I’d like guys to take notice of this article too as although you don’t use make-up (Jack Sparrow, Billie Joe Armstrong, Boy George and others aside) you can help to spread the word and I know you’re all lovely generous guys who buy beauty products for your mums/girlfriends/wives right?

When I wake up in the morning I, like many others, avoid all mirrors until I have foundation in hand. Ha ha, only kidding, beauty is on the inside… right? Sure it is but getting a helping hand from make-up couldn’t hurt could it? Well unless you’re an animal anyway.

I have to admit that had never really thought about make-up being tested on animals as in the back of my mind I thought it was banned. Turns out that it is banned in the UK but it’s no problem for companies in the UK to outsource the testing to other countries where animal testing is not currently banned.

What’s wrong with testing cosmetics on animals anyway?

So they rub a bit of make-up on a rabbit, what’s the problem? Well sometimes finished products are tested on animals but not in the way you might think.

In fact in one test the animal’s fur is shaved and a number of layers of skin are removed in order to emulate human’s sensitive skin and then the product is applied. The picture below is more representative of what the cost to the animal is –

In another test ingredients or the finished product are placed directly into a rabbit’s eye to see what the effects are. Rabbits don’t have tear ducts so they cannot flush the test material out of their eyes. They are observed for 21 days over which they will feel terrible pain with swelling, discharge, blistering and ultimately blindness of the infected eye.

Lethal Dosage (LD) tests are used to determine the amount of a substance that will kill a predetermined ratio of animals. For example, in the LD50 test, subjects are forced to ingest poisonous substances (through stomach tubes, vapour spray inhalers or injection) until half of them die. Common reactions to LD tests include convulsions, vomiting, paralysis and bleeding from the eyes, nose, mouth or rectum.

Animals involved in these tests are always killed; either by the effects of the test substance or by ‘sacrifice’ at the end of the procedure. There is no use of anaesthetic or pain relief of any kind.

All that so that we can “look pretty”. Every time you put make up on your face from L’Oreal, Benefit, Cover Girl and many others, thousands of animals have died so that you can. That may sound dramatic but IT IS TRUE and it is dramatic – the way these animals are treated is horrendous.

European law designed to eradicate testing on animals of chemicals used in the cosmetics industry is set to be delayed for as long as four years because it is thought that alternative ways of testing the safety of ingredients’ will not be ready in time. This directive would have banned the sale in Europe of any cosmetics tested on animals anywhere in the world.

This means animal testing is still going on in Europe and cosmetic products you buy in Europe may have been tested on animals.

There are 10,000 cosmetic ingredients on a permitted list that do not need to be tested on animals and are approved as safe. However new ingredients are still being tested on animals outside Europe and then used within the EU. (It is also thought that some new ingredients are still being tested on animals in Europe for use in household products or food and then subsequently used in cosmetic products). This means every time a company like L’Oreal bring out a new product it has been tested on animals in the ways described above.  

In America and other countries cosmetic testing on animals is voluntary and not illegal.

Some companies Use the above mentioned list of ingredients to avoid animal testing.

Below is a list of companies who told me they don’t test their products (or the ingredients of) on animals and nor do their suppliers.

·        Topshop Make-up

 http://www.arcadiagroup.co.uk/fashion-footprint/code-of-conduct-and-guidebook/Guidebook-part-1.pdf

·        Coty UK

(they house brands such as Rimmel, Vera Wang and Kylie Minogue) For a full list click the link  http://www.coty.com/#/brands/browse

·        Boots

(only their own brands, this was part of their answer to me “Thanks for contacting us about animal testing. Boots and its subsidiary businesses do not test any products or ingredients on animals, and do not commission others to do so on our behalf.”)

However I read this in an article in The Guardian newspaper – “…the US mining company Rio Tinto confirmed to the Guardian that sodium borate, an ingredient used in products made by Boots, Avon and some cruelty-free firms including Burt’s Bees, and Lush, had recently been subjected to animal tests in compliance with Reach.”

I am going to ask Boots about this and I will post their answer when I get it.

·        Urban Decay do a vegan range of make-up. (Some products may contain Carmine)

Companies that DO ADMIT TO ANIMAL TESTING -

·        L’oreal

·        Benefit

(They say on their website that they do not test their product on animals. When ask them directly they advise their raw ingredients are tested on animals which is the same thing to me to be honest.)

·        P&G

(they house brands such as Nice N’ Easy, Aussie, Christina Aguilera, Pantene, Febreze and Herbal Essences) For a full list - http://www.pg.com/en_US/brands/all_brands.shtml

This was part of their answer to me – “Today, we complete more than 99 percent of all safety evaluations without testing on animals. The remaining tiny percentage comes from studies required by law or in cases where there are no alternatives available.” So one percent of their safety evaluations does involve animal testing, not one percent of their brands. This seems like all their brands therefore are tested on animals.

PETA give a full list of companies that don’t test on animals but I think it’s best to contact the companies directly. Not only are you getting the answer directly yourself, you’re also letting the companies know that you don’t support animal testing and that they won’t get any of your money (which really does seem to be all they care about) until they stop testing on animals. I suggest being friendly and polite when asking companies as everything goes smoother with a smile :)

Important Points to Vegan Make Up -

Products labelled “cruelty free” only means that there was no animal testing done on the ingredients or the finished product, not that it is vegan.
When a product says “no animal ingredients”, it doesn’t mean “no animal testing”; the product and its ingredients may have been tested on animals.

Some common ingredients found in cosmetics that are not vegan include:

* Carmine,cochineal = Red colouring made from crushed beetles. Mostly used in lipsticks and also referred as Crimson Lake, Natural Red 4, CI75470.
* Lanolin = wool fat.
* Beeswax/pollen/propolis/ cera alba/ honey = bee derived products.
* Lard, tallow = animal fat.
* Lactose/ lactalbumin/whey = milk products.
* Silk derivative
* Elastin (from cows)

If you have read all this right to the end THANK YOU and please pass this information on to those people who are not aware of it. Not everybody will read articles like this and you never know, if you tell somebody who didn’t know they might stop using cosmetics tested on animals and tell somebody else :)

I’m sorry if you’re reading this in a country that isn’t the UK and some of these products have different names or don’t exist at all in your country.

My step mum has to read the papers as part of her job and one of the other publications she had on the kitchen table yesterday was The Big Issue (No.905 5-9 December) which she handed to me, pointing out an article to me.

It was an article about secret filming by Animal Aid in 9 UK slaughter houses. This sounds bad enough already to me but the filming shows terrible abuse and mistreatment of pigs before they are slaughtered. Unfortunately and maddeningly the footage has been disallowed as evidence as it was gathered secretly. When it came to the prosecution of staff mistreating patients at a UK residential hospital with learning difficulties the secret filming by BBC’s Panorama programme WAS accepted as evidence.

The link to the video below is footage filmed at A&G Barber. Thankfully Animal Aid’s exposure has resulted in A&G barber closing down due to major contracts being cancelled in light of the animal abuse.  

http://www.animalaid.org.uk/h/f/CAMPAIGNS/blog/ALL/4//?be_id=268

This video is EXTREMELEY UPSETTING AND GRAPHIC. If you do not want to see it DO NOT press play. PLEASE TRY though as this is what was and is going on in 8 out of the 9 slaughter houses secretly filmed in the UK. The DISGUSTING MONSTER in the video is beyond my comprehension of a human being.

If you have read this please try to pass it on and inform people of this. I cannot believe this treatment is going unpunished. It’s not just about holding those responsible to account, it’s that THIS IS HAPPENING EVERYDAY TO INNOCENT ANIMALS AND IS NOT JUSTIFIABLE.

For ways to help please visit http://www.animalaid.org.uk/h/n/AA/HOME/

Post 2 – The Chickens

My friend recently bought three chickens that had been battery hens. They are still pretty bald but they are free to roam around (and usually dismantle the garden) outside or even in the house if they’re in a really naughty mood! These chickens are pretty lucky as you’ll see from reading below.

The Hens

The vast majority of hens are put into cages when they are 18 to 20 weeks old, with a single cage housing 5 birds averaging only 40 x 55 cm in size.

Many chickens suffer from deformed feet and legs due to the wire mesh floor they must constantly stand on and reduction in movement due to the size of the cages.

Proposed ‘Enriched’ cages will be the only cage systems allowed after 1st January 2012. Each hen must have at least 750cm2 of cage area, (600cm2 of this must be useable) the minimum cage height at the lowest point in the usable area is 45cm and no cage shall have a total area that is less than 2000cm2. Cages must have a nest, litter, perches, feed trough and drinking systems. These measurements however still fail to allow adequate space for the hens to perform many important natural behaviours.

Each hen can produce 300 eggs per year. On average a caged hen lays only 15 more eggs a year than a hen that has been kept in a barn or free-range conditions.

Beak Trimming

The beak is a complex, functional organ with an extensive nervous supply that senses pain and noxious stimuli. These would almost certainly be stimulated during beak-trimming, indicating strongly that acute pain would be experienced. Chicks have some of their beak sliced off with a hot wire to prevent cannibalism or pecking (caused by the intensive conditions under which the birds are kept). The pain endured from this can in some cases last for the whole 12 months of the chicken’s life.

‘Spent Laying Hens’

After 12 months the hen’s egg-laying ability starts to decline, they are then considered ‘spent’ and slaughtered.  

Those reaching the slaughterhouse are removed from their crates and hung upside down shackled by their feet to a moving line whilst still fully conscious. Their heads and neck are dragged through an electrically charged water bath designed to stun the birds, rendering them unconscious. The moving line then takes the birds to an automatic neck cutter. Birds are then bled before entering a scalding tank to make the plucking easier. Birds often experience pain and so struggle while hung in shackles, and they may suffer during the slaughter process. It is essential that a sufficient stunning current is used and that both carotid arteries (the major blood supplies to the brain) are cut to reduce the risk of birds regaining consciousness during bleed-out and subsequently entering the scalding tank whilst still alive.

Male Chicks

It’s important to know that all egg production systems involve the “disposal” of unwanted male chicks as they are of no use to the industry. Male chicks from selectively bred egg-laying strains are not considered suitable for meat production and so are killed at 1-3 days old. There is of course a 50/50 chance of a male chick being born and it is estimated that around 30 million are destroyed annually by a number of permitted methods. These include the use of mechanical apparatus producing immediate death, (such as a homogeniser which minces up chicks alive), exposure to gas mixtures or dislocation of the neck. Other methods include decapitation, neck-breaking or suffocation. A limited number of the dead chicks are used as low-priced animal feed-stuff with the remainder usually going into landfill.  

Free Range- Better?

Free range hens are usually kept in deep litter or barn sheds but must have continuous access to outdoors in the day – an area which is supposed to be “mainly covered with vegetation”. Obviously the genuine free range system is much better than the battery however the negatives are often that the flocks are too large so that many birds never roam outside. Females are still killed at the end of their laying life for ‘low grade’ meat and the male chicks are all killed as they can’t lay eggs. Mother hens never meet their own chicks.

Normal happy Chickens ^

Interesting fact! (If you like chickens) Hens are descended from the red jungle fowl of Southern Asia.

So they’re pretty exotic really!

Jo Eglen, 29, who runs the Little Hen Rescue Centre in Norwich, is responsible for this “chickenwalk” (cat walk, cheickenwalk? No? Sorry). Anyway she rescued battery hens and made them little jumpers so they wouldn’t be cold thanks to the loss of their feathers!

Note to self - ask Nan to teach me how to knit.

There is so much information out there on this topic and all you need to do is use google or some other search engine to find out more.

Tell me, who remembers the Dairy Milk advert with the Gorilla on drums? I thought it was pretty cool and the gorilla was very lifelike! Not that I’ve ever seen a Gorilla in real life…

Anyway it was all great; great advert, great feel good stuff and great tasting chocolate. If only it could have lasted but it really, really couldn’t.

This leads me to the main point of this post – Why am I trying to go dairy free?

Post 1 – The Cows

The answer is simply because I cannot justify what happens to the cows of the dairy industry just so I can have a tasty treat. I’ve been thinking for a while about doing this post. I really don’t want to guilt trip anybody, accuse anybody or make anybody feel bad but I can only explain myself using information I know as facts.

In order to produce milk a cow has to give birth to a calf once each year so her body produces milk for the baby. The mother is allowed one or maybe two days with the calf before it is taken away from her. If the calf is female she will be reared to produce milk and “replenish the milk stock”.

Most male calves are seen as by-products of the milk industry as the calf has been born by a cow specifically bread for milk its meat quality will not be of a good standard. This can result in the calf being sold for veal or shot at birth or shortly afterwards to be sold to the animal food industry.

Mastitis

Is a big problem in dairy farming. This is caused when bacteria enters through the teat, symptoms include -

·         The udder such as swelling, heat, hardness, redness, or pain

Other symptoms, depending upon the severity of the illness and how universal it has become, can also include:

• A reduction in milk yield.
• An increase in body temperature.
• A lack of appetite.
• Sunken eyes.
• Signs of diarrhea and dehydration.
• A reduction in mobility, due to the pain of a swollen udder or simply due to feeling unwell.

Mastitis can be treated with antibiotics but while the antibiotics remain in the cow’s system the milk cannot be sold and so is discarded. In researching Mastitis I came across an article (in the Health and Welfare section) of more than one website advising culling cows chronically infected or “problem cows”.

Lameness

Because Dairy cows are specifically bread to produce milk they produce a lot more than nature intended. Milk is heavy and a dairy cow may be carrying several extra kilos of milk in her udders. This can force her hind legs into an unnatural position, making walking difficult, and can result in moderate to severe lameness. It can also make standing and lying down difficult and uncomfortable. I have seen videos in which farmers have tried to get the cows to stand up using a small digger or forklift truck. I’m not sure how they think this will help if the cow cannot stand anyway.

Other factors contributing to lameness can be their being housed on hard concrete flooring (which is more painful for lame cows to stand and walk on) and zero-grazing systems. Some herds, including a number in the UK, are kept on bare slatted floors which are uncomfortable for the cows to walk, stand or lie down on.

Infertility

Is often found in high yielding dairy cows; it has been linked to stress, poor body condition and the demands of high milk production on the cow’s general health. A cow can live for 20 to 25 years if living a natural life. Most dairy cows are slaughtered after three lactations meaning three years.

This information is just an overview. There are many reports and websites going into detail on the above topics.

My opinion is below as I believe anybody reading this might want to know. If you’re not interested then don’t read it :)

I just know that if one male calf has to get shot at birth so I can have a bar a dairy milk I just can’t do it. Some people may think that is a dramatic statement. I know my forgoing a chocolate bar isn’t going to save all the cows from a terrible life or a terrible 2 days on earth if it’s a male calf but at least I’m not eating the produce of what is basically at worst an execution or at best a miserable existence for some dairy cows.

That is just my opinion.

Yes it’s the coolest margarine ever. No olive picking or Gloria Hunniford telling us about her cholesterol (she seems like a lovely lady really). It’s the all singing, all dancing (sort of, if he had legs) Vitalite Sun and he’s back in Vegan form! Well he’s only back in my fridge, not on the tv or anything.
This is a specific Vegan, dairy free spread from Vitalite (in case you hadn’t guessed by now ha ha). At my local Tesco there were three specific dairy free spreads to chose from (it’s a small store), two from the same company. Their packaging was a lot more modern and pleasing on the eye in my opinion but the Vitalite was on offer and from reading the back was the healthier option.
So what was it like? It tasted like margarine. Nothing different. I am learning that most things that are dairy free or Vegan taste pretty much the same as foods with dairy!
Another win for Vegan diets!

It was 6.50 am, I was tired, I was hungry. I had no time to eat breakfast but I just had time to make a drink to take with me on the train. I opened the fridge, I reached for the milk… I stopped, Milk! What are you thinking?! I erm, thought…
This was Monday and I had three days ahead of me before I would have a chance to go hunting for milk substitutes. So I survived on herbal tea. Yeah. But Today I tried my first milk substitute! I was actually able to drink coffee ahhhhhhh yum.
I tried Alpro Soya. I have to admit I put it off for about half an hour due to thoughts of horrible tastes and textures and ruining my beautiful relationship with coffee. I took the plunge and it was……………………… ………….. absolutely fine! I was amazed at how okay it was, no nasty textures or tastes. I had a bowl of cereal with the Alpro Soya and honestly I could not tell the difference. That may be due to the flavour of the cereal (fruit ‘n’ fibre) but I think all cereals have a flavour right? I just honestly could not tell the difference.
The coffee didn’t taste different but I think the best way to describe it is that os wasn’t as creamy as it is with milk but to be honest it wasn’t even that different.
Will I keep using alpro soya? Yes! Will I test other milk substitutes? I might, to be honest I’ve found the soya milk to be such a great everyday replacement that I don’t feel the need to.
I have tried Rice Milk as my dad uses it but I find it a bit too watery and I guess I’m just used to the thicker (ish) texture of milk.
Anyway, yay! Everyday is all about trying something new and I get to keep my coffee and chocolate addiction :D

Moo Free are based in Reading, England and make dairy free products. I am a huuuuuuuge chocolate lover so obviously it was imperative to find a dairy substitute chocolate!

These two Moo Free chocolate bars use rice milk instead of Cow’s milk!
They taste different to chocolate made with cow’s milk. There I said it, yes they do. Do they still taste yummy? YES! They are still creamy in texture and fulfil my chocolate eating urges. They’re are actually quite rich and so I don’t think I could eat as much of this chocolate as I could a bar of dairy milk (which if you ask my thighs is no bad thing haha).

My favourite? The caramelized hazelnut one! This is so yummy and I love nuts so it’s perfect for me!