Animal lovers performed on World’s Animal Protection Day

Many consumers are not conscious of the fact that they use cosmetics and cleaning products which have been tested on animals. These experiments are painful and out of date. The well-known experiment of this kind is a so-called The Draize Eye Test. It was invented almost 70 years ago and is used for measuring the danger of chemicals. The eyes of animals have been examined to see the damage caused by chemical substances. The animals used for such experiments are rabbits. First they tie them up and then they put drops of chemicals into their eyes to see any signs of irritation, redness, swallowing, bleeding or blindness. The animal is being exposed to a terrible pain during such an experiment. The animals are killed immediately after such testing but if they are not badly injured they use them in future experiments and kill them afterwards.

Animal lovers held a performance on World’s Day of Animal Protection. The performance could be seen on Tuesday 24^th of April at noon on the main square. The head of one female activist was tied and all the horrors of Draize test were shown. The white “rabbit” was giving leaflets to the people passing by informing them about the so-called “White list”. This list shows the names of the firms that do not perform such tests. The citizens can see the list on the website www.prijatelji-zivotinja.hr.

In Europskidom Zagreb in Jurisiceva Street at number 1 there was the promotion of the film Safer Medicines. The event was organized by Europski pokret Hrvatska, Europskidom Zagreb and Prijateljiživotinja association. The film was translated into Croatian. It shows the development of ecological and ethical consciousness which shows doubts about the traditional methods of research. They compare the old ways with the most modern achievements of biomedicine which doesn’t use animals for their research. The film was followed by a discussion. The film can be seen at www.youtube.com/afcroatia. 

Besides, the chemicals which are used in cosmetic products have been tested on animals’ skin. The animals suffer terrible pain from redness, swallowing and infections. These tests have been criticized for their terrible cruelty. They cannot provide enough evidence of being useful for people. The cosmetic industry produces new and new products promising the beauty and youth for those who use them. More than 12 mil of animals are used in different experiments throughout the EU every year. It means that every minute more than ten animals suffer in painful and cruel experiments.

On the other hand, more and more companies give up from testing on animals. They use the safer and modern methods. The public pressure should bring the decision to ban the sale of products tested on animals. The consumers have the power to stop such old-fashioned experiments by using products that are not tested on animals. They can also sign petitions against such practice. On the website www.prijatelji-zivotinja.hr you can find the petition against the sale of cosmetic products that were tested on animals, against the use of Botox on animals and against testing done on primates. You can also find the so-called White List and you can see the film Safer Medicines.