Living Cruelty Free

I’d almost forgotten I even have Method Hand Wash — it was one of the first Method products I ever bought and I’ve had a bottle of it next to my sink for years, so I don’t even notice it’s there any more. I usually stick with the french lavender scented one, because I like the purple color, but I’ve also bought the clear bottled one — it’s a “sweet water” scent, and it was nice too. It also comes in an aqua eucalyptus mint, a pink grapefruit, a yellow-green green tea and aloe, a pale blue sea minerals, a green cucumber, and an unscented-and-undyed go naked.

The Method web site states that Method Hand Wash is super gentle, made with naturally-derived, biodegradable ingredients, contains vitamin E and aloe. It contains no antibacterial ingredients, because those are usually made from harsh chemicals that are dangerous around children, and, if used excessively, may actually promote the development of super bacteria that regular antibiotics can’t kill. (Method Hand Wash is vegan, but not organic.)

Interestingly, it turns out that while antibacterial hand soaps are most effective at removing bacteria from your hands, it turns out that plain soap and water is the best remover of viruses from your hands — even better than antibacterial soaps — it forms a slippery surface that the viruses slide off of, or something like that. Apparently non-water-using hand wipes and sanitizers are the least effective method of removing bacteria or viruses from your hands. Sickbert-Bennett EE, WEber DJ, Gergen-Teague MF, Sobsey MD, Samsa GP, and Rutala WA, “Comparative efficacy of hand hygiene agents in the reduction of bacteria and viruses,” American Journal of Infection Control, 2005 Mar: 33(2);67-77. Though using an antibacterial handsoap is more effective at killing bacteria than just plain hand soap, you should still only use antibacterial soap if you’re in a hospital or have a compromised immune system — otherwise you’ll promote the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which are really nasty. There’s also some evidence that the prevalence of antibacterial soaps has led to antibacterial agents permeating the groundwater, and so wild animals are exposed to it and may develop and foster bacteria resistant to antibiotic agents and thus eventually cause breakouts in the human population of drug-resistant-bacterial diseases.)

Mostly, I like Method hand wash because the bottle is so much more attractive than any other hand soap out there. I mean, look at this, this, this, and this — they’re perfectly good hand soaps but they just don’t look that cool. Plus they’re probably full of chemicals. I also like the lavender scent — it has a pretty, faint floral scent, it seems to wash my hands pretty well — they end up clean with no residue and no frighteningly strong chemical-floral fragrance.

Method Hand Wash is available for $4.00 from the Method Online Store, or your local Target

Ingredients: water, sodium lauryl sulfate, cocamide dea, cocamidopropyl betaine, glycerin, aloe barbadensis gel, tocopheryl acetate, citric acid, sodium chloride, sodium citrate, benzophenone 4, methylchloroisothiazolinone, methylisothiazolinone, fragrance, color.

***

Scott Evil: I was thinking I like animals. Maybe I’d be a vet.
Dr. Evil: An evil vet?
— Austin Powers

***

I never really thought about it, but I always assumed there weren’t any “evil” vets out there and Mike Myers as Dr. Evil in the movie Austin Powers was pretty funny when he suggested it. I assume that most veterinarians are motivated by their compassion for animals, but that’s a little naive of me considering that the veterinary and medical industries are based on cruelty to laboratory animals. But this made my stomach turn — I couldn’t even read much of it, but it basically details how veterinary schools offer a surgery elective that involves taking perfectly healthy (live) dogs, using them as vivisection subjects, and euthanizing them after their internal organs have been destroyed by scalpels. I’d actually heard they do something like this at U Penn, but I figured it was an isolated incident or blown out of proportion. Apparently not.

I’m glad to see that Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine (after a NEAVS campaign) has stopped dicing up dogs and killing them. Can you believe veterinary students in the other 26 veterinary schools in the U.S. do this? You’d think veterinary students, like Scott Evil, would go into veterinary medicine because they like animals, and thus would like dogs too much to do this sort of thing to them, but no . . .

Here is the article:

Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine and NEAVS Announce End to Terminal Surgical Lab Elective at Veterinary School 

NEAVS’ veterinary education program.

Grafton, MA - The Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine (TUSVM), Grafton, MA, yesterday (Feb. 8, 2000) announced plans that will end terminal dog lab as an elective for third-year veterinary students in the coming academic year. The announcement came after a focused year-long collaborative effort with the New England Anti-Vivisection Society (NEAVS), one of the country’s oldest animal advocacy organizations.

Tufts becomes the first of the nation’s 27 veterinary schools to announce plans to eliminate all terminal labs (wherein healthy animals are used for surgical training and then euthanized at the end of the class) on all species.

“This step is the culmination of a series of efforts since 1989 to provide top quality veterinary surgical training while at the same time promoting the humane treatment of animals,” said Gary Patronek, head of Tufts’ Center for Animals and Public Policy.

“NEAVS has always believed in education as the way to create a compassionate ethic to animals,” said NEAVS President Theodora Capaldo, EdD. “By working collaboratively, by keeping the dialogue open, and by providing substantive research and alternatives, NEAVS and Tufts have created an ethical surgery curriculum that will result in a better world for veterinary students and the animals in their care.

Patronek added, “By increasing surgical opportunities at area shelters and our own spay/neuter clinic, we are able to provide students with a challenging surgical experience that builds confidence and provides an excellent way of learning the fundamentals of good surgical technique. After a period of evaluation, Tufts has found no distinguishable difference in the skill-level between students who have or have not taken the elective surgical lab. This has been supported through post-graduate employer feedback,” he said.

“NEAVS used a reasonable, educationally grounded approach to back up its ethical argument against killing animals in veterinary teaching and training,” said Capaldo. “Animal advocates and veterinary students seeking a superior and ethically sound surgical training experience should all be gratified by Tufts’ decision, and by NEAVS’ commitment to achieving positive change.”

As part of its work with Tufts, NEAVS provided books and alternatives to the use of animals for educational purposes. NEAVS also pioneered, and now coordinates, a Veterinary Education Program so that Tufts students who requested to participate would receive a meticulously crafted and carefully supervised surgical experience. Students in the week-long program spay/neuter and perform necessary surgeries such as bone repairs on abandoned dogs and abandoned or feral cats.

NEAVS and Tufts are at the forefront of responding to the ethical concerns of students and the public nationwide. The change underway at Tufts is part of a growing call for reform sweeping the country, Capaldo noted. She added, “We understand the need to prepare students to be outstanding veterinarians and we at NEAVS salute Tufts’ leadership on the important ethics issue and are hopeful that other schools will follow suit. The commitment and cooperation shown by NEAVS and Tufts in moving surgical training forward is setting a new standard for ethical education everywhere.”

I found this interesting deodorant on a youtube video — it’s from hippyshopper.com, and it’s mentioned in a video of three people discussing their experiences with hippy deodorants. Unfortunately, the video reveals that most of the hippy deodorants the three people reviewed were not very effective — Tom’s of Maine Honeysuckle Rose deodorant was reviewed as being nice but not adequate if you’re actually sweating, and thus only good as a “weekend” or “leisure” deodorant, (the reviewer switched back to using standard-aluminum-containing-deodorant for days she was commuting on a hot crowded subway train), Crystal Spring Natural Body deodorant, which was reviewed as not preventing sweatiness/smelliness and not being an adequate substitute for standard-aluminum-containing deodorant, Bionsen Deodorant Stick, which was reviewed as smelling so overpoweringly like sports body wash it was rejected very quickly, and the Smellkiller body stick, which was reviewed as working fairly well, though the reviewer had only used for two days (I’m intrigued yet suspicious of the idea of a piece of stainless steel being an adequate deodorizer).

But then one of reviewers mentioned the Body Shop Aloe Antiperspirant — which actually does contain aluminum — and apparently does stand up to actual sweating (aluminum may be linked to various diseases — I’ve heard breast cancer and Alzheimers — but I tried Tom’s of Maine Honeysuckle Rose deodorant long ago, and I recently tried some French Transit non-aluminum-containing deodorant and decided I’ll stick with aluminum in the future). The person who reviewed the Body Shop Aloe deodorant liked it because it has gentle ingredients, doesn’t sting, works pretty well, and is sort of a halfway-house between hippy and “evil” products. I’m very excited about this Aloe deodorant, because I do like to find aluminum-containing-cruelty-free deodorants, and the Body Shop is CCIC-approved-cruelty-free (though it is owned by L’Oreal, which tests on animals, and many cruelty-freeists refuse to buy products from it for that reason. I myself don’t usually purchase products from the Body Shop for that reason, but cruelty-free deodorants that work are few and far between. The only other one out there I’ve found so far is L’Occitane Aromachologie deodorant, which NAVS doesn’t think is actually cruelty-free).

According to the Body Shop website, this deodorant is supposed to have soothing, hydrating, and moisturizing properties, and be good for sensitive skin. The aloe in it is grown without the use of pesticides, is preservative free, hand-harvested, hand-washed, and hand-filetted within 12 hours of harvesting to ensure that its natural qualities are maintained. The aloe is also imported from a country where half the population earns less than $1 a day (which is the U.N.’s official poverty level), and helps to purchase the provisions of teaching materials for schools in that country. Other key ingredients in the deodorant are panthenol, a moisturizing ingredient that smooths, softens, repairs and conditions the skin, and glycerine, which moisturizes and hydrates the skin.

Unfortunately this deodorant is not available in the US — the only Body Shop deodorant available here is one for men that does not contain aluminum, so I’ve been unable to buy the Aloe deodorant and test it out. I can only hope it will be offered here in the future.

Aloe Antiperspirant and Deodorant is available for £5.00 at TheBodyShop.co.uk.

Ingredients: Aqua (Water) (Solvent/Diluent), Aloe barbadensis (Aloe Vera Gel) (Skin Soothing Agent), Aluminum Chlorohydrate (Anti Perspirant Active), Steareth-2 (Emulsifier), Glycerin (Humectant), Steareth-21 (Emulsifier), Sorbitol (Humectant), C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate (Emulsifier), Isodecyl Neopentanoate (Isodecyl Neopentanoate) (Skin Conditioning Agent), Octyldodecanol (Emollient), Panthenol (Skin/Hair Conditioning Agent), Glyceryl Stearate (Emulsifier), Bisabolol (Skin Soothing Agent).

A few days ago I wrote a post about people buying humanely raised meat and dairy products
in which I mentioned the “Humane Farm Animal Care” program, which is an organization that has created a national certification for humanely raised meat, dairy and poultry products. The Humane Farm Animal Care program will certify producers who follow “standardized animal welfare guidelines.”

So I thought I should look up the Humane Farm Animal Care Program to learn more about it. The Humane Farm Animal Care Program is a nonprofit organization created to offer a certification and labeling program for meat, eggs, dairy, and poultry products. A consortium of animal welfare organizations fund Humane Farm Animal Care — some of these are the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the Humane Society of the United States, the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the Humane Society of Vero Beach, the Hawaiian Humane Society, and the Los Angeles Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

The Humane Farm Animal Care Program runs a “Certified Humane Raised and Handled program,” which it describes as “an inspection, certification, and labeling program for meat, poultry, egg and dairy products from animals raised to humane care standards. The program is a voluntary, user-fee based service available to producers, processors, and transporters of animals raised for food. The purpose of the program is to provide independent verification that the care and handling of livestock and poultry on farms enrolled in the program meet high quality humane animal care standards.” These standards require that “livestock have access to clean and sufficient food and water; that their environment is not dangerous to their health; that they have sufficient protection from weather elements; that they have sufficient space allowance in order for them to move naturally; and other fetures to ensure the safety, health and comfort of the animal. In addition, the standards require that managers and caretakers be thoroughly trained, skilled and competent in animal husbandry and welfare, and have good working knowledge of their system and the livestock in their care.” The United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Marketing Service Livestock and Seed Program verifies the inspection process of the Certified Humane Raised and Handled program.

Humane Farm Animal Care does allow beak trimming, but not debeaking — I think this means they allow farmers to cut off the tip of the top beak of chickens, but not remove their whole beak (debeaking is standard at most inhumane farms). HFAC does not allow cages — hens must either have nest boxes, housing systems, or be free-range. Pigs cannot be confined in gestation crates (warning: unpleasant pictures) — they must have farrowing systems,which are areas which have bedding and are big enough to allow sows to turn around,with large space allowances (this link has lovely pictures of pasture-raised pigs, which look fantastic), and older piglets (before they are slaughtered at six months) must have adequate housing — outdoor operations must provide adequate shade, rooting materials, and wallows, and indoor operations must not use cages, have adequate space for each pig, and adequate bedding.

If you are a producer and wish to apply for membership in the Certified Humane Raised and Handled program, click here. If your grocer or favorite restaurant doesn’t carry products with the “Certified Humane Raised and Handled” logo, go to the Humane Farm Animal Care action center which has a letter you can send them. If you’d like to donate to HFAC, please click here. You can also sign up for email updates about the Certified Humane program — just go to the bottom of the webpage — there’s a link.

I’m intrigued as to how the certified humane raised and handled standard compares to the American Humane Association’s Free Farmed certification, which I wrote about in my Clover milk post — they seem awfully similar. I wish I knew which one was more stringent. I’m a little concerned, because the article I read about ethical omnivores stated that the humane raised and handled certification does not stop farmers from docking pigs tails or trimming chicken beaks, which many animal rights advocates find appalling and hope to ban in the future. I’d really prefer to support a certification that many animal rights advocates do not find appalling. I spent some time surfing the web, but I couldn’t find any animal rights arguments to the certified humane logo, or suggestions of a better certification (please leave a comment here if you know of any).

Here’s the list of farms (and restaurants that serve products from those farms) that have the certified humane logo. You can also click here to run a search that will show you what local groceries in your area carry certified humane products — in San Francisco, there are numerous stores that carry certified humane products: Prather Ranch Meat Company, Andronico’s, Bi-Rite, Buffalo Whole Foods, Good Life Grocery, Harvest Ranch Market, Mollie Stone’s, Nature’s Stop, Other Avenues, Rainbow Grocery, Real Foods, Tower Market, Valencia Natural Foods, and Whole Foods (most of them just have dairy, none do eggs, a few do meat and deli items). Unfortunately, all the restaurants all seem to be on the East Coast, except for Incanto, which is in San Francisco. I’ll have to go check it out!

This used to be my favorite body lotion — it’s pretty cheap and you can buy it with SPF (well, the “daily shade” version of it has spf). Unfortunately, it doesn’t have an SPF that protects from skin cancer, so I stopped using it. It’s the basic Alba Botanica lotion, and you can buy it in bulk from Whole Foods (or . . . you used to, anyway), which is a real deal. I still use it occasionally because I have a giant bottle of it, but only on days I don’t think I’ll go outside much.

According to AlbaBotanica.com, it has a maximum, therapeutic formula that blends organic aloe vera, green tea and chamomile extracts with natural plant emollients and vitamin antioxidants to soothe, nourish, and revitalize dry sensitive skin. It also has alpha hydroxy acids in it to help exfoliate dull surface cells. It is light textured and non-greasy. Supposedly it’s excellent for all skin types, is good for everyday use, is available in 12oz and 32oz bottles, comes in “unscented,” and “original” scents, and it also comes in a “maximum dry skin” formula for people with really dry skin. It’s hypo-allergenic, has no synthetic colors, has some organic ingredients, is pH balanced, and has 100% vegetarian ingredients (and is, of course, CCIC-approved-cruelty-free).

Overall, I think it’s a great lotion — the price is right, it’s nicely hydrating, it exfoliates, and it has a very mild scent. I only took off one star because it doesn’t protect against skin cancer. It had some other minor drawbacks, such as it doesn’t sink in right away, it’s a little greasy, the unscented version smells sort of gluey — like the Aubrey Organics lotion I reviewed a while ago — while the SPF-containing version smells sunscreeny. The overall rating for the lotion on MakeupAlley is 4.4/5 stars — people seem to like it.

Alba Botanic Very Emollient Body Lotion (12 fl oz) is available for $9.95 at the Alba Botanic online store, many local natural drugstores, and Whole Foods.

Ingredients: Certified organic herbal infusion of chamomile (chamomilla recutita), echinacea (echinacea purpurea), green tea (camellia sinensis) and lavender (lavandula officinalis), plant oils of safflower (carthamus tinctorius), jojoba (simmondsia chinensis), sesame (sesamum indicum), grapeseed (vitis vinifera) and avocado (persea gratissima), vegetable glycerin, certified organic aloe barbadensis, glyceryl stearate, isopropyl palmitate, stearic acid, cucumber extract (cucumis sativus), organic sea kelp extract (macrocystis pyrifera), panthenol (pro-vitamin B5), lecithin, silica, methyl/propylparaben, tocopheryl acetate and tocopherol (vitamin E).