The Cruel Side of Smoking
Ever heard of the Auerbach/Hammond Beagle Experiment? If you are a smoker you probably won’t want to know the results of the experiment, and if you are an animal lover you probably won’t want to hear about it at all. Why? It was a test to determine if cigarette smoke caused lung cancer, and it relied on the breed of dog known as Beagles as test subjects.
The dogs were either given a tracheostomy that fed smoke directly into their lungs through a tube in their throats, or they were fitted with special facial masks that supplied them with smoky air for set periods of time. Either way the dogs developed lung cancer and died. The tests occurred in 1970, a time when major tobacco companies were still arguing about the potential harms of smoking.
Okay, that was forty years ago, surely cigarette makers don’t bother with animal testing anymore, right? Wrong! As recently as 2001 major manufacturers were still doing animal testing, and it wasn’t until an alternative “natural” tobacco company packaged the first “cruelty free” cigarettes that most consumers became aware of the situation.
The United Kingdom finally outlawed animal testing with tobacco products in 1997, but today such practices still occur in other locations, including the United States. What else is done? Rather than going into the gory details suffice it to say that sexual dysfunction testing, exposure to nicotine and caffeine, and round the clock inhalation of cigarette smoke are all part of the modern scientific work. Subjects include rats, rabbits, dogs, monkeys and cats.
The problem with this testing is that it is fundamentally a moot point – smoking causes illness and cancer. This is evidenced by the global cost of direct medical treatment for smoking-related illness each year. If a five hundred billion dollar expense isn’t proof that smoking is unhealthy then no amount of animal testing can make it plainer.
The trend for cruelty-free smoking products has actually spilled over into the world of smoking cessation products too. Now people all around the world can get their hands on nicotine replacement treatments (NRTs) that were not tested on animals in order to recognize their effectiveness.
Regardless of how long someone has smoked, or the amount that they smoke each day, it is amazingly important to consider the effects of that choice. Smoking is horrible for the body, bad for the environment, and causes the unnecessary suffering and death of animals all around the globe.
