ADDICTION!

I have just purchased a bag of Addiction Wild Kangaroo and Apples for my Cleo and Lucky. I am really quite serious about trying to Choose Cruelty Free as far as possible.

I have yet to start them on the Addiction food as they still have a bit of Lamaderm to go. Unfortunately they didn't really like Lamaderm. I am hoping that they will like Addiction as it is actually very expensive. It's double the price of most premium dog foods. So fingers crossed they will like it and more importantly, that they will be healthier on this.

Some reading material on Addiction:

Why Kangaroo meat?

Features of Addiction Dog food...

Earth Friendly Addiction...

DOG REUNITED WITH GUARDIAN

Hi all,


I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who helped spread the word about the dog (Ashley) that was found near Menara Milenium. I am pleased to say that she has been re-united with her guardian, Eric. I couldn't have done this without all your help. She went home last night.


We were all quite sad to see her go, esp Lucky who became very attached to Ashley.

Natasha

CRUELTY FREE MISSION: PART II

Dear all,

As part of my mission, I have written to three pet product manufacturers in the past week to find out if they subscribe to the cruelty free ethos. The companies that I have written to so far are:

BilJac

Addiction

Bio-Groom

And I am pleased to let you guys know that Addiction has CONFIRMED that they NEVER use lab animals and that the welfare of the animals come first.

The other two have yet to respond, so I am not sure what this means. For BilJac it could just be a case that they have not got adequate number of staff to reply to queries that they get on a regular basis. According to my vet, BilJac does not have a lab for testing purposes. But of course we don't know if they send their products elswhere to be tested.

I am really hoping that BilJac will come back with good news to me. The reason for this is because I have just purchased Lamaderm which is Cruelty Free for my dogs, and I am sad to say that they aren't terribly excited about it. I actually tasted it myself and it tastes so bland and it doesn't even smell very nice. I then tried BilJac again and it was actually quite yummy - similar to Chicken in Biscuit minus the salt.

So fingers crossed I'll hear some good news from the other two companies soon. And I'll try to write to 2 or 3 companies per week... Wish me luck!

FEMALE DOG FOR ADOPTION

For more picture of this dog, please click here.

Please help find a new home for her. She is a very good and sweet natured dog.

A Christian Assessment of Animal Experimentation

Dear all,

Came across some interesting articles on Christianity and Animals in my research on animal testing.

Natasha

************

A Christian Assessment of Animal Experimentation
by The Reverend Professor Andrew Linzey, PhD, DD, an Anglican priest, a theologian, a writer, and is internationally known as an authority on Christianity and animals.

See Christianity & Animals for more articles on this subject

The range and variety of the use of animals in experimentation is enormous. At almost every level of scientific investigation there is some recourse to the ‘animal model.’ Coming to grips with the sheer diversity of use on one hand, and the ramifications of sustaining this use which involved the breeding, selling and captivity of millions of animals world-wide on the other, is a daunting business. Animals are used in product testing, behavioural research, for instructional purposes, in vivo tests for the pharmaceutical industry, in emergency medicine, in long-term medical research and in biological research.

In product testing alone, animals are used to test the safety of a staggeringly wide range of products including: oven-cleaners, hair-sprays, skin-fresheners, anti-perspirants, nail polish, lubricants, dyes, fire-extinguisher substances, deodorants, facial make-up, floor-cleaners and brake fluids.1 We scarcely appreciate how the world in which we live is affected at almost every level by the use of animals in scientific inquiry, from psychological theories of dependence developed by subjecting animals to various forms of emotional deprivation on the one hand, to the utilization of animals in crash tests to ‘analyse the adequacy of seat belts, helmets and shoulder harnesses’ on the other.2

Reviewing my earlier work, Hugh Montefiore criticised me for failing to sufficiently consider the benefits of animal research.3 In this section therefore I want to get to grips with this central issue: Can the ends justify the means?

Perhaps the most radical attack on the institution of animal experimentation was made in a little known essay written in 1947 by C. S. Lewis. Lewis, never a person of moral compromise, does not mince his words:

Once the old Christian idea of a total difference in kind between man and beast has been abandoned, then no argument for experiments on animals can be found which is not also an argument for experiments on inferior men. If we cut up beasts simply because they cannot prevent us and because we are backing up our own side in the struggle for existence, it is only logical to cut up imbeciles, criminals, enemies or capitalists for the same reason. Indeed, experiments on men have already begun. We hear all that Nazi scientists have done them. We all suspect that our own scientists may begin to do so, in secret, at any moment.4


Lewis’ argument may appear contentious in at least two ways. In the first place, is it true that Christian doctrine maintains a ‘total difference in kind’ between man and animals? We have seen how precisely the opposite should be the case; that the biblical material requires us to view humans and animals as subjects of common creation bound together in the same covenant relationship. The difference ‘in kind’ must surely relate to the moral obligations present in humankind which are absent in animals, and which elsewhere Lewis defends as the major difference between humans and non-humans.5

In the second place, the notion that ‘no argument … can be found’ for experimentation on animals which does not also justify experimentation on humans will strike many as absurd. Is it not precisely the moral difference between animals and humans which justifies their respectively different treatments? Anyone who does not already oppose animal experimentation will surely regard these lines as anti-vivisectionist propaganda. And yet could it be that Lewis was right?

On 15 May 1941, Dr Sigmund Rasher, who was the Nazi Medical Officer of the Luftwaffe, wrote to Himmler concerning his experiments on the psychological and physiological troubles involved in high-altitude flights:

I have noticed with regret that no experiments on human material has yet been introduced here, because the tests are very dangerous and no volunteers have offered their services. For this reason I ask in all seriousness: Is there any possibility of obtaining from you two or three professional criminals to be placed at our disposal? These tests, in the course of which the ‘guinea pigs’ may die, would be carried out under supervision. They are absolutely indispensable to research into high-altitude flying and cannot be carried out, as has been so far attempted, on monkeys, whose reactions are completely different.6

Notice how it was the apparent failure of experiments on animals which led directly to the request for human subjects. A request, incidentally, that Himmler was ‘delighted’ to comply with.7 But, it may be protested, it is wholly wrong to compare the Nazi scientists of yesterday with the humane, morally scrupulous animal researchers of today. After all, the Nazis were Nazis, they only represented an aberrant, if morally shocking, episode in the history of experimental science. But is this true?

‘I sometimes felt sorry for the logs of wood. I wondered, is it right to do such things to them?’8 The speaker is Naoji Uezono, leader of the vivisection team of the 731st Japanese regiment during the Second World War.

The ‘logs of wood’ (maruta) were some three thousand Chinese, Russian, Mongol and American prisoners of war. These human prisoners were subjected to ‘injection of plague, cholera, typhus and other germs, the freezing of limbs, the infecting of syphilis [and] the prolonged exposure to X-rays’.9 If people wonder why details of these experiments are not so well known as their Nazi counterparts, the answer is even more grotesque. An arrangement was made whereby the vivisection team would be granted immunity from prosecution, if the useful results of their researches were handed over to the Americans. The ‘freezing experiments were so thorough that the team leader became the world authority on the science of human adaptability to [the] environment’.10

Dr. Edwin Hill, a US Army scientist, said in 1947 that the important information ‘could not be obtained in our laboratories because of scruples attached to human experimentation’.11
But, it may be objected, these experiments happened during ‘wartime’. We agree that awful, sometimes terrible, things happen in war. But is ‘human material’, as Dr. Rasher puts it, safe during ‘peacetime’? Was Lewis wrong when he argued that humans could find what they regard as ‘inferior’ humans to experiment upon, once the logic of using animals becomes widespread

During the last twenty years or more, scientists working in the area of human genetics have developed in vitro techniques of human fertilisation. This has given the opportunity for emperimental work on embryos, and at the present moment it is possible for scientists to create embryonic ‘material’ for the sole purpose of research. The majority of the Warnock Committee in the United Kingdom recommended that ‘Legislation should provide that research may be carried out on any embryo resulting from in vitro fertilisation, whatever its provenance, up to the end of the fourteenth day after fertilisation …’12 These experiments, under the legislation proposed, would be formally legalised and experimenters licensed for their work. The majority of the Committee did not regard an embryo ‘as a person, or even as a potential person’.13

Experimentation could be justified because respect for the embryo ‘cannot be absolute, and may be weighed against the benefits arising from research’.14

What then is the moral status of the embryo? The Committee argued that it should have a ‘special status’ and that ‘it should be afforded some protection in law’.15 But this protection is not that which extends to other adult humans; so long as it is ‘spare’ it can still be used and destroyed for research purposes. In short: the embryo is a ‘sub-human’; it fares little better than the animals, but only a little. Its practical status is hardly distinguishable from the ‘inferior’ humans of which Lewis wrote.

It must be remembered that these developments have taken place against the institutionalised, routinised use of millions of animals for experimentation every year in the world today. In the United Kingdom the number of animals so used has grown from less than a thousand in 1876, when the first Act legalising animal experimentation was passed, to annual figures in the region of two to four million. Figures for the United States range from around seventy to a hundred and twenty million. Animals as a matter of course have been subject, and still are subject, to burning, scalding, starving, mutilating, depriving and in almost every other way, harmful experiments. It must be very difficult for anti-vivisectionists not to have a sense of déjà vu when listening to debates about the use of embryos in experimentation. The talk of licensing, essential controls, advisory committees and inspectors all have a familiar ring. The battle was lost for animals when, after years of such discussion, two Royal Commissions, and despite royal and archiepiscopal patronage of the anti-vivisection cause, amended legislation in the end allowed the infliction of ‘severe pain’.16

It may be protested that the foregoing amounts to scare tactics which obscure the important distinctions that should be made between the cases of humans, embryos and animals. But the distinctions that may be drawn in this area seem to work for animals rather than against them. Unlike embryos (although we cannot be certain at present) animals are sentient. Like embryos, but not some adult human beings, animals cannot give or withhold their consent to procedures inflicted upon them. Where are the morally relevant distinctions which justify experimentation upon primates (in for example outrageous head-injury experiments) but which cannot justify experimentation upon embryos or even adult humans?

What characterises all these experiments, whether on criminals, prisoners of war, embryos or animals, is that they are defended on the basis of benefit. Dr Rasher was sincerely convinced that research on criminals was ‘absolutely indispensable’ in order to increase understanding of the problems involved in high-altitude flying. The Warnock Committee was convinced (surely no less sincerely) that respect for the embryo must be ‘weighed against the benefits arising out of research’. And many experimenters are no less convinced today (and equally sincerely) that experimentation on animals is essential. Even a distinguished scientist like W.D.M. Paton can justify ‘nicotine injections into monkeys with brain electrodes’ because ‘these experiments showed that nicotine produces a state of brain arousal resembling normal arousal more closely than does that produced by caffeine or amphetamine’ and are therefore ‘important for understanding the smoking habit’.17

Some people, even those who seek reform of animal experimentation, still justify some experimentation on the basis of benefit. ‘If one, or even a dozen animals had to suffer experiments in order to save thousands, I would think it right and in accordance with equal consideration of interests that they should do so’, argues Peter Singer. ‘This, at any rate, is the answer a utilitarian must give,’ he adds.18 But even if utilitarianism is a satisfactory moral philosophy (which some of us would doubt), it fails to grapple with the fact that it is always possible to justify experimentation on the grounds of utility, if only for the reason that nothing can be proved to be useless. It is simply impossible to deny the utility of experiments on humans, sub-humans or animals. Like Lewis, I simply find myself unable to find any justification for experiments on animals which do not also justify experiments on humans, ‘sub’ or otherwise.
‘Once you grant the ethics of the vivisectionist’, argued George Bernard Shaw, ‘you not only sanction the experiment on the human subject, but make it a first duty of the vivisector’.19
Some may still regard this Lewis/Shaw argument as propaganda. But its logic is accepted even by those who publicly deride any notion of animal rights. Raymond Frey, that dedicated opponent of rights theory, has sadly to conclude that ‘we cannot, with the appeal to benefit, justify (painful) animal experiments without justifying (painful) human experiments’.20 Frey accepts this even though he justifies experimentation on animals. Again: ‘The case for anti-vivisectionism, I think, is far stronger than most people allow’, he writes.21 Alas, Frey does not seem to regard it as sufficiently strong to oppose experiments on animals or humans.

Now, I do not believe that the vivisectors of animals and embryos of today, any more than the vivisectors of criminals and prisoners of yesterday, are particularly awful or terrible people. Those who are so eager to demonstrate their abhorrence of animal experimentation that they accuse the whole system of ‘greed, cruelty, ambition, incompetence, vanity … sadism, insanity’ are wide of the mark.22 There is reason for thinking that some experimenters are sadistically inclined or at least grotesquely callous. This is shown, I think beyond doubt, by the stolen film, produced by the experimenters themselves in the United States, which pictures researchers laughing at the suffering of severely brain-injured primates.23 But by and large it is wrong to accuse scientists of sadism. Doubtless sadists exist in every profession and perhaps all humans are prone to sadistic impulses in some way. Self-righteousness, however, is not a satisfactory response to collective sinfulness (or indeed to any form of sinfulness) and it is hard to believe that anyone is morally pure when it comes to the exploitation of animals.

But why precisely then do we hold animal experimentation to be sinful? The straightforward answer is that the philosophy which justifies it inevitably justifies other evils. Once our moral thinking becomes dominated by crude utilitarian calculations, then there is no right, value or good that cannot be bargained away, animal or human. Some will find this a hard judgement. Doubtless there is a case for some utilitarian calculations in moral thinking. There are times when it seems right to calculate the consequences in a relatively straightforward way. And there are some Christians who, however scrupulous with their use of animals, feel strongly the pull of appeals to benefit.

But even if we accept that some albeit limited experimentation was justified in particular and special circumstances, could we accept the institutionalisation of this practice? Antony Flew made the point some years ago when discussing the practice of torture. He writes as one who holds that the torture of suspects may be justifiable if the benefits seem overwhelming. But he also makes the point that it can never be acceptable as ‘an institutional legal or social practice’.24 In other words, to make an institution of torture would still be wrong from what he calls the ‘deontological’ as well as the ‘consequentialist’ approaches.

There was a time after the publication of my first book Animal Rights (SCM Press, 1976) when I held for a while that some form of experimentation might be justified. It seemed to me inevitable that some appeals to benefit have moral claim upon us. But the intervening years have also confirmed my earlier view that the institutionalisation of experimentation presents us with nothing less than the massive subjugation of millions of animal lives who are bred, sold, confined and used on the presupposition that they have only utilitarian value. ‘Evil’ is the only appropriate moral category I can find which expresses the enormity of the immorality that this involves. If we do not often use such ‘calmly stern language’ it is perhaps, as Lewis indicates, that ‘the other side has in fact won’.25

To oppose such a widespread, highly organised and well-represented institution as that of experimental science is indeed a bold step, and even within the animal movement there are those who would prefer not to confront the issue directly. But in such an area where millions of animal lives are at stake it would be wrong to turn away from the moral vision that the acceptance of animal rights demands of us. As Lewis crisply reminds us, even our vision of our own humanity is at stake:

And though cruelty even to beasts is an important matter, [the vivisectors’] victory is symptomatic of matters more important still. The victory of vivisection marks a great advance in the triumph of ruthless, non-moral utilitarianism over the old world of ethical law; a triumph in which we, as well as animals, are already the victims, and of which Dachau and Hiroshima mark the more recent achievements. In justifying cruelty to animals we put ourselves also on the animal level. We choose the jungle and must abide by our choice.26

What then must we do? If our moral vision requires us to turn away from the institution of animal experimentation, in which direction should we move? Of the many ways of liberation, four seem especially appropriate.

The first is legislation. Ideally I would like to see applied to animal subjects the provision of the Declaration of Helsinki, adopted by the World Medical Assembly of 1964, which held that ‘the interest of science and society should never take precedence over considerations related to the well-being of the subject’ in experimentation.27 In other words, we need legislation forbidding the use of animals as experimental material. Until that day, we must work progressively for reform. One way is to highlight those areas of experimentation which even some researchers would like to see diminished or proscribed.

These include: the use of animals for product testing, tests of obvious brutality such as the Draize test or the LD50 test, experiments which involve severe pain, the reuse of animals which have recovered from anaesthesia, or experiments on certain species of animal such as primates. In addition, the conditions under which animals are kept prior to experimentation frequently leave much to be desired. Acceptance of the minimal guidelines for animals kept in captivity advocated by the Animals and Ethics Report (Watkins, 1980) would be a major breakthrough.

In the United States opposition to ‘pound seizure’ where unwanted animals are automatically transferred to laboratories is growing but urgently needs the support of legislation.28 In a whole host of ways, the plight of laboratory animals needs to be kept on the legislative agenda. If more inspectors, increased animal welfare representation on advisory and ethical committees and further systems of licensing will actually bring more scrutiny and control then they should be welcomed. Since the issues involved in animal experimentation concern the whole community and not just the experimental scientists themselves, it is only right that all interested sections of the community should have some voice. Legislative proposals, even if unsuccessful, help to focus the mind wonderfully by encouraging discussion and debate of otherwise neglected issues.

The second is dialogue. There are some experimenters who are simply not interested in
dialogue about the morality of experimentation. Conversely, there are also some animal rightists incapable of dialogue. But not all experimenters or animal rightists are of this sort. Indeed my experience has been that there are a number of scientists deeply troubled about experimental techniques and some animal rightists who are willing to grapple with the complexities which the issue involves.

This dialogue needs our urgent support. I vividly remember attending a conference on alternatives to the use of animals some years ago and finding myself in discussion with a laboratory technician working in the field of cancer research. We discussed the rights and wrongs of experimentation at some length. Some years later, I found to my amazement that this same person had given up her job, exposed the conditions under which animals had been kept in her laboratories and become a leading light in the anti-vivisection movement. Of course one chance meeting and spirited discussion was not by itself the cause of moral conversion, but dialogue always contains with it the possibility of change — on both sides, of course. The more both sides move away from stereotyped pictures of each other, either of sadistic scientists with hands dripping with blood on one hand, or of sentimental anti-vivisectionists who have no knowledge of the facts on the other, the better it will be for human tolerance as well as the cause of animal rights.

The third is alternatives. Already in Britain the government has given a small amount to funding of specific research devoted to developing alternatives to animals. The majority of the work, however, is financed by public charities including the Dr. Hadwen Trust for Humane Research, the Humane Research Trust, the Lord Dowding Fund for Humane Research and FRAME (The Fund for Replacement of Animals in Medical Experiments). All these bodies should be supported and their admirable work encouraged. Even the Research Defence Society helped sponsor an important publication on Alternatives to Animal Experiments which, while defending the need for research involving animals, offers a useful compendium of viable alternatives. That anti-vivisectionists have spent so much of their money trying to develop alternatives to animals should give the lie once and for all to the notion that opposing animal experiments involves opposition to all forms of experimental science. Scientists need to be encouraged through voluntary self-restriction, as Catherine Roberts indicates, to avoid animal use.29 Through dialogue and the utilisation of alternatives, the moral consciousness of scientists can be raised.

But in the end, as Brigid Brophy observes, ‘necessity will mother invention’.30 We would be in an entirely different situation today if the consensus among scientists in previous years had opposed animal experimentation in principle and therefore made the development of alternatives an urgent necessity.

The fourth is choice. It is frequently argued, especially by pharmaceutical companies, that public concern for safety demands animal tests. But the truth is as the Animals and Ethics Report concludes: ‘Commercial competition leads firms to market new products differing only minutely in formula from the old, but because of the change in formula they require testing on animals’.31 There is a whole variety of substances known to be safe and a whole range of products including cosmetics and toiletries which can be produced that do not require testing on animals. Again let the matter be put to proper consumer choice. Let us have in our department stores those cosmetics developed with the aid of animal tests and those products by, say, Beauty Without Cruelty.

So long as the items are accurately labelled and marked, let us see if it is true that consumers will only buy animal-tested products. If competition is to be the justifying criterion for animal tests, let us have a little consumer competition to gauge the truth of the manufacturer’s claims. As a rule we far too easily accept the view of manufacturing industry about what the public wants. Animal rightists should invite multi-nationals to spend just a small part of their annual turnover on the production of goods which require no animal testing and let the consumer choose.

Yet it would be wrong to suppose that industries which finance animal tests or even the scientists themselves should bear the full weight of responsibility. The questions posed by the Animals and Ethics Report deserve a hearing:

Basic to the question of the validity of experiments is the type of society man actually wants and the cost to himself of achieving it. Do we as a society, for example, really want research to be continued into such devastating ways of killing our fellows as those involved in biological weapons of warfare? Are there any ills we are prepared to bear rather than resort to experiments on animals? Are we, for example, through blind obedience to ‘technological progress’ continuing to create problems that perpetuate the necessity for animal experimentation, or are we actively creating a society in which the necessity for experiments on animals will be drastically reduced?32

One Christian answer to these questions has yet to be heard. It is that, deeply conscious of our divinely given stewardship over creation and our special bond of covenant with animals in particular, we should elect to bear for ourselves whatever ills may flow from not experimenting on animals rather than be supporting an institution which perpetuates tyranny. This may be a hard option for many, but it is as arguably a Christian response as many of the others which claim that appellation. If it is the good shepherd as opposed to the hireling who actually lays down his life for the sheep, perhaps the good steward is the one who desists from any path of injury in deference to the prior right of God in creation.

MISSING DOG!

IS THIS YOUR DOG?

This lovely girl was found at the Menara Milenium Outdoor Parking Lot (Damansara Heights) on Thursday (12 April). Is this your dog? Please help spread the word, as she misses her owner.

Alternatively if anyone is interested in adopting her, please call me (Natasha) at 016-322 8816.

She is about 1.5 years to 2 years old, medium sized dog. She has a sweet nature, and is very loving. Very well behaved and quiet. She is paper trained and is comfortable living indoors with my two dogs, Cleo and Lucky. She has no bad habits and has been dewormed already.

CRUELTY FREE MISSION: PART I

I had some spare time today in between my meetings, and as I was at The Curve, I decided to wander over to Ikano to Pet Safari. Some of you who have been readers of my previous blog would know that I personally do not shop at Pet Safari, as I believe that they are unethical in how they treat the animals that they have in their store.

The reason I decided to go to Pet Safari was obviously due to my mission! Pet Safari, is I believe, the largest pet store with the largest selection of pet products in the country.

In the hour that I spent in Pet Safari, I am sad to say that I did not find very many items there that were cruelty free.

I spent about a half hour reading as many labels as I can on dry food for dogs, and did not find a single dry food within Pet Safari that stated that it was manufactured ethically or that it was cruelty free.

I spent the second half hour, turning over bottles of shampoo to check their labels, and only found 3 cruelty free shampoos - out of perhaps 30 0r so bottles that I managed to check.

These are:

Earth Bath

Bark 2 Basics

John Paul

As you can imagine I was quite disheartened when I left the store as I only managed to find 3 items in the store that was cruelty free after a whole hour

Anyway, I am also pleased to say that Oxyfresh (Oxygene) is also a manufacturer that does not test on animals. Oxygene produces a range of products for pets, and this includes Oxyfresh Anti-Oxidants (Cleo and Lucky are on this). Some of the products by Oxygene are available in selected pet stores.

So here's hoping that you find this information helpful, and once again I would appreciate feedback from everyone to help stop animal testing.

IS ANIMAL TESTING BAD?

I have had mixed reviews from my friends and readers of my blog over my sudden anti animal testing drive... There are some who have the same views as I do, and there are some who actually believe that animal testing is necessary and there are some who are unaware that such things happen.

So what do I really think of animal testing? Previously (before I learnt that even pet product manufacturers conduct cruel tests) I was of the opinion that perhaps some animal testing is necessary to ensure that products are safe for human consumption or use. But since I discovered the horrific truth that even manufacturers of pet products are guilty of such things, I took the initiative to do quite a bit of research on this matter, and learnt otherwise.

Over the past 3 days, I have read lots and learnt that for most products (for human and animal consumption), animal testing is not only unecessary but is grossly inaccurate for many reasons. You can read about some of this on some of the sites that I have put in my side bar. And what is even more disturbing is the fact that in this day and age, there are new methods of testing ,due to advancements in technology, where live animals are no longer required.

So is animal testing bad? I think it is and I strongly believe that it should be stopped. Firstly I think it is important to ask the question : why are these companies testing on animals? One of the main reasons is not because they are concerned for your safety, but they are concerned for their business and profits. If they were concerned for your safety, then they should not be putting in harmful substances into their products in the first place. But they are concerned that you might sue them should you develop an illness etc from using their products.

If there are products that need to be tested then I believe that perhaps humans should be the test subjects on a voluntary basis? There are many companies that ask for volunteers for their product testing and this method also ensures a higher level of ethics because if anything goes wrong with the human test subjects, the corporation would likely be sued or boycotted, whereas if an animal becomes critically ill or dies , the poor animal can't do anything except suffer and die in silence.

I personally feel that manufacturers should take additional precautionary measures to ensure that their products are non-toxic and safe for consumption. Subsequently, if they need tests to be carried out on living beings, then these beings should be humans. After all, it is thanks to us humans that all products produced can no longer be assumed to be safe.

I have to admit that since carrying out my research, I have learnt that alot of products that I use for myself and for my fur-kids are in fact tested on animals, and some in the most cruel ways. I am actually quite ashamed that I didn't take the initiative to find out before.

Will I be able to Choose Cruelty Free products completely? My honest answer is I am not sure, and this is due to 2 reasons. The first being unware that animal testing is carried out by a particular company or line of product, and the other is the fact that it is actually incredibly difficult in Malaysia to find cruelty free products... but I will try as far as possible.

It can be very challenging to Choose Cruelty Free products entirely. So what do we do now? I suggest that we all try as hard as possible to Choose Cruelty Free products one day at a time. If we all work together to amass information and spread this information to our friends and family, then this daunting task becomes alot easier. As I mentioned in my previous post, I will be working very hard to provide a list of cruelty free products for our furry friends, but I will need help... Your input and feedback will be greatly appreciated.

I would also like to call upon the Malaysian government to help promote awareness on the subject matter and encourage the people to Choose Cruelty Free products and discouraging manufacturers from carrying out such barbaric acts.

And finally, remember this:
when the buying stops, the killing can too...

CRUELTY FREE COMPANION FOODS

Hello everyone,

I am on a mission! I am currently researching as many pet food manufacturers as I can and writing to pet food manufacturers whose products are available in Malaysia (those that I know of anyway) to confirm or otherwise that their products are part of the cruelty free programme. I will indicate with an "M" or something to show which ones are available in Malaysia.

Currently I have confirmed that Lamaderm and all Natural Life Pet Products (both available in Malaysia) are cruelty free. They have stated that they do not test on animals on their website too.

I will be adding a list of companies in my side bar soon with all those that have responded to my queries in addition to the cruelty free list by PETA. I hope that this will be useful to all of you. I would also appreciate feedback from everyone on this list so that I can put an indicator against cruelty free pet foods that are readily available in Malaysia. Will need all the help I can get...

In the mean time, here is a fact sheet from BUAV - British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection; on what top pet food manufacturers actually do when testing their products. Read also BUAV's webpage on companies that carry out animal testing. Warning : this reading material is very disturbing. There are also numerous investigations and picture evidence on the BUAV site.

Extract from BUAV:

Boycott animal testing: Quick guide to animal testing pet food companies

Nestlé Purina Petcare owns:
Friskies Petcare: Bonio, Winalot, Spillers, Felix, Fido, Friskies, Arthur's, Choosy, Go Cat, Gourmet, Vital Balance
Alpo*: Mighty Dog
Ralston Purina*: Purina, Edward Baker Petfoods

Mars owns:
Pedigree Petfoods: Pedigree, Cesar, Whiskas, Sheba, Kitekat, Pal, Chappie, Bounce
Royal Canin (majority shareholder): Royal Canin, James Well beloved

Colgate-Palmolive owns:
Hill's Pet Nutrition: Science Diet, Prescription Diet

Procter & Gamble owns
IAMS: Iams, Eukanuba

* The animal experiments related to these companies took place prior to their acquisition by Nestlé

WHO TESTS & WHO DOESN'T

Extracted from The National Anti-Vivisection Society

Animals in Product Testing
Who Is and Who Isn't Testing on Animals

Determining whether a company or product is or is not tested on animals is easy!

NAVS has created this simple process to help you make decisions on what products to purchase. By adopting a cruelty free lifestyle, one that chooses respect for animals when selecting products, you are sending a powerful message to companies that you won't support an industry that perpetuates animal suffering.

Click on the link below and simply type in the name of the company or product in the search bar and press Search.

WHO TESTS & WHO DOESN'T

PET FOODS & ANIMAL TESTING

The companion animal food industry has become big business in recent years. The market is currently dominated by international corporations - such as Procter & Gamble, the makers of IAMS and Eukanuba - who ruthlessly conduct experiments on animals to try to give their pet food a competitive marketing edge.

Brands to Boycott
As mentioned above, the main culprits for cruel and unethical animal testing are the major international 'pet' food businesses.

IAMS / Eukanuba owned by Procter & Gamble
Hills Science Diet owned by Colgate Palmolive

The majority of pet food brands available in the UK are produced by two animal testing companies - "Nestlé Purina/Friskies" and "Pedigree, Masterfoods (Mars Inc)."

Nestlé Purina/Friskies: Alpo, Bonio, Felix, Go Cat, Gourmet, Omega Complete, Proplan, Spillers, Vital Balance, Winalot.

Pedigree, Masterfoods (Mars Inc): Bounce, Cesar, Chappie, Frolic, James Wellbeloved, Katkins, Kitekat, Pal, Pedigree Chum, Royal Canin, Sheba, Techni-cal (US & Canada), Whiskas. Pedigree also manufacture Thomas rabbit food and Trill bird food.NB Techni-Cal (Europe) although not owned by Pedigree, Masterfoods (Mars Inc) is still a company to boycott as they have not signed up to the BUAV No Animal Testing Standard.

So far, none of the supermarkets have pledged to produce their foods without unethical testing processes.

All the other brands of food have so far failed to sign up to the 'No Animal Testing Pet Food Standard'. This means they cannot or will not ensure that their products do not contribute to harmful systematic testing processes.

To encourage them to clean up their acts, ask them why they have not signed up to the 'No Animal Testing Pet Food Standard'. Please forward any responses to us at Uncaged.

Read more...

CRUEL COMPANION FOOD?

I have always been aware that many companies partake in very cruel animal testing etc in its production processes, and so I try very hard to choose cruelty free products and buy from companies that do not test on animals. The usual culprits are, though not entirely, cosmetic firms. Some of the cosmetic companies that do not test on animals are The Body Shop, St Ives, Clinique, Clarins, etc. It is important to note that while some companies are Against Animal Testing themselves, they may be owned by parent companies that condone animal testing.

I, however, must be living in the dark ages or something because today I managed to shock myself beyond comprehension. I discovered that pet/companion food producers also subscribe to gross acts of cruelty towards animals in order to produce food for our beloved pets.

It never occured to me that pet food manufacturers would also be perpertrators of immense cruelty towards the very same animals for which they are manufacturing their "top quality" foods.

The amount of information and evidence that I stumbled across regarding acts of intolerable cruelty carried out by pet food manufacturers was mind boggling! I was shocked and at the same time sadenned to discover that many pet food manufacturers that are guilty of animal testing are those that produce brands that are all too familiar to us. IAMS being one of the main perpertrators!

What is even more disheartening is the fact that the number of pet food manufacturers that DO NOT TEST ON ANIMALS are rather few, and probably not readily available in Malaysia.

If you are concerned about animals in laboratory tests, you should purchase companion-animal food exclusively from the following companies, which is going to be difficult in Malaysia I guess.

Active Life Pet Products 1-877-291-2913 http://www.activelifepp.com/
Amoré Pet Services, Inc.1-866-572-6673http://www.amorepetfoods.com/
Animal Food Services1-800-743-0322http://www.animalfood.com/
Artemis Pet Food1-800-282-5876http://www.artemiscompany.com/
Azmira Holistic Animal Care1-800-497-5665http://www.azmira.com/
Burns Pet Health, Inc.1-877-983-9651http://www.burnspethealth.com/
Canusa International519-624-5697http://www.canusaint.com/
CountryPet Pet Food1-800-454-7387http://www.countrypet.com/
Dr. Harvey’s1-866-362-4123http://www.drharveys.com/
Dry Fork Milling Co. 1-800-346-1360
Dynamite Marketing, Inc.208-887-9410http://www.dynamitemarketing.com/
Evanger’s Dog and Cat Food Co., Inc.1-800-288-6796http://www.evangersdogfood.com/
Evolution Diet, Inc. (entirely vegan)1-800-659-0104http://www.petfoodshop.com/
Good Dog Foods, Inc.732-842-4555http://www.gooddogfoods.com/
GreenTripe.Com831-726-3255http://www.greentripe.com/
Halo, Purely for Pets1-800-426-4256http://www.halopets.com/
Happy Dog Food1-800-359-9576http://www.happydogfood.com/
Harbingers of a New Age (entirely vegan)406-295-4944http://www.vegepet.com/
Holistic Blend1-800-954-1117http://www.holisticblend.com/
The Honest Kitchen 858-483-5995http://www.thehonestkitchen.com/
Know Better Dog Food1-866-922-6463http://www.knowbetterdogfood.com/
KosherPets, Inc.954-938-6270http://www.kosherpets.com/
Kumpi Pet Foods303-699-8562http://www.kumpi.com/
Natural Balance Pet Foods, Inc. (has vegan options)1-800-829-4493http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/
Natural Life Pet Products, Inc. (has vegan options)1-800-367-2391http://www.nlpp.com/
Nature’s Variety1-888-519-7387http://www.naturesvariety.com/
Newman’s Own Organicshttp://www.newmansownorganics.com/
PetGuard (has vegan options)1-800-874-3221904-264-8500http://www.petguard.com/
Pied Piper Pet & Wildlife1-800-338-4610http://www.piedpiperpet.com/
PoshNosh Inc.613-747-15421-866-893-4006 (Outside Ottawa-Outaouais)
Raw Advantage, Inc.360-387-5158http://www.rawadvantagepetfood.com/
Rocky Mountain Natural Products1-877-768-6788 (Eastern U.S.)1-800-665-5521 (Western U.S.)http://www.rmtnp.com/
Sauder Feeds, Inc.260-627-2196http://www.sauderfeeds.com/
Stella & Chewy’s LLC718-522-9673http://www.stellaandchewys.com/
Timberwolf Organics, Inc.407-877-8779http://www.timberwolforganics.com/
V-dogfood LLC (entirely vegan)1-888-280-8364http://www.v-dogfood.com/
Veterinary Nutritional Formula1-800-811-0530http://www.vnfpetfood.com/
Wow-Bow Distributors Ltd. (has vegan options)1-800-326-0230http://www.wow-bow.com/
Wysong Professional Diets (has vegan options)1-800-748-0188www.wysong.net

I am also rather sad to see that BilJac is not on this list, and I don't know how to react to that, as Cleo is on BilJac. One thing that I will do is write to BilJac to ask if they are part of the Against Animal Testing (AAT) campaign.

Other than that, I will also try to source for alternative pet food for my Cleo and Lucky, but in the meantime I will have to seriously consider cooking for them completely. Currently they are on a mixture of BilJac plus meat that I cook specially for them.

I would also appreciate it if I could get feedback from everyone on any other brand that supports AAT, so that I can update this list.

I am actually finding it really hard to write this evening, so I am going to stop here for the time being. I am just so stressed and outraged by the information and truths that I have uncovered . I am kicking myself for being so ignorant, and therefore inadvertently supporting these corporations that make millions by inflicting pain and torture onto helpless creatures.

Here are some other useful links

STOP ANIMAL TESTING.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals

Be a Caring Consumer!

Choose Cruelty Free Products

You can make a difference.

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Consumer Products

Companies that DO NOT TEST on Animals, so please try and buy stuff from these companies.

Companies that conduct CRUEL TESTS ON ANIMALS. Please stop buying from these companies as far as possible. You can make a diference and stop animals from being subjected to cruel acts.