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This test has been especially designed for the testing of medical, cosmetical and chemical substances, but also for the testing of the end products, like creams, lipsticks, mascaras, face-lotion, soap, shampoos, powder, hairspray, toothpaste, lacquer, detergent and everything, which could perhaps touch one's skin someday somehow.
The number of rabbits and other animals, which are killed by this procedure day by day, must be some millions.
The rabbits, which are immobilised, sit in long lines of cages for 72 hours. Their eyes are kept open by metal- or plastic clamps, so that they're not able to twinkle. In short intervals chemicals, poisons, toxics and acids are dripped into their eyes. The animals cannot lick or scratch themselves, and they do not have the possibillity of diluting these aching substances either, because they have no tear gland. (That's one important reason for the use of rabbits for these kinds ot tests.)
The effects of these tests are evaluated by machines. Depending on the tested substance the rabbits' eyes get red, their cornea (this is the outer skin of the eyeball) is injured, the tissues are destructed or they build abscesses. The eyes are destroyed systematically in layers. If the eyes are only red, the animals will be used again time after time till they die.
Neither an anaesthetic nor a painkiller is given to the animals.
In other tests the animals are sheared and the skin is cut open. Then the substances are placed on these cuts till you can see open wounds or swellings.
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