As the vaccination of COVID-19 has been developed quickly, the number of people who have been vaccinated has increased. However, there has been a lot of sacrifi ces of horseshoe crabs for the vaccines because of their blue blood. Blue blood coagulates when cells invade from outside to protect itself from toxin. For this reason, horseshoe crabs were used to test bacteria in vaccines. From 2015 to 2020, about 94 percent of the projects supported by the South Korean Ministry of Environment (ME) were evaluated through animal testing. Unlike the EU which enforces nonanimal testing by using artificial skin and artifi cial cornea, South Korea has been relying on animal testing. In the EU, non-testing methods account for 57.2 percent, whereas in South Korea it accounts for only 12.7 percent. The problem is that there are not enough laws relating to animal testing protection.

     Last year, in 2020, a total of 301 million animals were used for experiments for the development and safety management of products, drugs, and cosmetics. According to a South Korean ME, among those animals, rats had the highest percentage of use at 98.4 percent. It was an irony that the rate of animal testing has increased, despite the fact that cosmetics animal testing was banned from 2017. This increment shows that laws about animal testing should be more developed and strictly applied.

     On top of the laws, there are several alternatives that could be used to decrease the rate of animal testing. First, the vegan cosmetics market is growing rapidly these days. Vegan cosmetics are the products that did not go through any animal-testing and are made without animal products. In addition, consumption considering the environment and ethics has become a trend among customers. These vegan cosmetics are rising in the beauty industry. Second, since the interest in animal testing has increased, methods to replace animals with something else are being developed. On October 12, the Rural Development Administration announced that they have found a cell that has similar composition and function as to intestine cell of South Korean cow. By fi nding this cell, when researching feed effi ciency, safety evaluation and disease, this cell can replace the actual cows in the experiments.

     Like humans, animals are also living creatures, so they should have rights, too. Thus, they should not be used mercilessly in experiments for the development of products and drugs for human use. Just because they cannot talk and resist, it is not acceptable for us to exploit their weaknesses. Moreover, there are lots of research on the replacement of animals in the animal-testing being found. Thus, unnecessary experiments regarding animals should be banned as soon as possible before more animals are sacrificed.

By Park Hui-jin, Editor / gmlwl0@konkuk.ac.kr