Cosmetics and its testing on
Animals:
Cosmetics include toothpaste,
shampoo, mouthwash, talcum, hand lotions, lipsticks, eye cosmetics, face
creams, hair conditioners, perfumes and colognes. Most cosmetics contain
animal products and are tested on animals in laboratories. Though the FDA
does not require such testing, they endorse the Gillette procedures for
tests on animals.
Common tests on animals are the LD/50
test which induces death in 50% of the animals used (rats, mice, guinea
pigs and dogs) to determine the lethal dose of a product; the Draize test,
used to measure eye irritancy in cosmetics and other products by
restraining rabbits and administering increasing amounts of the product
directly to the cornea; the Acute Dermal Toxicity test which presses the
substance on the shaved skin of an animal after abrasions have been made
on its skin and there are still other tests done on animals.
Soaps usually contain animal fats
like tallow (stearic acid and related salts). Shampoos can contain tallow,
animal glycerin, placenta collagen, animal proteins, and fish liver oil.
Many commercial toothpaste contain animal glycerin.
Expensive perfumes commonly contain
musk, a secretion scraped from the genitals of male civet cats in
Ethiopia. These cats undergo hundreds of such painful scrapings during
their lifetime.
Use of Animals in Entertainment:
Circuses, Zoos, Rodeos, Horse Racing
etc. Animals for the most part are put through painful training and forced
to perform, totally alien to their natural way of life. The living
condition is also unnatural. Countless animals are killed before a good
specimen is captured to fill the many zoos and circuses. Many animals die
in transport. Their young ones are left behind to starve. Electric prods
are used in rodeos, and the gentle domesticated steers and horses are made
to "buck" by a leather belt tightened around their abdomens pressing
against their genitals. Horns are broken, animals are strangled while
being roped, kicked and abused. Circus animals are forced to perform as
freaks. The training is very unpleasant. Horses bred for racing are
genetically bred by humans for swiftness, but suffer constantly from weak
and sprained ankles, broken bones and drug abuse, often, they must be
"destroyed".
Impact on Health:
Meat, cheese and eggs are extremely
high in saturated fats and the cholesterol that accumulates on the
arterial walls is the major factor of heart attacks.
Large amounts of antibiotics and
chemicals are readily used to control the vast amounts of diseases those
meat animals, cows, and chickens are prone to get due to their unnatural
living and breeding conditions. The drugs are present in the animals'
meat, milk and eggs
The kidneys of a moderate meat eater
work three times harder than that of a vegetarian. This is due to the
excess toxic wastes in meat, which the kidneys try to eliminate.
Lard, the white rendered fat of a hog
is not readily digestible. It is used widely in commercially baked goods
and many name brand products.
Less radioactive fallout is found in
vegetable milks (cows milk generally shows a count of 98 of the element
Strontium 90 compared to a count of 2.1 in vegetable-based milk).
Cow's milk has a different
constitution from human's milk. Cow’s milk is made of elements that help
in developing animal, whereas human milk helps build the nerves and brain
faster than the bulk of the body.
Cow's milk is not the only source of
calcium. Its content in cow's milk is 120 mg. per 100 grams; Brazil nuts
have 176-186 mg.; almonds have 234-247 mg.; kale has 179-200 mg.; sea kelp
has over 1,000 mg.; and unhulled sesame seeds have 1, 160 mg.; just to
name a few other sources.
Impact on Economics, Ecology and
Environment:
The waste and fecal matter,
chemicals, and grease from the meat packing industry empties into our
sewer systems and then into our rivers. Slaughterhouses and feedlots are
some of the worst polluters of land, water and air.
A diet including meat and dairy
products requires the daily consumption of 8 times more gallons of water
than that needed to produce non-animal foods.
Non-animal diets require 1/4 acre per
person, whereas meat and dairy eaters require over 2 acres.
One half of the world's population is
hungry or malnourished. There is a shortage of over 8 million tons of
food, rising to an estimated 100 million tons by the year 2000. A
total-vegetarian diet would END the world hunger crisis.
Alternatives
Food Alternatives:
Animal Protein:
Beans and legumes (lentils), whole
grains, nuts, tofu, avocado, olives, hummus, "Good Tasting Nutritional
Yeastö by the farm, vegetable protein such as processed vegetable foods in
health food stores such as protose, Big Franks and Loma Linda Sandwich
Spread.
Legume + Grain, Legume + Seed, or
Legume + Nut combinations result in high quality complete proteins (rice +
beans, lentils + rice, beans + corn).
Milk:
Commercially prepared vegetable milk
such as soymilk (in health food stores). Nut milks may be made at home in
a blender in many varieties and delicious flavors. Fruits and vegetable
juices.
Philosophy
