What is animal testing?

It is also called animal experimentation, animal research, in vivo testing, vivisection The Encyclopdia Britannica defines "vivisection" as: "Operation on a living animal for experimental rather than healing purposes; more broadly, all experimentation on live animals"

Some tests:
In the Draize test, caustic substances are placed in the eyes of conscious rabbits to evaluate damage to sensitive eye tissues.

Skin corrosivity /irritancy test.

LD test:
Lethal Dosage (LD) tests are used to determine the amount of a substance that will kill a predetermined ratio of animals. In LD50 test, subjects are forced to ingest poisonous substances until half of them die.

Statistics:
BUAV estimates that 100 million vertebrates are experimented on around the world every year, 1011 million of them in the EU, excluding invertebrates such as shrimp and fruit flies and animals bred for research then killed as surplus, animals used for breeding purposes are not included in the figures. According to the USDA, the total number of animals used in that country in 2005 was almost 1.2 million, excluding rats and mice, which make up about 90% of research animals.

Types of vertebrates used in animal testing in Europe in 2005: a total of 12.1 million animals were used

Failures of animal testing:

Animal testing is inhumane and inherently inaccurate. Test results cannot be extrapolated from a mouse to a rat, let alone from a rat to a human. Each species reacts differently to various substances.

Alternatives:
Non-animal testing methods that are more reliable and less expensive make use of cell and skin tissue cultures, corneas from eye banks, and sophisticated computer and mathematical models. By using non-toxic natural ingredients or those that have already been safety-approved.