Daily Skiff

I've always hated the thought of my makeup, shampoos, face cleansers, etc. being tested on animals. I check all products before I make a purchase to make sure they haven't.

One of the biggest steps to stop this animal torture has recently been undertaken to, with hope, eliminate testing products on animals, according to a Feb. 15 USA Today article. U.S. agencies, such as the Environmental Protection Agency, have signed a "Memorandum of Understanding" to develop and implement the new methods, according to the article.

Environmental agencies, health agencies, animal rights activists and many more agencies and groups are in support of new technologies that will eventually eliminate the need for animal testing.

I'm one of the world's biggest animal lovers, and I hate hearing about the circumstances some animals endure just to ensure that a product won't negatively affect me. I have never agreed with animal testing, but at the same time there have not been many other options until now.

Martin Stephens of the Humane Society of the United States said, "The agreement is a milestone. This is the beginning of the end for animal testing."

Stephens said the entire conversion process will take up to 10 years, but it will begin soon and fewer animals will be used for testing each year until no animals are used.

Everything that makes an impact takes time, but it's the simple fact that we're now saving animals' lives and not treating them as trash. No, animals are not equal to humans, but in the same light they are not equal to a banana either. They still deserve more rights than inanimate objects.

Now they have that chance.

The agencies and advocates of animal rights are relying on new systems that test human cells grown in laboratories and computer-driven testing machines to determine risks rather than injecting animals with potentially toxic compounds, according to the article.

Federal agencies are working on testing the accuracy of the new technology before it is implemented and accepted, according to the article.

Whatever the outcome of these federal investigations and tests, animals are still winning. They are gaining momentum and rights activists are pushing harder than ever.

"You develop a technology for one purpose, and you realize, 'Goodness! We can use it for something else!'" said Francis Collins, director of the NIH's National Human Genome Research Institute.

We have the technology to remove this age-old torture process for animals and implement a new process in which animals are not used at all, but we haven't been using it in the correct areas.

Now that researchers have found a good fit for this new technology, maybe God's creation can reign freely where it belongs; in the wild.

Marissa Warms is a senior advertising/public relations major from Irving.

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