The cosmetics industry needs BIG change! So many products contain animal derived ingredients in them and even ‘cruelty free’ brands can be found using animal derived ingredients in their products. To us this is madness! A sign of how crazy we human beings can be! Why should an innocent creature lose its life in an attempt to satisfy low level self-interest?
All PHB products are 100% vegan and cruelty free. For us, these certifications go together and companies should not be awarded one without the other. We also find it strange how even brands who provide vegan certified products, will still sell others that aren’t!
As a compassionate company we strongly oppose the use of any animal derived ingredients in beauty products. Animal fats and crushed insects are commonly found in mainstream beauty products and in lots of natural and organic beauty products too. Many ‘cruelty free’ companies still use animal derived ingredients, and many companies who provide some vegan certified products still use animal ingredients in their ranges.
I have been a vegetarian since I was very young and have always felt that I loved animals. In recent times, I have come to see that I at best liked them, but not enough to overcome my own selfish desire for cheese and milk! As human beings, we are partly a product of our environment and so many of us have been brought up to not question eating animals. The good news is we have the power to make positive change if we want it! No species on earth seems to absorb and organise information and evolve like a human can!
If going vegan feels like too big a jump, why not consider stopping supporting companies who test on animals and use animal ingredients for everyday products such as cosmetics and household goods? Why not look at reducing your meat intake a little and substituting with veg, fruit, nuts etc…? There is a growing mass of evidence to support reducing our consumption of animal products as a way of living a healthier life, one better for your family and the world we live in.
Since going vegan, my partner (Rose) has become vegan too as have my parents too! Very naturally and easily through a shift in perception in the way we see the world. Animals can be our companions, they don’t need to be our next meal or makeup product.
Lots of great alternative information is now coming out regarding the meat industry, our consumption of dairy and the horrific cruelty committed towards innocent creatures. Here is a little:
“Nothing will benefit health and increase the chances of survival of earth as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.” – Albert Einstein
Meat
The World Health Organization has openly declared processed meat a “carcinogen” that increases your risk of colon or rectum cancer by 18%. But it’s not just processed meat that poses a health risk — science has known for a long time that eating all kinds of animals is extremely bad for you. A vast array of studies from top universities and independent researchers has found that eating chickens, cows, and other animals promotes cancer in many forms. Large studies in England and Germany showed that vegetarians were about 40% less likely to develop cancer compared to meat-eaters, the most common forms being breast, prostate, and colon cancers. A 2014 Harvard study found that just one serving a day of red meat during adolescence was associated with a 22% higher risk of pre-menopausal breast cancer, and that the same red meat consumption in adulthood was associated with a 13% higher risk of breast cancer overall.
Many hypotheses are used to explain the connection between meat consumption and cancer risk. First, meat is devoid of fibre and other nutrients that have a protective effect against cancer. Meat also contains animal protein, saturated fat, and, in some cases, carcinogenic compounds such as heterocyclic amines (HCA) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), which are formed during the processing or cooking. Meat also contains hormones which increase your cancer risk and horrendous chemicals such as arsenic.
Disease
Meat, dairy products, and eggs all contain cholesterol and saturated fat and contribute to some of the western world’s top killers: heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, and various types of cancer. Saturated fat is present in all meat and fish, even chicken and turkey cooked without the skin. Additionally, according to a study published by the American Diabetes Association, people who eat high amounts of animal protein are 22% more likely to develop diabetes. Saturated fat has even been linked to breast cancer, as well as Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, and cognitive decline. Fortunately, there are many plant-based protein sources that are low in saturated fat and won’t send your LDL (“bad”) cholesterol levels through the roof. Meat-eaters are three times more likely to be obese than vegetarians, and nine times more likely than vegans. On average, vegans are 10 to 20 pounds lighter than adult meat-eaters. Vegetarian diets are also associated with higher metabolic rates (around 16% faster for vegans compared with meat-eaters).
In large part because of all the health risks mentioned above, meat eaters just don’t live as long as vegetarians and vegans. According to a study of over 70,000 people published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, vegetarians were 12 percent less likely to have died during a six-year follow-up period than their meat-eating peers. Vegetarian men live to an average of 83.3 years, compared with non-vegetarian men, who live to an average of 73.8 years. Vegetarian women live to an average of 85.7 years, which is 6.1 years longer than non-vegetarian women, according to the Adventist Health Study-2. If you’d like to go the distance, looks like cutting out animals is one of the simplest things you can do.
Advocates of plant-based eating say vegans typically have lower levels of cholesterol and blood pressure, a lower body mass index, and reduced risk of death from heart disease and cancer. Environmental and welfare issues are also contributing to the swelling numbers turning away from food sourced from animals. Instead of contributing to the destruction of your body, the environment, and animals’ lives; live a life of health, sustainability and respect for all living beings.
Hormones
To make cows grow at an unnaturally fast rate, the cattle industry feeds them pellets full of hormones. While low levels of naturally-occurring hormones are found in various foods, many scientists are concerned that the artificial hormones injected into cows especially cause health problems in people who eat them. And while organic or hormone-free meat might be a better option, you’re still not eliminating your chances of ingesting the naturally-occurring sex hormones present in the animals when they were killed. The sex hormones progesterone, testosterone, and estrogen are all naturally occurring in animals, whether they’ve been given artificial hormones or not — so when you eat those animals, you’re also eating hormones.
Cheese
Using the Yale Food Addiction Scale, designed to measure a person’s dependence on, scientists found that cheese is particularly potent because it contains casein. The substance, which is present in all dairy products, can trigger the brain’s opioid receptors which are linked to addiction. Dr Neal Barnard of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine said that casein ‘breaks apart during digestion to release a whole host of opiates called casomorphins.’ Some scientists believe the influence of cheese is so potent that they refer to it as ‘dairy crack’.
Animal Cruelty
The cruelty in which we subject animals to is so rife that we could fill all the books in all the libraries with tales, stats and facts on this horrific history and present state of affairs. I intend to write and campaign on this specific issue further in the months to come and PHB and the ONELOVE Foundation will continue to be a voice for the down pressed, raising awareness, donating and creating ethical products as an alternative to the unethical rubbish sold in many shops today.
I read a great quote recently from a beautiful lady who had wrote a really wonderful article. “When we betray the vulnerable for reasons that are undeniably selfish, we instinctively want to silence the moral minority pointing this out.” I too feel this way and believe it a moral duty to stand against oppression when and where I can to the best of my limited abilities. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Being vegan isn’t about being ‘perfect’ where animal rights and the environment is concerned, it is about trying your best to be loving, compassionate and nonviolent.
“A human being is part of a whole, called by us the ‘Universe,’ a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest–a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.” ― Albert Einstein
Thanks for reading!