A Cruel Place | Teen Ink

A Cruel Place MAG

By Anonymous

      Most people wouldn’t enjoy having their livers swollen, shampoo dropped into their eyes, or being in a cage so small they can’t stand up. So what makes people think that animals feel any less pain? Animals all over the world are inhumanely used in the fur trade, laboratory experiments, and factory farming. Although the first animal welfare organization was formed over 150 years ago, it’s only been fairly recently that the idea that animals have rights has gained some acceptance in a few countries.

When showering or putting on make-up each morning, most consumers don’t realize that somewhere in a cosmetics factory a rabbit is suffering so people can look and feel good. Hundreds of thousands of animals are poisoned, blinded, and killed every year in order to test shampoos, household cleaners, hairsprays, and other products. One of the worst experiments is called the LD5O test. LD stands for lethal dose and in the test, chemicals are increasingly injected until 50% of the animals die.

Animal testing for cosmetics and other non-chemical items only accounts for six percent of animal experiments. They are also used for medical research, though it has recently been shown that they are rarely good substitutes for the human body. Studies have concluded that we often waste the lives of both animals and humans by infecting animals with diseases they would never contract. Chimpanzees are an endangered species, but they are still being taken from the wild for laboratory testing with about 1,200 currently held in research facilities worldwide. One European company was recently found keeping them in cages so small they couldn’t stand upright.

I understand that we need to test new procedures on something - we can’t just open up a human being and perform a heart transplant for the first time - but we don’t have to use 65 million animals a year. The number could be greatly reduced if there were better communication between scientists to avoid duplicating experiments. It’s estimated that every six seconds, a laboratory animal dies. That is completely unnecessary.

Many people are vegetarians (including me), and with good reason. Most believe their meat comes from happy little cows that lived happy little lives on happy little farms, but it rarely happens that way. Many companies produce meat by doing what is called factory farming. Instead of being able to roam outside until it’s time for slaughter, animals in factory farms are kept in very small pens. Do you know where veal comes from? Calves that are chained by the neck in two-foot wide crates. This confinement makes the meat “tender” since the muscles cannot develop. They are fed an all-liquid milk substitute which is purposely deficient in iron and fiber to produce borderline anemia. At approximately 20 weeks of age, they are slaughtered.

Battery hens are kept in tiny cages with other hens, unable to stretch their wings. In 2003, Israel banned foie gras, which literally means swollen liver. Foie gras comes from force-feeding geese and ducks vast quantities of salty corn, which causes their livers to swell up to ten times their normal size. Last spring, the Chicago City Council passed a foie gras ban and joined California and several European countries that have outlawed the “delicacy.” Even if they are going to be slaughtered, animals should be able to live their short lives in a humane way.

Fur farms are also a big concern for people fighting for animals’ rights. Undercover investigators recently visited fur farms in China’s Hebei Province and found some pretty disturbing things. The foxes, minks, rabbits and other animals there are often skinned alive.

You would think that with the intelligence and science available, we could find better ways to handle humans’ demands than make animals suffer. Most folks are completely oblivious as to what really happens on factory farms, laboratories, and fur farms. To help stop this animal cruelty, you don’t have to become a vegetarian or stop wearing make-up, just make sure you’re not buying products from factory farms, cosmetic factories that test on animals, and don’t wear fur! Nothing’s going to change unless the majority of people speak up, so spread the word of what’s really happening and we may be able to make this world a better place.



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This article has 20 comments.


on Oct. 30 2016 at 12:03 pm
Richcoca PLATINUM, Canoga Park, California
44 articles 5 photos 71 comments

Favorite Quote:
Make as many as mistakes as you want, just don't make the same mistake.

@Trubie4ever @loveofgod There have been several debates discussing the bioethical implications of this. Although both lives are treated of respect, one must equate the significance of both the life of humans and the cow. Cosmetics honestly, in my opinion, do too much testing on animals but scientific research commonly needs to do animal testing for the greater good. There are many people suffering from diseases such as Alzheimer's and ALS and animal testing is required on chick embryos to see the effects of therapeutics on the nervous system. Of course, the sacrifice needed is respected but at the same time, human lives are benefitting from the research done. PETA has actually once thrown paint on a scientist I know and generally PETA protesters have been associated with violent protesting where they egg the outsides of offices and lab. If you really do care about animal lives, consider joining PETA and bringing reform and new ideas to your local chapter.

on Jul. 15 2013 at 11:13 am
hollandpiggy BRONZE, Holland, Texas
4 articles 0 photos 8 comments

Favorite Quote:
Did you try?

Coming from a girl that has lived on a farm her whole life, I completely disagree with this article.  I do understand that animals are treated inhumanely very often. I wear very little make up.  This doesn't stop the other women from wearing excesive amounts of it. I also have to mention that "factory farms" as you call them are just large farms in which most animals are treated humanely. Notice, I say MOST. This doesn't mean that all of them are treated humanely. Most "factory farms" are family operated and very health conservative. I eat meat. Yes, I eat meat and I'm proud of it. In fact, if I had put what I really felt about this, all of the vegetarians that agree with this would be super mad at me. 

on Feb. 26 2013 at 6:53 pm
colorwriter13 BRONZE, Columbus, New Jersey
2 articles 0 photos 5 comments
I completly agree. Animals have feelings too but many people just don't get it. i ,ay not be a vegatarian but i still care about animals. Now i have another reason not to like veal. :)

Hot@llyp said...
on Nov. 19 2012 at 10:34 am
I agree. They test this cosmetics in some animals but they don't care about this. If an animal dies, is not so important than if a person dies, wrong because they have a life too, killing they we are taking a life too. This topic is for some people that use their cosmetic but don't care where they come
 

Lipe said...
on Nov. 19 2012 at 10:29 am
I agree. They test these cosmetics in some animals but they don't care about this. If an animal dies, is not important tham if a person dies, wrong because they have a life too, killing they we are takeing a life too. This topic is for some people that use their cosmetics and don't care about where they come

Baez777 said...
on Nov. 16 2012 at 1:11 pm
Hi I am very glad for the information you conveyed. I am a vegetarian also. You are totally right about not consuming certain products in order to stop anamal cruelty. I believe there is more on the outside that can be done according to Law. I myself am willing to write letters and make a political voice about animal treatment in the whole nation. This should not stay invisible. Animals are a representation of what people are so if humans maltreat animals they maltreat there reputation. if one wants to be himan one must be willing to behave like it. so heres the thing people; act upon it look fro different paths, wether with protest, contact with the governmenet or belonging to an environmental group..... DO SIOMETHING!!! There is no bigger sin than conformity in fron of the face of injustice.  BE HUMAN!

on Jun. 7 2012 at 11:56 am
bumblebee_babii GOLD, Danbury, Connecticut
11 articles 3 photos 6 comments
Very good ! You put a huge veriety of different types of animal cruelty into one article . I am a huge animal activist as well . But some make-up companies & hair product factories actually do NOT test on animals ; AVON , ELF , Paul Mitchell . I look into a certian product before I use it . & I also read the ingredients on food as well , because I myself am a vegetarian(: Great work

farmerboy said...
on May. 23 2012 at 1:14 pm
i agree with you but if you are going to make this happen how are we going to and here is the biggest problem how are we goining to convince them to belive this and then comes the fight we have yo make againt the ruler of the country thank for your wonderfull opinion piece

on Nov. 30 2011 at 7:44 pm
camohunter19 GOLD, Sedro-Woolley, Washington
14 articles 13 photos 128 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Girls are so queer you never know what they mean. They say No when they mean Yes, and drive a man out of his wits for the fun of it." "Violence is never the answer! It is a question, and the answer is yes."

You take a difficult arguement and wrestle it to the ground, two thumbs up!

animalluvr65 said...
on Sep. 21 2011 at 9:44 am
im not a vegaterien but i eat meat that comes from farm raised animals and i dont wear make up i keep it natural

on Aug. 18 2011 at 11:59 pm
savetheplanet PLATINUM, Anaheim, California
45 articles 9 photos 564 comments

Favorite Quote:
It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.

I'm not vegetarian but I try to cut back on my meat consumption and use products that are animal-friendly.  Thanks so much for spreading the news! :)

on Aug. 12 2011 at 9:07 pm
Emmyluwho BRONZE, Mckinney, Texas
3 articles 0 photos 19 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." - Groucho Marx

I'm not a vegetarian, I will admit that, but I am careful to use lotions and other products that are NOT tested on animals. The conditions these creatures must endure are terrible and unnessecary. The places cows, for instance, are confined to cause intense stress. No living thing should ever have to experience.

on Apr. 2 2011 at 7:42 pm
lovetowrite22 SILVER, ..., Colorado
5 articles 0 photos 37 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Everything happens for a reason."

At first, I thought this was going to be some "tree-hugging" kind-of article, but it definitely wasn't. This got me thinking about how bad these animals are truly treated, and for unnecessary reasons. I like how you were so realistic within your writing and weren't pestering the reader about going vegetarian or protesting with big signs; instead, you stated the reasonable ways for people to go about this situation, and I commend you for that. Very good job on your writing, I liked it a lot(:

Trubie4ever said...
on Jan. 27 2011 at 9:37 am
I dissagre I belive the value of a human life and an animals life is the same you have to think what if you were in the animals position poked and proded they have been around longer than humans untainted by human greed

on Jan. 27 2011 at 7:26 am
wordsoflife SILVER, Starke, Florida
7 articles 0 photos 18 comments

Favorite Quote:
Truth is the absence of Lies. -me

Yes, people do not want internal bleeding. That's why they test it on animals. Even though I feel sorry for the animals, I think the life of a human is more important than the life of a rat.

on Jan. 26 2010 at 4:02 pm
Laneyj123 BRONZE, Bonita Springs, Florida
1 article 0 photos 1 comment
i agree with u i think it is sad that the make- up i used to put on was killing animals it makes me feel horrible since i read this i now only wear make-up that is not tested on animals and i know dont eat red meat

on Nov. 27 2009 at 2:20 pm
fortheloveofwriting GOLD, A Place, Oklahoma
11 articles 13 photos 30 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Art washes from the soul the dust of everyday life."
~Pablo Picasso


Love is patient, love is kind; it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
1 Corinthians 13:4
A man's ways are his own, but the LORD weighs the heart.

Hey, I TOTALLY agree with this. This is the exact reason I don't eat meat, although I didn't realize how COMPLETELY INHUMAN these treatments were. Thanks for informing people. I hope more people get together and try to stop the inconsiderate people who run these places. I always have to explain why I don't eat meat, but I can't explain as well as you just did, and that's the perfect way to put it. Thanks, Tyler!

dorothy456 said...
on Nov. 12 2009 at 6:25 pm
i think thats a great point. everyone needs to think about it and not be totally oblivious!

clairem BRONZE said...
on Nov. 7 2009 at 11:24 am
clairem BRONZE, Liverpool, New York
2 articles 0 photos 5 comments
You had some great points! A lot of people think of animal cruelty as a thing of the past since we now have protection laws, but you're right. There are still animals who suffer unnecessarily!

on Jan. 19 2009 at 8:37 pm
I loved your article Tyler