Category: Veganism

Why I Take Animal-Tested Drugs

Why I Take Animal-Tested Drugs
Simon Chaitowitz
Posted March 4, 2009 | 01:51 PM (EST)
One of my doctors has told me to get my affairs in order, which is why I’m writing this column. I want to explain why someone who takes so many animal-tested drugs is opposed to animal research.

I have full-blown leukemia and the chemotherapy I’m taking doesn’t seem to be working all that well.

snip ….

Throughout the past six years, I have felt terribly guilty about the drugs and procedures I’ve undergone because I know that so many animals have suffered in their development. I know about these conditions because of my former job — working for a nonprofit that promotes alternatives to animal research. I know about the conditions from talking with former animal researchers and others who have witnessed the cruelty. In fact, one man I know from an Internet support group remembers hearing lab dogs yelping in pain at the hospital where we both had our transplants.

snip ….

But as someone who recently signed up for hospice, I have another major problem with animal research. I wonder if science would have found a cure for my leukemia by now if they weren’t sidetracked by misleading animal tests.

snip ….

More than 90 percent of all new drugs which proved effective in animals end up not working for humans. It’s because animals — however similar they are to us — have different physiological systems. What works in a mouse usually doesn’t work in a human.

History is filled with stories of drugs that didn’t work in animals — Aspirin, for example — that ended up working in humans. And the obituary pages are filled with stories of people who died from drugs that looked safe in animals. The painkiller Vioxx, for example, tested safe in mice and five other species but ended up killing many thousands of Americans.

snip ….

If the chemo drugs I’m trying now don’t work, I do have one last option. I could try a Phase One trial. That’s when a drug looks promising in animals and is first tested in humans. My doctor started to tell me why so many participants die in Phase One trials — but it turned out I already knew the answer. Drugs that work in animals, he explained, usually don’t work in humans.

Full Article

“Faux” Meat from Taiwan?

Over 50% of processed foods for vegetarians found to contain meat
2009-06-14 06:38 PM

Taipei, June 14 (CNA) The Investigation Bureau has recently found that some processed foods advertised as vegetarian contained meat, and it has vowed to refer producers who knowingly added meat to their products for prosecution on fraud charges.

Pu Chang-en, a technician at the bureau’s department of forsensic science, said Sunday that among samples collected from 31 vegetarian food vendors in Taipei City and County for safety checks, food taken from 17 vendors were found to contain meat.

DNA tests revealed that in the two most serious cases, the vegetarian patties and ham of one vendor and vegetarian dried shredded pork from another vendor contained at least 20 percent beef or pork, Pu said.

Full Article

On the plus side the government in Taiwan discovered this on their own accord versus what usually happens in the PRC — over even in the U.S. with peanut plants.

Many Chinese restaurants that offer faux meat dishes get their supplies from Taiwan. Caveat Emptor!

Update:
The problem has been discovered to be worse.

Thanks to Dag for sending me this link to an article about meat and dairy turning up in the food at many LA “vegan” restaurants:

Quarry Girl: Labratory Tests Of Vegan Restaurants In LA

Legumes are low cost, high taste vegan nutrition powerhouses. Protein, calcium, beneficial fibers, vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals galore. They are often poo-pooed by people. Hopefully, this news will get some people to give this wonderful food another chance.

100% vegan legume cook book: Fabulous Beans

Update # 2:
A colleague was kind enough to send me these related URL from they year 2008 that describes efforts by Taiwan to create better standards for faux meat labeling. Given the speed of any government, it is in the eye of the beholder whether those efforts failed or they are still in development, given the original article in this post: