Alternatives to Wool, Fur, Angora and Cashmere

http://www.peta2.com/TAKECHARGE/t_factsheet_wool.asp

This is a more down-to-earth PETA article with references.

This blog will be about all kinds of alternatives to wool, fur, cashmere, angora and any other product made from hurting or killing animals.

I don't need to tell you ALL the horrible stuff people do to animals for the name of fashion because you know (even though you pretend not to). You hear it from Greenpeace, PETA and other organizations doing what they can to help save animals!

So this blog is about the alternatives you can purchase and wear to make yourself still fashionable, yet cruelty-free.


Here is an excerpt from the link above:

What You Can Do
Use alternatives to wool, including cotton, cotton flannel, polyester fleece, synthetic shearling, and other cruelty-free fibers, as people with wool allergies have been doing for years. Tencel—which is breathable, durable, and biodegradable—is one of the newest cruelty-free wool substitutes. Polartec Wind Pro, which is made primarily from recycled plastic soda bottles, is a high-density fleece with four times the wind resistance of wool, and it also wicks away moisture.(13)

Buy clothing from retailers that have pledged not to sell Australian merino wool products until mulesing and live exports have ended, such as American Eagle Outfitters, Abercrombie & Fitch, Timberland, Aéropostale, and Limited Brands.

Here is another PETA link with a list of companies and a brief description of the non-leather non-fur materials they use to make their products:

http://www.peta.org/living/alt2.asp

For those of you with money to spend, here are a couple links to designer and trendy products:

Stella McCartney is a FAMOUS designer, but also a cruelty-free activist:
http://www.stellamccartney.com/

Rag Bag is a company that makes messenger bags, wallets and the like from recycled trash bags picked off the street from people in India. These people receive fair wages.
http://www.ragbag.eu/

Actually, my stepdad bought me a Rag Bag bag and a Rag Bag wallet and I love them!! This is a pic from the website. This is kind of the color I have!





Another alternative is organic cotton. I actually bought two pairs of organic cotton socks from H&M (pink and gray) and even though they look like regular socks, I love putting them on knowing that I did the right thing in buying them!


I've also decided to resist buying leather purses and bought a denim purse. And as for shoes, Converse All-Stars are always a good choice! They are ALWAYS in fashion and now come in MANY colors and designs!


It may be a slow process, but if we can all wear cruelty-free, "Green", and fair trade products, we will feel better about ourselves as well as give those animals who were once destined to suffer a chance to live! :)

Buying Products NOT Tested on Animals

I am slowly starting to buy more and more products NOT tested on animals. I have been a fan of Lush (http://www.lush.com) and the Body Shop for YEARS and always try to find makeup and beauty products safe from animal testing. But, even though I'm in Taiwan and finding products not tested on animals is NOWHERE near possible, I want to start using more more cruelty free products. Especially when I see articles like this one. Now, I know PETA gets a bad rap, but I still think we need to take these things into consideration.

I will also try to post a list of cruelty free products.



From PETA
http://www.iamscruelty.com/introduction.asp

Animals Still Suffer at Iams

Iams: A Recipe for Cruelty

For nearly 10 months in 2002 and early 2003, a PETA investigator worked undercover at Sinclair Research Center, a laboratory hired by Iams, and discovered a dark and sordid secret beneath the wholesome image of the dog- and cat-food manufacturer. Dogs had gone crazy because they were confined to barren steel cages and cement cells, dogs were left piled on a filthy paint-chipped floor after chunks of muscle had been hacked from their thighs, dogs were surgically debarked, and horribly sick dogs and cats were neglected and left in cages to suffer without any veterinary care.

Footage shows that Iams representatives toured the facility and witnessed dogs who were circling in their cells and sweltering in the summer heat. Iams knew the truth yet did nothing to protect the animals.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture investigated PETA's complaint and agreed that the laboratory had failed to provide veterinary care and pain relief to suffering animals, failed to provide animals with adequate space, and failed to train employees—along with nearly 40 other violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act. Sinclair Research Center paid a penalty of $33,000 for its violations.

After intense pressure from PETA and its supporters, Iams agreed to make the following significant changes in its testing program:

• Iams bowed to pressure and severed its ties with Sinclair Research Center.
• Iams ended all invasive and terminal experiments on dogs and cats.
• Iams agreed to begin conducting humane in-home tests for palatability studies.

According to Iams, about 70 percent of the animals now in its tests reside at home with their families. In these studies, people volunteer their companion animals to participate in food and nutrition experiments from the comfort of their own homes. The human guardians can easily be trained to feed the animals and properly collect fecal and urine samples for laboratory analysis to determine the quality of the animal's food. "In-home" studies have been shown to work and have strong scientific support, as shown by the successful PetSci program, which was developed by Dr. Charles Abramson and Dr. Timothy Bowser of Oklahoma State University.

Even so, Iams still keeps up to 700 dogs and cats in its Dayton, Ohio, laboratory for non-invasive nutritional studies. They claim that this laboratory provides a decent environment for the animals, but they refuse to allow a PETA representative to see inside. Iams claims that some studies are too complex for in-home programs, but PETA urges Iams to collaborate with veterinary clinics for studies such as these. Veterinary clinics regularly see patients who suffer from ailments that a particular dog or cat food might help alleviate.

Iams has also refused to end invasive experiments on species other than dogs and cats. For one study, Iams gave Purdue University nearly $200,000 to conduct a two-year study in which experimenters taped the tails of mice to the tops of cages to keep their hind legs suspended in the air. This was done to cause muscular atrophy—the wasting away of muscle tissue. When PETA protested, the experiment was cut short.

Iams has also fought the release of information from a public university that had conducted a study funded by the company in which a painful disease was induced in dogs. What was Iams hiding?

Iams has made progress, but as an industry leader, it must send an even clearer message: No animal deserves the fate of those who remain in their laboratories. Safe, healthy cat and dog food does not require harming cats and dogs.

PETA continues to press Iams to ban conducting and funding invasive or terminal experiments on all species and to adopt 100 percent humane, non-invasive, and cage-free "in-home" testing, as many of Iams' compassionate competitors have done.

Until Iams agrees, we urge consumers to purchase dog and cat food from companies that do not test on animals. In the meantime, read about some other ways you can help the millions of animals every year who are abused and inadequately cared for?all in the name of research.



Since the list is sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo long here is the link and you can go to it yourself. These are companies who do NOT test on animals:

http://72.14.235.132/search?q=cache:eaZDbWR73SoJ:www.caringconsumer.com/pdfs/companiesDontTest.pdf+Products+not+tested+on+animals&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&client=firefox-a



Here is a list (unsure of accuracy) of companies who DO test on animals:
http://www.thevegetariansite.com/ethics_test.htm

The Wiki on Animal Testing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_testing

Some Dog News to Start Bre's Dog Blog!

http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=829502&lang=eng_news%20 Questionable dog food will be recalled: COA
Central News Agency 2009-01-05 01:47 PM	Fonts Size: E-Mail This Printer-Friendly
+ Enlarge This image Central News Agency Taipei, Jan. 5 (CNA) All the dog food from a batch that is believed to have poisoned over 1,000 stray dogs nationwide recently will be recalled and turned into organic fertilizer, the Council of Agriculture (COA) said Monday. The COA confirmed that about 400 stray dogs at two animal shelters in Taipei County had died last month of acute liver damage caused by a high concentration of cancer-causing aflatoxin in dog food supplied by Ji-Tai Forage Co. in the south-central county of Yunlin. As of Sunday, Ji-Tai Forage had recalled 29.3 tons of suspect dog food, officials from the COA's National Institute for Animal Health said. A corporate spokeswoman offered an apology Monday and said that Ji-Tai was also a victim in the matter, as the company had no idea why the imported soybeans used to make the dog food contained aflatoxin. COA officials said that all questionable dog food will be recalled nationwide and sent to a COA-authorized processing company in Yunlin to be processed into compost. According to a United Daily News report Monday, nearly 1,000 stray dogs have died suddenly at several animal shelters in southern Taiwan in recent months, in what is believed to be a case of food poisoning from the Ji-Tai product. (By Deborah Kuo) http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/secretingredients/archives/159550.asp Secret Ingredients food safetypublic healthworkplace safetydepartment of labordepartment of healthSeattle « Coke Sued for Fraudulent Claims on Obesity-Promoting "VitaminWater" | Main | Feds do little to determine scope of spreading peanut butter poisoning. » Poisoned pet food is killing Chinese dogs. Is it really made in the U.S. or is it counterfeit? First, the Chinese poisoned our dogs and cats with contaminated pet food. Now Chinese authorities say a real or counterfeit brand of U.S.-made food – Optima - has killed or sickened dozens of dogs in several Chinese cities. Ryan McLaughlin, a Canadian who lives in Suzhou, China, says he spent Christmas and New Year's Day painfully watching Addie, his year-old golden retriever, die as her liver shut down after being poisoned by contaminants in the Optima dog food he says the pup was fed. Addie from Ryan McLaughlin He writes in his blog of the ordeal of trying to keep Addie alive and of how outraged he was that representatives of the Chinese company that imported the dog food came to the vet where Addie was being treated and said that they would cover all medical costs and, in the event of her death, they would come up with compensation of some sort. "How exactly do they calculate that?" McLaughlin wrote. "Pro-rated from time of birth with a bonus for a good temperament and numbers of hours trained? He said he understands that the company was doing damage control, but "they very likely killed my dog and actually had the audacity (to say) they'll reimburse us based on book value for the breed plus a bit for pain and suffering." Addie and the other dogs were apparently sicken by a lethal aflatoxins contaminating the grain used in the food. The fungi is poisonous by-products that can be found on all grains and peanuts. It causes aflatoxicosis, which attacks the liver of animals and humans, and exposure to high levels can lead to acute liver failure or death within days. Chinese press reports say the Ministry of Agriculture has ordered that sales of Optima be halted as they attempt to track the source of the tainted dog food. While Optima is the name of an American dog food brand, it was unclear if the food sold in China came from the United States. In the U.S., Optima products are sold by Mars Inc., which markets several popular brands of dog food. Optima Dog Food I asked Mars what they knew about the poisonings. Debra Fair, Mars' public relations manager, said they were investigating the "situation." "Mars is aware of recent reports that dogs in the People's Republic of China have died as a result of consuming what appeared to be Optima brand pet food. However, Mars does not sell Optima branded products in China," Fair wrote me in an e-mail. "Our initial findings suggest that the affected pet food was not manufactured by, nor under the authority of, Mars or any of its affiliated companies." She told me that Mars only sells that dog food in Taiwan. But that statement does nothing to clarify the source of the poisoned food because Chinese officials said the Optima that sickened the dogs was imported to China through a Taiwan company, Natural Pet. Fair said Mars will continue its investigation into this matter, "including working closely with FDA and other regulatory authorities who are investigating this situation." I've contacted the Taiwan exporter and the FDA for more information, but haven't heard back yet. Over the past four years, FDA has recalled hundreds of U.S. brands of pet food containing tainted wheat gluten and the chemical melamine. In 2007, that was the case with more than 150 brands of cat and dog food, after some pets became ill or died from kidney failure after eating food from China. Last year, Mars Petcare US announced a recall of dry cat and dog food products manufactured at its Allentown, Penn., facility because of potential contamination with salmonella. Close de.licio.us Digg Facebook Newsvine Reddit StumbleUpon Google Bookmarks Yahoo MyWeb Twitter Posted by Andrew Schneider at January 15, 2009 11:01 a.m. Categories: FDA, Food - good, bad, weird, Food labeling, Food poisoning