Oh my good god!

I was just two chapters into the book No More Bull! by Howard F. Lyman when I added it to my Amazon book list. If you thought that artery clogging and cancer causing were bad enough consequences of eating meat think again.

Lyman talks about the way that the US Government has lied and manipulated the public into thinking meat tainted with BSE is safe.

I had a friend who used to ask the waitresses if the burgers or whatever he ordered were BSE-free. I use to elbow him because really, do you think the waitress knows? But reading this book makes me wish I had been more concerned.

Lyman states that BSE is equivalent to Jakob-Creutzfeld Disease and that this disease (which can be caught from BSE) can be delayed in showing symptoms. So you could have ate one bad burger and get diagnose with JCD twenty years later!

He also states that all of that garbage about the muscle being safe because BSE is in the brain and spinal cord is just that, garbage. In the slaughtering of the animals this is all cross contaminated. Like he says, did all those Europeans that caught BSE really sit at home eating cow brains? Read the book. When you find out what meat is consistently tainted with it will turn your stomach. Ugh!

Plus, the BSE tests in the US are far from being state of the art. England and Japan test ever animal and do so with a much more sophisticated test. This is also at a lower cost overall. So why won’t the US and Canada follow suit? They likely don’t want to know that their animals are diseased.

Not to mention the effects it has on health. I just love this quote: “Thoughtlessly, we kill animals, cut them up, and consume them. It shouldn’t be surprising that there’s something equally violent and thoughtless about the way we cut ourselves up in the hopes of curing ourselves of the diseases caused by eating animals…The animals will have their revenge.”

When the meat that makes up so much of the Standard American Diet (SAD) is subsidized and protected by your Government even at the expense of health and security it really makes you wonder if this is really just a slow execution.

The meat and dairy industry must make a fortune in order for the governments to keep encouraging us all to eat meat even when our hospitals are filled with poeople suffering from diseases and cancers associated with meat and dairy products.

I won’t go into this a whole lot right now because I have beat this drum a hundred times already. Just look at some of my posts on The China study.

Anyway, some food for thought…and there’s lots to think about here.

Ok, I was bored tonight so I went on the PETA website. If truth be told I was actually going on there to see if it was time to vote for the sexiest vegetarian of the year. Alas, it doesn’t seem to be. This is the only time I even do anything remotely close to this. I just like seeing the long, long list of names for veg*n actors, athletes, singers and all the other famous people.

But while I was there I started checking out the newest animal rights issues.

PETA is taking on the Canadian Fur Council right now. I wrote to the CFC a while back because I was appalled by their full page ad in the National Post about how fur is the eco-friendly choice for winter wear. What?!?

They wrote back to me (enough to fill a book by the way) about how it is eco-friendly. Cause you know, synthetic, cruelty-free fabrics are made from petroleum products. Well, maybe they are overlooking a major fact. To condition fur or leather so that it doesn’t rot (as all animal remains naturally do) they have to be conditioned with very potent, very toxic chemicals. These tanneries aren’t even allowed to exist within communities because they pollute water supplies and the environment around them. After I found out what they use to tan leather I really felt sick about the leather couch we bought before we became vegetarians. Ever since we became veg I felt guilty about owning a big leather couch (I thought about getting rid of it but I couldn’t see how that would atone for those cows anyways) and then when I found out the toxins on the leather I felt contaminated!

So the eco-friendly (socially responsible) choice for fashionable wear is dead animal skin? Just so we are clear, there has been a group of Canadians that have filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau on the grounds that it’s wrong for the CFC to use the eco-friendly claim to bolster sales when that claim is far from true. That is what the campaign is really addressing.

I am so glad that PETA is taking these jerks on! You can see some of what they’re up to here: http://blog.peta.org/archives/2008/04/is_the_canadian.php

You can send a letter of protest here (just fill your name in): http://getactive.peta.org/campaign/fur_council_canada

PETA has also been working hard on the animal testing front. I have a blog entry from a while back where I address animal testing. You can check that out if you are unsure about the controversy of animal testing, mainly about how it is often unnecessary because it doesn’t affect outcomes or drugs, products etc. Another reinforcement of that idea would be the countless rodents who died in lab tests to prove that aspartame is indeed not safe and yet it’s in everything! Same thing with cosmetics. Anyways…just read it if you want to get the scoop.

Before I started worrying about animal rights I worried about the health of my kids. I started reading and watching documentaries and soon realized that there is no regulatory body that regulates the safety of products sold in stores. Not only are our home cleaners, shampoos, soaps and laundry detergents increasing our rates of cancer, asthma attacks and other respiratory problems, it is also destroying our environment. You know that disgusting sterile smell you get when you clean your house? I don’t get that. Mine smells like tea tree oil! It’s a fresh smell that gives me peace of mind about what is being inhaled by my kids. We have anything chemical stored outside of the house (as is recommended Canadian Medical Association).

I could write a well referenced book on this but here is an ultra basic intro to the topic.

Whenever we let chemicals like Tide, Clorox, Windex and so on  run down into our sewers (and unless you clean EVERYTHING with paper towel you do. Except then it ends up in the garbage which is no better) we are contributing to dead lakes, acid rain and other water and plant problems.

But what if you could use a eco-friendly cleaner which, as a bonus, won’t poison your kids? There are many options out there. Some grocery stores are starting to carry green products and there is usually a wide variety of these products in health food stores (HFS). Here is a list of what I use:

Dish-soap: Seventh Generation (HFS, Save On) 

Dishwasher soap: Ecover tablets (Save On)

Laundry soap: Biovert (HFS)

Fabric softener: I have one of those reusable fabric ones. It’s pretty good (HFS).

Stain remover: I don’t know how natural this is but it’s a bar of soap in the laundry isle called Sunlight (not the same brand). Anyways it works well and I get it at Save On

I still have some products from Melaleuca left. They make pretty decent stuff.

Cosmetics (and other personal care products) contain a variety of bad chemical compounds such as formaldehyde and many known carcinogens such as parabens. There is a website (http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/splash.php?URI=%2Findex.php ) that lists the potential dangers of the various brands of mascara, lipstick etc. They rate them on scale of which are potentially more harmful than others.

Natural cosmetics (although not always vegan) are made from natural mild products such as beeswax and herbs. The colours come from natural sources too. You often have to try a few before you find one that works for you.

Here are the ones I like:

Toothpaste: Auromere -Herbal Ayurvedic formula. The JASON brand is good too and the Beaver one (green apple is pretty good too) (HFS)

Shampoo and conditioner: Prairie Naturals (HFS)

Deodorant (his and hers): earthscience liken plant unscented (HFS)

Mascara: Ecco Bella -flowercolor (HFS)

Facial cleanser: derma e Vanilla Bean Cleansing Mousse (their Microdermabrasion is really great too) (HFS)

Shaving (for men): Herban Cowboy (pucks) (HFS, Superstore)

Most of my makeup, moisturizers and so on are residual from my Melaleuca days. I haven’t had the need to find replacements yet.

I also make my own bug spray. It’s made with water, a variety of essential oils including citronella and eucalyptus. I can post the recipe if anyone wants it.

Cosmetics etc. are heavily reliant on animal testing. Did you know that they will smear products on the eyes of mice just so they can write “to avoid contact with eyes” on the label? Did you know that these rodents and dogs and whatever other animal they choose to test upon will spend weeks in pain from the blistering caused by products placed on their bare skin for hours on end? Did you know that this is vain? If a bad reaction is found in animals it doesn’t make the product unsuitable for the marketplace but rather just forces them to put a warning on the label? Animal testing in cosmetics and personal care products save no human lives! The products pass regardless. Why couldn’t we allow testing on humans instead? I would be willing to give my arm up for a skin irritation test so that animals didn’t live everyday of their unusually short lives in pain.

Buying products that have natural products and that has not been tested on animals is not only healthier but also more compassionate. Although it is still a grey area as some companies (like the Body Shop (which is not even considered a natural product)) will not test their products on animals but will buy materials that have been tested on animals by the seller. That doesn’t make a product humane if it’s ingredients were involved in the suffering of animals. Also the Body Shop is owned by Loreal and they do test on animals! Peta.com has a list that you can print off and leave in your purse. It lists the companies that have adhered to Peta’s restrictions on animal testing. http://caringconsumer.com/resources_companies.asp

Babies are a major source of waste. Diapers and wipes alone make up an astronomical amount of waste! Not only that but the safety of diapers are still up for debate. I never buy wipes (even when we go camping). I buy packages of those baby bath cloths and use those as wipes. I have a container filled with water and I just moisten them before use. They actually work better than the wipes because their texture allows them to grab and scrub much better than those soft wimpy wipes. And there are no chemicals as I wash then in all natural, eco-friendly detergent. 

I like doing cloth diapers but they are becoming more and more work. My kids are getting bigger bladders and that means I am dealing with a lot more leaks than I used to when they were smaller.

However, cloth diapers are the best eco choice (coupled with a eco-friendly detergent).