Gentler Testing

I was wondering why animal testing of shampoos required applying chemicals in such concentrations and durations the rabbits went blind. Surely it would sufficient to push them to the point of showing irritation. Then it hit me. The cosmetic companies don’t care if their shampoos irritate. Plenty of them do. They are just worried about lawsuits from someone claiming the shampoo made them go blind. Still, what they are doing makes no sense, since chemicals that cause blindness are of no legal relevance because they don’t make it into the products. There is no need to prove that caustic chemicals are indeed seriously harmful, just that they are unsuitable.

~ Roedy (1948-02-04 age:70)