't find anything in the entire world of human products which has not been tainted by animal death.

[Slywalker]

Stauffenberg - you are absolutely correct.  You covered many of the areas including building homes where wildlife USED to live but now humans live.  And many, including me, are eating hamburg, ham, fish, etc. 

Sandy

 

[glitter]

not to mention the fact that many drugs are made from animals-like heparin ect.

[Ken Shelmerdine]

I broadly  agree with Stauphenburg. Although I generally disapprove of cruelty to animals it has to be borne in mind that many lifesaving medicines have been produced from initial studies involving animals, and if animals have to suffer in laboratories in order to save human life then as far as I am concerned it is fully justified.

I think we in the western world shoot ourselves in the foot regarding animal welfare in this respect. Indeed it is often commented upon by peoples of eastern culture that we in the west have got things back to front with our over indulgence in the welfare of our animals. They feel we love our animals more than we care about our fellow human beings.

And what is more back to front than a society which seems to be more interested in the rights and welfare of animals rather than address the growing social dysfuncionality of we as human beings in the western world who treat the election of politicians for example as some kind of show business event without a thought for the kind of foreign policies carried out in our name often in support of regimes (unless those regimes have OIL!)    who totally abuse the human rights of their citizens.