The excessive and brutal use of animals for testing in today’s world are unnecessary. The experiments range from animals being forced to eat and inhale toxic substances to injecting them with hazardous chemicals, or rubbing such chemicals into their skin, just to be monitored and then killed.
One of the most commonly used animals is the Rhesus macaque - a monkey imported from Asia and is the most common primate tested.  More than 75,000 macaques were tested in the United States in 2016 alone. It’s not just the monkeys, many innocent animals are abused for research purposes that can be done with alternative methods and can be more effective.
Testing drugs is necessary for the health and survival of humans, but it can be done in a more responsible and impactful way by taking tissue cultures from humans instead of other animals. Human cultures come from human cells and what better way to test a drug that’s going to impact humans, than on a genetically identical specimen. The reason little has changed even though there is a push for alternative forms of testing is that companies have gotten comfortable executing research the way they always have. Change is necessary but it has to be demanded. Buy purchasing cruelty free products, you are making a difference – from makeup to shampoo,  you can go cruelty free. Buy products that do not test on animals. Do research.  Educate yourself.

Artwork by – I.G. – student at TERRA Environmental Research Institute 2020
Writing by –Lyanne Abreu