Many people don't think twice when they put on makeup about the potential harm they're causing. Cosmetics can be really fun, but sadly, there's a dark side to that mascara or eyeliner you're putting on daily. As consumers of these products, all we think about is how they appear already packaged. What we don't see is all the steps it took to get that product from the factory to the store shelf. According to pro-environment website, www.onegreenplanet.org, testing the safety of chemicals used in cosmetics is not even required by the Federal Drug Administration. An astonishing 100 million animals are subjected to cruel and painful tests each year.

The animals typically used for cosmetic testing include mice, rats, rabbits, and guinea pigs. These animals endure harsh experiments with zero pain relief. In these cruel experiments, the animals are subjected to having chemicals rubbed on their skin and eyes, being force fed toxic compounds, getting injected with chemicals, and undergoing unnecessary surgery. After the testing is complete, the animals are "disposed" of. The use of gas chambers is a common method of “disposal.” While this might seem extremely cruel, testers have also been known to snap the necks of the animals or to simply continue testing until the animal dies. It's enough to make you literally sick and want to punch every animal testing scientist in the face. Is the sad fate of a small, helpless animal really worth your cosmetic products? I love makeup, but there has to be a point where it's too much. And the suffering of hundreds of millions of animals each year is just ridiculous.

According to the website, some countries, such as a few in Europe, have completely banned animal testing for cosmetics, so it's something that has been proven successful. Also, there are animal-free tests available that are better for all living creatures and are cheaper, making animal testing cruel and unnecessary.

People may try to argue, saying yes, it's cruel, but it's the only way we can learn how to use cosmetics on human skin successfully. Given the fact that 92 percent of drugs that test successfully in animals later fail in human trials, this doesn’t seem to be the case. This is because the molecular biology and genetics of animals are not the same as those of humans.

This is an unbelievably cruel method to ensure the safety of cosmetic products. As mentioned earlier, there are other ways to test for safe chemicals without torturing animals. I've also been one to argue that prison inmates on death row for unspeakable crimes should replace the animals as test subjects, but I digress. That's a whole other controversial story to get into at another time.

We as everyday consumers can't do much to stop the madness of testing, but what we can do is ensure the products we use haven't been animal tested. Peta's website provides a list of all the cosmetic companies that opt for cruelty-free products. That list can be found here. A favorite makeup brand that I use, "Too Faced," is on the list of cruelty-free products. I've been trying to make the effort to exclusively use products that haven't been animal tested, and I can only hope everyone else does the same.