I have been an animal lover since I was a little girl. My neighbor, Mrs. Meeks, was involved with the local animal shelter and taught me about caring for cats. I learned about providing shelter for feral cats, as well as animal rescue. As I got older, I became involved more hands on with both dogs and cats. That passion has not abated after all these years. When I was in high school, I had to take biology. One of the things we were supposed to do in it was dissect animals-frogs, worms, pigs-and I just couldn’t do it. I told my teacher that I was not going to cut open an animal to see what was inside. My grade suffered, but I felt morally right. It was one of the first times I stood up for my beliefs, and it opened my eyes to animal cruelty.
I started to take a stand against animal cruelty, and protested against labs that used animals as part of their research. I thought hunting & fishing for sport was inhumane. I voted with my pocketbook, and would not use products tested on animals. I was a vegetarian, did not wear leather or wool, and volunteered with SAVE (no kill shelter) in Princeton, NJ up until I got married 12 years ago. This was part of my lifestyle. As time went on, I slipped up and stopped being as vigilant about my choices. The Big Man isn’t as crunchy as I am, and I slacked off on buying cruelty free products and other moral choices. In fact, this Is one of issues we are worlds apart on. I It was only fairly recently that I really took a long hard look at my lifestyle choices. Am I teaching my son compassion by buying products that are tested on animals? One of his favorite questions to ask is, what is more important looks or function? In the case of animal testing, I’d rather buy a product that doesn’t maim or kill innocent creatures that the Lord God made all.
Some facts to consider when it comes to animal testing:
Over 100 million animals are burned, crippled, poisoned and abused in U.S. labs every year
92% of experimental drugs that are safe and effective in animals fail in human clinical trials because they are too dangerous or don’t work. Some of the biggest drug failures of the last two decades that have caused death or irreparable harm included the cholesterol drug Baycol and the diabetes drug Rezulin. Both were deemed safe and effective for human consumption after being tested on animals.
Several cosmetic tests commonly performed on mice, rats, rabbits, and guinea pigs include: skin and eye irritation tests where chemicals are rubbed on shaved skin or dripped into the eyes without any pain relief.
One of the lifestyle changes I made was I stopped wearing leather and wool. I gave up my Coach purses and leather boots and found non-animal replacements. In fact, in most cases, no one knows the difference. I phased animal products out of my diet. I make as many products myself, from plant based sources, to avoid animal testing. What is unfortunate is all prescription medications approved by the FDA require an animal testing phase as part of the process. Knowing that, I made a vow to myself that I was going to make lifestyle choices to enable me to not need prescription medications anymore. All the reasons why I am on medications are related to lifestyle choices, and by making healthier choices I will be able to eliminate them eventually. I again am checking websites like www.leapingbunny.org andwww.crueltyfree.com for a listing of products not tested on animals. I understand that it may be virtually impossible to avoid all products tested on animals, I can limit my complicity in purchasing or consuming them.
If you haven’t seen the you tube video of the beagles walking on the grass for the first time, you need to watch it. They were rescued from a lab, kept caged and never got to be dogs. Just click the link and watch. It may change your mind.
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