GOING CRUELTY FREE

One of my new years resolutions was to go cruelty free which has been very successful. I guess when you fully realise the situation it is a no brainer. I would rather have a mouse live than have a foundation. Now I am much happier knowing that my vanity isn't to the suspense of an animal life. I wish I had made this decision earlier, I've been vegetarian for so long yet I seemed to have been so obnoxious to the fact of animal testing. I think this is because we are so shielded from it, it is kind of the out of site out of mind kind of thing. But I also think a lot of it is due to human vanity, humans as a spices are very selfish, you only have to look as far as looking at where you are sitting right now and seeing of the materialistic things that have been made by people you have never and never will meet. I think vegetarians miss this concept as a lot do it for health reasons so they have no real moral value to choose not to go cruelty free, of course this is just an assumption I may be completely wrong, I can't judge a persons values unless I know there perspective.
PS. I can see myself rambling on about random stuff a lot on this subject.
There are lots of arguments which surround animal testing for both medical and cosmetic use. If I am totally honest I don't see how anyone can condone animal testing for cosmetics, the fact that the way we look comes before the life of an animal is completely bizarre to me. I hear the argument that humans are the most intelligent species therefore we can use them to benefit ourselves and make the human race more advanced, but the blue whale is the biggest animal on earth and it doesn't use other animals for its own selfish benefit. I think what I am trying to get across with that analogy is that why is intelligence which decides the greatest and 'most important' mammal why is it not size or speed. Why are our looks more important than a mouses' life? Another thing I don't understand why if it is a mouse or a rat it is suddenly less important on the scale of animal life. I understand they breed like crazy, but every single mouse has its own heart, its own brain, its own lungs. It lives like any other creature so why is it less important than a cat, a dog or a monkey.
This may be a bit distressing to hear but in the UK it is required by law for all batches of botox produced to be tested on a rodent. The botox is injected in to the mouses stomach which causes the mouse to become paralysed and die. YES they still use the botox batch because that is supposed to happen, the mouse is meant to die a horrible death. If the mice survive they are gased or they have there necks broken. This sickens me, and how does this benefit us? OH we have no more wrinkles. A round of applause for humanity please (sarcasm). When I talk about for cosmetic I mean literally anything we use to keep up basic hygiene like toothpastes, shampoos even things like domestic cleaning products like dish washing powder. What happened to natural ingredients? In my opinion natural is best, it raw and its meant to be in our bodies. To name just a few of the brand which test on animals are:

• L'oreal (and daughter companies excluding The Body Shop)
• Benefit
• Unilever (this means Lynx, Dove, Sure, Tresemme to name just a few)
• Revlon
• Estee Lauder 
• Mac
• Garnier
• Herbal Essences

Then there is the animal testing for medical use debate, at least this on has some sustenance to it. I understand where some people come from when making the argument that animal testing for medical use is somewhat acceptable. However I still find it very hard to make it seem right in my head for some reason torturing an animal which is unable to give consent to what is happening to them doesn't sit well with me. The fact that an animal was breed to be an experiment just seems so cruel. However I also understand that cures for diseases can be found that can save many peoples lives. But whenever I hear this argument there is always the thought that maybe if we kept our bodies healthy by giving it the nutrients and exercise it needs all this research maybe irrelevant. How often have you heard a doctor prescribe a healthy life style rather than drugs which contain chemicals you probably have never heard of and you will be putting it into your body. I don't think I will ever be able to completely cut out this aspect of animal cruelty from my live as many others won't. But what I am trying to achieve is a very reduced intake of it, by this I mean not turning straight to ibuprofen or paracetamol every time you feel ill but allow your body to fight it by its self and help it by using natural methods. I also feel like medical science has advanced enough not to need animal research, with all the stuff we know about stem cells and there uses it seems like we have a pretty good way of determining how drugs will effect the body as well as how viruses function in a piece of living tissue rather that giving the virus to a living creature to see how they react or forcing then to be injected with chemical cocktails to test the safety. 

Well that's what I think anyway, I think the only way you can form a real discussion on any of this is by doing your own research. I would have included stuff like certain legislation and maybe more facts and figures but I could act bias and interpret it in a way in which may force a reader to think a certain way. At least with opinions it is just a persons thoughts.

Holly