Campaign Corner: YOUR money, their lives. Support charities who DON'T fund vivisection.

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Feels good, doesn’t it, to support a charitable organisation or two, and special causes that are close to your heart?  

Brits give an estimated £9.3bn pa (2011/12 stats)*. We are one of the most generous nations in the world. 

But what if your good intentions are inadvertently contributing to animal and human suffering?

What if your hard earned cash is actually funding ‘bad science’ that could delay progress for the work of your chosen charity, perhaps in curing a devastating disease?

It wouldn’t feel so good, would it?

So when I discovered (thanks to the latest Animal Aidcampaign literature) that some of my donations were funding vivisection (live animal experimentation), I was shocked. It wasn’t something that I’d previously considered.

And many of us, myself included, are vegan, great animal advocates, passionate about animal rights and against animal cruelty in all its forms.

As part of my journey into veganism my independent research led me to several organisations that explain, very clearly, just why the scientific practice of vivisection is now outdated and in fact produces misleading results that may have hindered medical progress for decades.

And when you think about it – it’s obvious as to why. Whilst most animals used are mammals – that’s where the similarity to humans ends.

Animals have different physiologies to us and different responses to us. No species can be a biological marker for another. We are all different – pure and simple. So different that even small genetic variations can dramatically skew research results and lead to outcomes that are harmful to humans when products are subsequently manufactured on the back of the ‘scientific animal-based research’.  

* * *It’s estimated that death from adverse effects of medical treatments is the 4^th highest cause of death in industrialised countries. * * *

Not only this, but consider the fact that in persisting with such unreliable research scientists are potentially bypassing the use of new and (better) biotechnologies AND therefore potentially missing cures and solutions to some of mankind’s’ most difficult challenges!

And the barbaric nature of vivisection is such that humans cannot (should not), in all conscience, inflict this on other perceptive, feeling (sentient) beings. Because whilst we know that other species are different to us, science has also proved (and continues to acknowledge) that they all still suffer fear, pain and emotional turmoil, on scales that are comparable to ours. 

NO perceived ‘progress’ is worth this.

There’s no need for me to describe graphic details of what might be happening in research labs, all around the world, every second of every painful day here – you can easily search for yourself online (just as I've advised above). Do it, please. Wake yourself up.

And then, take these positive steps, immediately:

1. Identify where YOUR chosen charities spend YOUR money.

If they’re more progressive and do not support vivisection for their research – then please let them know you appreciate this and will continue to support them because of it.

2. If, however, you’re inadvertently supporting something that horrifies you as much as it does me, then let your charities know what you think of their decisions.

You may wish to phone them, email them, write to them, tweet them and FB them and you may wish to withdraw your support until such time as they change.

Most importantly, you must tell them WHY you’re doing this, so that they can consider their future actions. Whilst I’ve said how generous a nation we are, it’s a fact that donations in total have decreased by an estimated 20%, in real terms, since 2010 and competition for your money is fierce. Further losses will help them to wake up.

3. Please share this with everyone you know and come into contact with.

You can easily do this in just 10 minutes and I’ve created a little ‘tool kit’ below to help you further.

Please join me and my compassionate friends at All Animal Rights and Animal Aid in making this important stand against unnecessary and vicious animal testing – the lives of billions of animals depend on you – including humans (maybe even YOU one day) who rely on accurate scientific research.

Keep fighting for the voiceless. We’re all strong on our own, but together we’re a real force to be reckoned with.

Much love

Chantal

Update:

Still waiting for official responses to communications / emails. I’ll add them as and when they come in.

Your tool kit for action:

Get the latest on Animal Aid’s campaign here.

Check if the charities you support fund vivisection here.

Adapt and use the email/letter below if you wish to withdraw your support from a charity.

Support Animal Aid in their campaign – you can get more involved in spreading this vital info here.

Support organizations that fund and promote pioneering medical research into human disease WITHOUT the use of animals or animal tissue - such as The Humane Research Trust and The Dr Hawden Trust.

Please share this with everyone you know.

Template letter:

Dear [insert name of Chief Exec etc]

Subject: Why I can no longer support [charity name].

I’ve recently been very shocked, saddened and distressed to find out that [organisation name] funds research into [disease i.e. heart disease] using the outdated and barbaric scientific practice of vivisection on sentient animals.

It’s widely recognised by eminent and leading scientists, worldwide, that this method of research does not only yield inaccurate (and therefore potentially dangerous) results but that it dramatically hinders medical progress for the benefit of us all.

[insert any personal relevance i.e. Given that my Father suffered with severe Alzheimers for many years and that I’ve supported you with considerable time and monetary funds, I’m devastated to know that my money has been spent in this way and possibly with no positive outcome for the elimination and cure for this terrible disease.]

I have no option but to withdraw my support from your organisation immediately and to tell everyone I know to do the same. I shall, instead, be offering my support and funds to [insert other organization name if appropriate] who are funding progressive research through modern biotechnology. And I have joined the 1.26million people who have signed the latest ‘Stop Vivisection’ EU petition.

It makes me very sad to have to do this. Please can I urge you to reconsider your position on the research that you do.

Vivisection is a blatant act of turning a living, feeling, sentient being into a commodity to experiment on. This simply cannot be tolerated in a modern society. And to do it for results that are valueless, possibly dangerous, makes it all the more disturbing.

Please let me know your current stance and future plans regarding this. Should your work change then please also let me know and I shall gladly reconsider offering my support.

But for now [add ways in which you support i.e.:  I have cancelled my direct debit, will no longer donate goods to  / buy goods from your shops, give money to collectors, run the annual coffee morning, purchase from your website, promote you to others etc.]

Sincerely

[your name]

Sadly its too late for these poor creatures - but for those of the future - it's in YOUR hands.

Thank you.

References:

*UK Giving 2012 report, compiled by the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) and the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO).

Animal Aid ‘Victims of Charity’ Campaign 2013.

The ‘Stop Vivisection’ EU petition (1,126,005 signatures 02.11.13)

Paws for thought: Destination Vegan? My journey to veganism.

Destination Vegan?

The journey; My journey . . .

 

For a few brave people – switching to a vegan diet and lifestyle is something that they throw themselves into pretty much overnight.  And if you are an ‘all or nothing’ character this may well be the best way for you.

For me, however, it was a little different. When I look back now, I see a gradual awakening that saw me progressing through a 5 year evolution from confirmed carnivore to veggie to vegan - where I am, very happily, now.

Pretty much over those 5 years I progressed through the stages of being an ‘ethical’, ‘organic’, ‘welfare-conscious’, ‘meat-free Monday’ consumer.

I read labels incessantly and knew that processed foods were laden with a whole host of alien ingredients that I simply didn’t want to consume. I cooked most meals from scratch and became increasingly aware of the widespread use of drugs and pesticides in food production and manufacture.

But I was still a consumer of meat, fish and dairy none-the-less. So just what was it that made me first decide to give up meat and fish for good?

Two things:

  1.  My best friend of 33 years being diagnosed with cancer.

  2.  Caring for some ex-battery hens.

Two starkly contrasting things; but, as I was to find out later – possibly inextricably linked…

Sally (pictured here on the left with me) had been my best friend since the age of 7. She was the type of friend who knows you better than you know yourself. We shared everything and she was a complete and utter joy to be around – one of life’s true beautiful angels.

When she got the diagnosis we both frantically researched, looking for answers as to why this had happened and how she could be helped, perhaps through a change in diet? She went organic, gave up her beloved Chardonnay, started on fennel juicing and having read the China Study, quit beef and dairy foods too.

But try as we might, and despite a double mastectomy and 2 rounds of intensive chemo she succumbed to secondary cancer of the liver and lungs and died within 6 weeks of being given that terminal diagnosis.

Nothing could have prepared me for the complete devastation I felt at losing her – particularly so young and in her prime. Even writing this now, two and a half years on, it’s almost unbearable to think of and I need to stop and wipe tears away. I miss her every day and always will.

In the months that followed I became obsessed with finding answers as to why this had happened to her. I resumed my MSc studies (formerly Health Science and latterly Weight Management) and read / surfed avidly. And, as is the way when you start internet research, I followed a trail that got deeper and deeper until it ultimately led me to uncover some very shocking truths about the way in which animals are farmed for food.

Of course I knew animals died in order to provide us with food – how can you not? But like so many of us, I believed it was a health necessity and a natural part of our culture to eat meat. I’d been victim to those oh-so-clever marketing tactics and I’d conveniently (blissfully) been ignorant to the way in which animals are treated as commodities.

What I found, sure as hell, ‘woke’ me up. This is not the place for the graphic details. But you should, in all conscience, take a deep breath and do some simple online searches. It is the stuff of nightmares, but if you consume the ‘products’, then you should know and understand what happens to create them. One word always echoed in my head: ‘sentient.’

sentient

Pronunciation: /ˈsɛnʃ(ə)nt/

adjective

• able to perceive or feel things:she had been instructed from birth in the equality of all sentient life forms

And, as if to bring that word to life, at the same time I adopted 4 ex-battery hens through the British Hen Welfare Trust. (It was at the time when the campaigning to improve welfare standards for chickens was running and it seemed like a lovely thing to do.)

It turned out to be an act with far reaching consequences because each and every day as I watched these poor de-beaked, de-feathered ‘egg machines’ blossom into the hens that they were meant to be, I saw personalities emerging, and witnessed intelligence, logic, emotion – the full range infact. And by January 2012 I’d seen and experienced enough. I became vegetarian and began to change all my household and toiletry / beauty products from not only organic and eco friendly, but to containing no animal-derived ingredients and never tested on animals. I vowed never to buy any leather products, feather filled products, wool, silk or fur ever again, and to shun the use of animals in ‘entertainment’ settings.

I now knew that as well as for reasons of health, I no longer wanted to eat meat or fish and use animal based products, because I could no longer contribute to industries that were based on pain, suffering, exploitation and ultimately, murder.

I knew instantly I’d done the right thing. I worried that the change might be tough – but I worked my way through the plethora of meat substitutes on the market, tried hundreds of exciting new recipes I wouldn’t have dreamt of before and continued to research into it all.

But a year down the line into my new and ‘improved’ lifestyle (which still included eggs and dairy), I wasn’t feeling well at all (either physically or mentally). I had gained a lot of weight, was suffering with constant back problems, joint pain and swelling and migraines. I was bitterly disappointed that my diet didn’t seem to be that healthy for me and I was also still losing sleep over something that just wasn’t ‘right’. 

I couldn’t put my finger on it and at the time I attributed it to my ongoing bereavement depression over losing Sally.

But then another pivotal thing happened…

I watched 2 YouTube videos:

One called ‘A calf and a half’ about milk production at one of Cadbury’s dairy farms.

And the other a lecture by an animal rights activist called Gary Yourofsky.

That same afternoon I attempted to watch Earthlings, got 22 minutes in – to the point where a stray dog is thrown into a garbage truck (alive) and I pretty much had a breakdown. I cried for hours.

That was it for me.

No more dairy, no more eggs, no more ignorance.

I knew that for so many reasons I needed to follow a vegan diet AND a vegan lifestyle. This wasn’t a choice as such – it was an absolute compulsion, and as I’ve heard it described by others since – a ‘moral obligation and an imperative’.

Hand on heart, the day I became Vegan, I felt an actual sense of relief and everything in my life fell into place. I saw the world, I see the world, with very different eyes.

Some of that relief I believe, comes from an innate ‘knowing’ (that I’m sure all humans have, deep down), that using and eating other species, is, quite simply, morally wrong.

It is wrong because it isn’t necessary for our survival, in fact in most ways, as I’d also discovered, it’s detrimental to our survival. It’s scientifically proven that consumption of animal products contributes to modern diseases such as T2 Diabetes, Heart disease, Obesity and Cancers. Its decimating our wildlife and destroying our beautiful planet. But above all, it inflicts unimaginable suffering and pain on our fellow species - who can think, feel and hurt, just as humans do. 
*ALL species have the absolute right to live a peaceful existence on this planet.

Becoming vegan made me feel like shouting a million clichés – 'the penny had dropped', 'the cloud had lifted', 'I’d seen the light' etc. and this is something that you hear repeatedly when others share their story of why and how, they too, became vegan.

The destination…

Well what can I say?

Quite simply. I have yet to find ANY negatives.

I thought I’d miss milk, but there are multiple alternatives that suit all different culinary needs.

I thought I’d miss cheese, but knowing how milk is produced meant that nothing could ever taste as good as the alternative - compassion – felt (and the faux products are improving all the time).

I thought it would be hard to find things to eat, but it turns out that with a different mindset to cooking my food repertoire is now a million times more exciting (read my blog and you’ll see!)

I thought it would be hard to find non-animal derived products – but man is as clever as he is stupid and we’ve invented / manufactured all kinds of goods that don’t rely on animals to make them.

I thought I’d be joining a cult of 'hippy weirdoes' (apologies dear hippy friends) and labeled as a freak – but instead I found an incredible new family of consciously compassionate people only too willing to help me on my vegan journey.

And I’ve even been able to educate and inform friends, family, and people I meet about what it means to be a modern vegan in today’s society and the multiple benefits of its actions. If it’s a label then it’s one I’m very proud to wear.

But what of my health?

I’ve lost 12kg without dieting. My BP & cholesterol are below average readings and couldn’t be better. Genetically, I have inherited sickle cell trait (characterised by anemia - iron deficiency) and yet my iron levels and B12 levels are up since becoming vegan (much to my GPs amazement, because this is sometimes an area for concern with vegans). My joint pain, foot pain, back pain, hand pain, migraines and general malaise have all disappeared. I no longer have PMT that makes me want to kill others and then myself.

My skin has improved (no more hand dermatitis or facial spots), my hair is glossier (rarely do I need to wash it, apart from to remove environmental pollution), I need far less sleep, have far more energy, better cardio fitness and mentally – well I’m ready to take on the world!

I am left feeling incredible - physically and in my heart, conscience and soul.

Yes, I wish I’d done it years ago and in a way I wish I’d done it more quickly too.

But, I also know that, for me, this gradual evolution has taken me to a point where, no matter what, I will categorically never revert to my former way of living.

But like I’ve said at the beginning of this piece, if you have a mind to, then going from 'carnivore' to vegan overnight CAN be done. And I personally would advocate not going through a vegetarian transition phase – because, in my opinion, there is a tendency to then over-consume dairy products – which are amongst the worst possible for human health.

Just jump right in to veganism and ask the questions later! You won’t be disappointed, because I can assure you that the positive physical and emotional impact will be immediate. 

It will be the best, and most important life change you ever make – for YOU as a human, for THEM - the other animals and for US as custodians of a planet that’s gradually being destroyed for our blood lust.

So if you’re already vegan you may identify with some aspects of my story here and I’d love to hear how it was for you. Please either comment or get in touch.

If you’re not vegan – then you have the potential to be, because you’re reading this and that shows both curiosity and compassion. I'll gladly help you should you decide you'd like to try this kinder life. Again, please get in touch.

Try the vegan experience for World Vegan Month. 

One month. 

See how you feel.

I’ve added lots of info to this site to help you on YOUR journey.

Find:

More great recipes that you ever imagined here.

Vegan product ideas here.

Research on ‘why’ vegan here.

Helpful films here.

Interesting books to read here.

Events to attend here. 

Where to eat, where to stay.

and the fun stuff here!

Travel with us. 

It may be a slightly trickier journey at first – 

but the destination is completely amazing.

Chantal x

Dedicated to the best friend a girl could ever have – thank you for choosing me, my beautiful Sally B.