Help and Hindrance

Last night I watched a thought provoking episode of Natural World.

Silky Sifakas (picture from National Geographic)

I love Nature, Wildlife and the Environment as I hope has become quite obvious by now!

However, it is rare I watch programmes about them mainly because we don't have a TV but also because I become very easily upset when I see the cycle of life take place before my eyes.

Once upon a time, I went to Zambia. I was lucky to go but it was also a difficult decision for many reasons. However, go I did, only for two weeks and it was maybe one of the most intense experiences of my whole life.

I met passionate environmentalists and conservationists and wondered why I hadn't chosen this path for myself because I was enthralled by the magic and beauty of the Zambian culture and of course the Wildlife.

I won't go into the story behind this trip or the fact that I constantly wish I had known what I wanted to do with my life alot earlier on as this post is not about me. However, I wanted to touch on this experience because during this trip to Zambia, I went out on to the National Parks and Game Reserves and witnessed the wonder of the Natural World for myself.

It was awe inspiring and took my breath away. I could barely believe that I was there. I felt like I was in another world, I felt overwhelmed but also as if I belonged.

So, I came home and as the memories faded I started to acknowledge that my experience would have been very different had I witnessed the cycle of life right in front of  my very eyes!

The strange thing is, that when I was there, I didn't even consider that I might see a kill or an injured animal. The magnificance of the landscape completely overtook my senses and I could only see the wonder and beauty. Thank goodnesss!

If someone offered me the chance to go on safari now, I would turn down the opportunity because I am very acutely aware that I was incredibly lucky not to witness any bloodshed. I was completely naive to the fact that it was out there and could have revealed itself to me at any time. But it didn't and I believe it wasn't meant to. I was only there to witness the glory of the Natural World, not the goryness of it. Someone, my Earth Mother Spirit, was watching out for me.

So I have extraordinary memories which I will cherish and have no desire to repeat the experience.

However, I do watch the Wildlife programmes when I can, until the camera shows us nature in all it's brutality, at which point I turn off.

So Last night I watched Madagascar, Lemurs & Spies which told us about the complicated life of the Silky Sifakas and the fight to preserve this endangered species of Lemur.

There were no difficult to watch scenes as far as the animals were concerned.

It was difficult to watch however because it was essentially the story about how humankind is ravaging our planet.

This story concentrates on the  pillaging  of Rosewood and Ebony trees in the protected rainforst national parks in Madagascar. Many of these trees are centurys old. The illegal logging is destroying diversity, Flora and Flauna unique to Madagascar. This is the food of the Silky Sifakas which is why these lovely creatures could never survive in captivity because their diet is so Unique.

Madagascar has great biodiversity. Three quarters of the 200,000 species found there, do not exsist anywhere else, however, with the illegal logging, a large number of the large species are now extinct and more that  80% of the original forest cover has disappeared.

Madagascan Rainforest, Picture from National Geographic

In 2009, loggers took an estimated 100,000 rosewood and ebony trees out of the forests after a coup which saw an already  poor country plunged into a political and economic crisis.

These trees are so heavy that it takes many men to pull them down to the river and then another 5 -6 trees have to be cut down to float one of these trees down the various rivers to the production sites. This has led to extensive deforestation and the loggers set up camp deep in these forests which means they kill and eat the forest animals including the various Lemur Species.

Logged Rosewood, picture from National Geographic

The programme told us about the efforts of two men, a passionate scientist who has dedicated much of his life to protecting and studying the Silky Sifakas, and an Undercover Detective from Washington, to expose the illegal logging trade to ensure the long term survival of these beautiful primates.

As I watched this programme, my attention was focused on this struggle between destruction and survival and I was so aware that this was about a group of individuals with a conscience  trying to do the right thing, resisting a group of individuals with no conscience, doing absolutely the wrong thing.

And I found  myself appreciating that our societiey is made up of those that fight for justice, freedom and awaress, and those who are or choose to be ignorant and continue to destroy, devastate and wreck. I became aware of the eternal struggle between good and evil.

These two men and their teams faced great personal danger to expose this illegal trade and bring it to the world's attention but they did not let that distract them from their ultimate  mission to save the precious rainforests and wildlife of Madagascar.

I have spoken many times about my admiration for inspiring individuals such as these passionate activists. People who truly stand up for what they believe in and put their beliefs into action.
I watch their stories and am in awe of their dedication, steadfastness and resolve to bring about change. I have nothing but respect and love for their determination and passion.

Dr Erik Patel,  Picture from BBc website

But as I watched this programme,  I felt sadness that there is a need for individuals to continually fight against the wrongs done by other individuals and I wondered why there is such disparity between our values.

If I didn't have to work, I would use the time to learn and what I would like to study is Social Sciences. How does society shape people?  Where do our Values and Beliefs come from? How are differences and inequalities produced? How is society shaped not just by humans but by material objects and the environment? How are we connected and disconnected from each other and how do we see each other and others?

There is a Social Psychologist called Johathan Haidt who studies how and why we evolved to be moral. He believes that by understanding our moral roots, we can learn to be civil and open minded. He says that we are not purely selfish and that most people long to overcome pettiness and become something wonderful. 

Two of his quotes which I think fit perfectly for this post is:
"The most powerful force ever known on this planet is human co-operation - A force for construction and destruction"

"If our goal is to understand the world, to seek a deeper understaning, our general lack of moral diversity here is to make it harder. Because when people all share values, when people all share morals, they become a team"

One of the reasons I found Jonathan Haidt is because I was looking at his TED talk on Religion, Evolution and self - transcendence because I am interested in Transcendence - that we can expand to identify with all humanity and other aspects of the world beyond the body. In doing so, we transcend conditions of seperateness and isolation, which are the source of much misery and angst. By recognising the inherent unity of all exsistence, we experience subsequent feelings of belonging, oneness and peace.

I wish that these loggers could relate to this transcendent sense of self because maybe then they would care for the protection of free nature as the protection of themselves.

We are all structures, as are all beings on this planet, who are sustained by an influx of matter and energy that starts at the sun and is channelled throuogh plants, up food chains to us. Therefore, any seperation in time or space between us and the natural world is a projection of the mind.

So this post is about How humanity can help our relationship with the Natural World or completely hinder it. How a group of like minded individuals with the right beliefs can make a difference when opposing a group of like minded individuals with the wrong beliefs but how it is a constant battle.

Although I have a transcendent sense of self with Mother Earth, I have a long way to go before I can expand my sense of self to identify with those ignorant individuals that plunder,destroy, kill, hurt and ravage our Natural World.

What I do understand is the power of money. If you are poor and need to feed yourself and family, if you are fighting for survival then the lure of $1 a day to cut down trees in a protected rainforest, even if you know it is illegal, must override any part of your conscience telling you it is morally wrong.

What I do understand is that if you fear for your life because you have become entangled in a situation which feels dangerous to leave, then you  may stay in that situation rather than be brave and speak out against it.

What I do understand is that we in the western world are aware of the environmental damage we are wreaking on our planet. We have been blessed with an education and given the opportunity to observe individuals with good morals and values who are  raising awareness of our impact on the environment.  Many of us choose to listen and make changes to our lives to effect better outcomes for the earth. Some of us however, choose to remain ignorant and lazy.

What I do understand is that, For those loggers who are living in one of the world's poorest countries where 70% of the population suffer from malnutrition and where there is little education system, poverty, fear and ignorance is the driving force behind their actions. So I can begin to transcend the feelings of separateness I have from them so I can challenge my anger and frustration at their actions.

I cannot however, understand why the educated, intelligent business men at the top of the chain continue to authorise action which they know is morally wrong and illegal. THey are choosing to be ignorant.  They have the information, They know what they are doing is wrong in every way for every reason, but they are greedy and power hungry, selfish and egotistic.

It is these individuals who are the force of evil that the forces of good continue to fight.

This story does end on a happy and hopeful note.

The efforts of our Scientist and Detective resulted in the biggest importers of the Precious wood, Gibson Guitars, being raided and thousands of pounds worth of wood seized.

This had an immediate impact on the illegal logging trade in Madagascar. The illegal logging has greatly reduced and for now, the Silky Sifakas are safe again.

This was truly a story of how Hope, Belief, Determination, Dedication, Passion and Hard &Dangerous work, led to a Positive and Favourable Conclusion.

It is a story of Good overcoming Bad!

It gave me hope!

May we all continue to have hope and stand up for what we know is wrong.

Earth Blessings to you
JX

I leave you with some pictures of my trip to Zambia nearly 7years ago!

I

Clear Conscious Choices

Well here I am again, only on my 6th post and already 3 months in when I would have hoped to have written at least double that amount. However, time is proving elusive, not helped by my technological NOT know-how, and by my need to write SUCH long posts! I actually started this post many weeks ago, it has taken a long time to complete, not really because of it's lengh but because of the challenge of finding some time to dedicate to it. But it's here, ready to post and whether or not anyone reads it, I feel somehow complete and relieved to have expressed out of me what are my extremely strong views and feelings about this emotive subject which evokes such an emotional response in me that I am reduced to tears daily becasuse of it.

There have been alot of tears along the way during the composition of this post as I have considered what I wanted to highlight.

Further posts, when I write them, will no doubt come back to this issue, but for now, I feel I have bought to the attention of cyberspace, the issue that burns a hole in my sole, fuels a ferocious fire in my heart and creates an anger, frustration, terrible sadness and incomprehension within me that no other subject could EVER do.

This post explains why I have chosen to follow a VEGAN lifestyle and the websites of the following ANIMAL WELFARE organisations also serve to explain this lifestyle choice.

http://jakartaanimalaid.com/

http://monmouthshireanimalalliance.co.uk/

http://www.thebrooke.org/

http://www.four-paws.org.uk/

 We make choices every day. What to wear, where to go, who to see, when to be somewhere, and........"What to eat"?

Life is about striving to be the person we want to be and recognising that the choices we make will cause a ripple effect not just in our lives, but in the lives of others, humankind and animal kind, and to the natual world and our planet; If our choices are based on knowledge and fact rather than routine and the status quo, we can make them with a clear conscience.

We are lucky in our modern society that we have such choices. As I have touched upon on my last post, there are many communities and individuals throughout the world who do not have the luxury of choice, and I am eager to highlight their plight in many future posts.

Today I want to write about the plight of the other living beings we share this planet with.

Writing this blog is permitting me to give more consideration to issues that I feel passionately and strongly about and I am inspiring myself just by typing out my thoughts! This is a record of what fuels my fire and fans those flames, those issues that make me determined to act differently and challenge my attitudes and beliefs; and if, along the way, I give any(?!) readers some food for thought, that can only be a bonus.
This post has taken rather a long time to write as will become obvious, so apologies for it's lengh and the time it will probably take to read, but I hope any readers will find the time...........!

  Did you know that somewhere between 150,000 and 250,000 male calves are shot at birth each year because we have no use for them, and that cows suffer great distress when their newborn calves are taken away from their mothers immediately, so that milking machines can extract up to 50 litres  of milk a day whereas her calf would only suckle a few literes daily.

And Did you know that pigs are highly intelligent, social animals (usually compared to dogs in the animal IQ stakes) but are often reared with no respect for their wellbeing. A sow would naturally give birth to around 5 piglets a year, but with today's inensive breeding programmes, 25 is not uncommon. They are kept in

cramped, barren, dimly lit indoor conditions, sometimes, without even straw for them to rummage.

And did you know that after a broiler chicken has spent it's short life standing and sitting in it's own filth in the space of an A4 piece of paper, it is transported by a crowded truck to a slaughterhouse and processing plant where it is hung upside down by its feet alive and then dipped into an electrified pool before having it's throat cut by a spinning blade, and that organic and free range chickens are subjected to EXACTLY the same fate.

And did you know that beagles and other dogs are commonly used in laboratories worldwide for force feeding or inhaltion of all manner of industrial, cosmetic and household chemicals which lead to agonizing and painful deaths.3727 dogs (of which 3704 were beagles because of their docile, gentle and trusting nature) were used in experiments in the UK alone in 2010. Each year 3 MILLION animals in the UK are gassed,  poisoned or mutilated in the name of research. That's 100 MILLION worldwide and MANY MORE ARE KILLED AS SURPLUS.

And did you know that more than 300,000 whales, dolphins and porpoises did in fishnets annually, and that billions of fish are killed every year by being dragged out of the oceans when their eyes often pop out of their head due to the rapid change in pressure and they are crushed amonst the thousands of other unfortunate fish and then gutted alive.

And did you know that each year in the UK, about 18 million ducks are farmed and killed for food without ever seeing the outside world, and crucially having been denied their most basic need, access to water. Can you imagine how these mostly aquatic animals who have never been able to dip their head under water or swim, suffer?

And did you know that around 420 horses are raced to death EVERY year and that monkeys are captured in their natural environment in the wild, torn away from their family groups and imported and imprisoned in barren cages which will be the only home they know until they are experimented on and killed. Can you imagine their fear and confusion.

If we were asked the question "if you had a super power, what would it be?", many of us would probably
say that we would wish for world peace.
However, a great many of us deny that peace to the living beings we share this planet with. We take the life of other senient beings for their flavour and the the belief that by experimenting on them, we can find a cure for disease or for a dirty oven.
Most of us are aware of the harsh reality of factory farming, but choose to ignore it for the sake of an easy life munching on a steak.
Michael Pollan, author of the book "The Omnivore's Dilemma" says:
"eating industrial meat takes on an almost heroic act of not knowing".
We think we are a civilised society, a compassionate people who see suffering and want to help somehow.

However, ALL our great achievements are clouded by the suffering of billions of animals, from the rats that suffer miserably as they take 2 weeks to bleed to death internally from poison in the name of scientific research; to the elephants performing tricks out of the fear of the violence meted out by their trainers, in the name of entertainment; to the foxes being hounded to death in the name of sport; to the Badgers being culled  to control bovine TB in cattle, when all the scientific studies show that this will be of little  help in reducing the disease and could actually make it worse it some areas; to the horses being whipped and raced until they collapse from exhaustion, again in the name of sport and entertainment.

I write this and feel ashamed to be human.
We have a choice, the animals DON'T. We must exercise our choice as consumers and stop blaming everyone else. If you choose to go to KFC or McDonalds, then know that the cow that goes into that beefburger and the chickens that supply your bucket of crispy chicken, sufferend for YOU.
If you have to have that new face cream or new perfume, or that cleaning product that promises to leave your bathroom shiny and sparkling, or your oven clean and germ free, please ensure that no part of that product has been tested on an innocent being, and REMEMBER, although the final product may not have been tested on animals, the individual ingredients that make up that product probably have.

Every day, up to 38,000 animals are used to test cosmetics such as toothpaste and shampoo, and products such as detergents and cleaners.

THE LIFE OF AN ANIMAL IS AS IMPORTANT TO IT AS YOUR LIFE IS TO YOU. IT DOESN'T WANT TO BE CAGED, HURT OR KILLED ANY MORE THAN YOU.

IT ISN'T A CHOICE BETWEEN ANIMAL OR PEOPLE, IT'S A CHOICE BETWEEN GOOD SCIENCE AND POINTLESS CRUELTY.

FREE RANGE AND ORGANIC ARE NOT THE ANSWER - THE ANIMALS ARE STILL KEPT IN CROWDED CONDITIONS WHERE THEY GET STRESSED AND DISEASED. AND THEY, LIKE THEIR BATTERY AND INTENSIVELY FARMED COUSINS, STILL GET PUT ON A TRUCK AND TAKEN TO A KILLING FACTORY. ALL ANIMAL FARMING, WHETHER IT'S CALLED INTENSIVE, ORGANIC OR FREE RANGE INVOLVES TREATING SENTIENT BEINGS AS MERE COMMODOTIES OR MACHINES TO BE MASS PRODUCED, MUTILATED, TRANSPORTED, EXPLOITED AND KILLED FOR FOOD PRODUCTS.

IT DOESN'T  HAVE TO BE THIS WAY,  YOU CAN BE RESPECTFUL AND SHOP WITH COMPASSION NEXT TIME YOU ARE IN THE SUPERMARKET BY NOT PICKING UP ANY PRODUCTS THAT  CONTAIN BY PRODUCTS OR BODY PARTS OF ANIMALS.

The way we treat animals is embedded in our past when most people found it easy to justify the abuse of animals, believing they were without feelings or intelligence, that they were put on earth for our "use", that in the "order of nature" animals were somehow inferior to us, the "dominant" species. It is a troublesome argument that we can do what we like.Our Morals and Ethics are not worked out properly; why do we exploit some species while treating others as companions? and yet animals bred for their flesh, milk, coat and eggs experience pain, fear and distress in the same way as any dog and cat. Farmed animals have as much right to a life without exploitation and human interference as any man, woman or child.

Now, we know animals have astonishing abilities and that they share many of the emotions that we once thought were unique to people, such as the close relationship between mother and her young, the way young animals like to play and need stimulation. Animals enjoy the company of their own species and express affection toward each other. They build a stable social group in which they feel comfortable and secure. They have extraordinary natural powers that they enjoy using such as flying, swimming, jumping and swinging through the trees.

However, when the things that make life worth living are taken away, animals suffer the same painful emotions as we would if we were imprisoned and our freedom was taken away.

Factory Farm animals suffer the boredom of confinement; Those used for medical research suffer lonliness and isolation and can you imagine the fear of waiting to be "experimented" on and the depression you would suffer if you were kept alone for long periods?
Above all, animals share with us the capacity to feel pain, yet despite all the qualities we now know exsist in animals, we continue to treat them without respect or compassion.

We thoughtlessly destroy their habitats for short term profit causing death to millions of creatures; We humiliate them to provide cheap entertainment; we kill them to make coats from their fur; we hunt them for sport; we imprison and slaughter hundreds of millions each year for food; and in labs around the world, we poison them to test cosmetics, household products, chemicals and drugs......................................
We scold or burn them, or infect them with painful diseases in the name of medical research.
Yet even when it becomes obvious that animals have their own needs and emotions, those that expoit them still excuse their ill treatment by arguing that people must come first, and that the misery we inflict upon other creatures is somehow necessary for our benefit.

Similar defences have been made to justify all social evils. Not so long ago, cruelty to African slaves was justified by the argument that they too lacked all feeling and intelligence. And then added to this ridiculous illusion and immoral justification was the argument that the end of the slave trade would cause economic hardship to society.

The same sort of statements were used to exploit the use of children as cheap labour or deny the vote to women.
Do You feel ashamed to be human yet? NO? read on......................................
Nowadays, the abuse of animals is defended in a comparable way to those arguments above........

Take the argument that we need to breed and kill more and more farm animals to produce more meat. Why should we care that billions of animals are being tortured and slaughtered when billions of people are starving?

IN FACT, EATING ANIMALS, ACTUALLY REDUCES THE AMOUNT OF FOOD AVAILABLE TO PEOPLE..........................................................................................

All protein, including meat, originally comes from plant based agriculture.
The choice is whether we grow crops to feed animals which we then kill  and eat OR whether we grow crops that humans can eat directly in a vegetarian diet.
When we produce meat, animals waste most of the protein and energy value of what they are fed in their digestive system. In all, we can produce as much as 5 - 10 times as much protein by growing food for direct human consumption than for growing feed that animals then convert into meat.
It has been estimated that if everyone in the world reverted to a plant based diet, we could feed 6 billion people. If on the other hand we take approximately a third of our calories from animal produce, as is the case in America, we can only feed 3 billion people.
Since the current human population is already approaching 6 billion and increasing fast, this means we simply have to rely more on a plant based diet in order to meet the growing problem of human hunger.
The benefits to the planet are OBVIOUS, reverting to a vegatarian or vegan diet WILL REDUCE YOUR IMPACT ON THE ENVIRONMENT. In the words of Caroline Lucas, Leader of the Green Party: -
"a vegan driving a 4 x 4 actually does less damage to the planet than a meat eater on a bicycle".
CLIMATE CHANGE IS HAPPENING WITH THE INCREASE OF MEAT CONSUMPTION. The massive number of animals being bred is poisoning the planet, causing pollution of land, water and air.

Animal farming uses much more land, energy and water and has a far greater impact on climate change than plant based agriculture. 

BIODIVERSITY IS AFFECTED as rainforests are destroyed and  hedgerows pulled up to create pasture and crop land to keep animals and/or to grow feed for them when they are confined - as the majority are, in factory farms.

Breeding so many animals causes massive environmental problems - 13 BILLION tonnes of liquid manure is created by intensive farming EVERY YEAR. It seeps into our rivers, killing fish.
According to the UN, animal farming is responsible for 18% of global  greenhouse gas emissions - more than is produced by the entire trasport sector worldwide.
Carbon dioxide is released when huge areas of forest are destroyed to provide grazing for cows or to grow crops to feed billions of animals. Cattle farming is the biggest threat to the remaining Amazon rainforest and the single biggest cause of deforestation in the world.

Carbon dioxide and Nitrous Oxide are also produced from the transportion of farm supplies, animal feed and the farmed animals themselves. Heat and electricity used by farms and slaughter houses further increase energy demand. Overall, animal farming is responsible for a larger share of the world's greenhouse gases than the transport sector.

Animal farming also generates vast quantities of anoother important greenhouse gas, methane. This is 21 times more powerful at trapping heat than carbon dioxide and is produced during the digestive process of sheep, cattle and other ruminants. It is also released in their untreated manure.
This Net accumulated environmental impact and the increase in meat consumption looms large as one of our
biggest environmental crisis.

YET OUR DESIRE FOR MEAT CONTINUES TO GROW WITH NO REGARD FOR ANIMAL WELFARE AND ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER.
Climate change aside, growing food to feed us directly, rather than first passing it through animals, is far more efficient in terms of amount of land, energy, water and labour required. In the UK, 70% of all agricultural land is used to as pasture to feed animals whereas a veggie Britain would require less than half of this.
 AND YET, IN A HUNGRY WORLD WITH LIMITED RESOURCES, HALF OF THE WORLD'S FOOD IS FED TO FARMED ANIMALS. NO LESS THAN 90% OF THE GLOBAL SOYA HARVEST - MUCH OF IT GROWN ON RAZED RAINFOREST - is turned into animal feed.

(And depending on how you look at it, this may be a reason to boycott Soya products as much as possible, if you value 1 of earth's most precious resources, our Rainforests. I do, but that is for another blog where I will also write about some of the negative health aspects of Soya!)

Water is another key issue. The meat and dairy industries are among the biggest contributors to the problem of water scarcity, through both over-use and pollution. The liquid waste from dairy farms - that leaches or is discharged into the water table - is hundreds of times more polluting than human sewage. The industries use vast quantities of water, through the amount the animals drink, the amount needed to produce the crops they eat, and the huge volumes used by slaughterhouses.

BILLIONS OF PEOPLE ARE WITHOUT CLEAN DRINKING WATER AND HALF OF THE WORLD'S POPULATION IS LIVING IN UNSANITARY CONDITIONS.
THE LINK BETWEEN THIS ISSUE AND MEAT PRODUCTION IS EVIDENT.

IT TAKES 900 LITRES OF WATER TO PRODUCE 1KG OF WHEAT COMPARED WITH 100,000 LITRES OF WATER TO PRODUCE 1KG OF BEEF.

And now back to those arguments used to justify the continuing cruelty our fellow being endure at our hands.

There are those that argue that if we stop  animal experimentation, it will mean millions of people will die from dreadful diseases and that they can only find new safe drugs by testing on animals.Yet a growing number of Doctors and Scientists believe that Animal Experiments are UNRELIABLE as a guide to treating disease and illness.
This is because, animals are different to us in the way their bodies work and in the way their bodies respond to drugs. As a result, Animal Experimentation can give misleading answers to how people react to new medicine because medicines not only work differently in animals than they do in humans, but also work differently from species to species.

ANIMAL EXPERIMENTS ARE TOTALLY IRRELEVANT BECAUSE OF THE SPECIES DIFFERENCE WHICH IS VAST IN EVERY FIELD, FROM RAT TO  MOUSE, FROM 1 TYPE OF MOUSE TO ANOTHER AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, FROM RAT TO  HUMAN, FROM DOG TO HUMAN, FROM RABBIT TO HUMAN, FROM MONKEY TO HUMAN AND SO ON AND SO ON. WE CANNOT APPLY THE RESULTS FROM ONE SPECIES TO ANOTHER. THE SCIENCE IS NOT SOUND, FAR FROM SOUND AS YOU CAN GET, AND IT ALWAYS WILL BE.
 GET THE PICTURE, POINTLESS, CRUEL AND DEHUMINASING.

Look at the case of the heart drug, "Eraldin",  which later caused serious side effects in Human beings including blindness. And there have been plenty more drugs that were tested on animals, then given to humans with disastrous results. Maybe one of the most well known of these was "Thalidomide", given to pregnant woman in the late 50's and early 60's for morning sickness. Their babies were born with severe deformaties and missing limbs.
Another example is"Opren", given to arthritis sufferers who suffered painful side effects including photosensitiviy, a painful reaction of the skin to sunlight.
How can we recreate illnesses in animals that don't suffer from them? It seems a ridiculous and pointless exercise.
Give Morphine to cats and it excites them, whereas it sends us to sleep. Give aspirin to rats and it will cause birth defects, whereas for us, it stops pain.
Look at prescription drugs, so many of which have been tested on animals, meant to benefit us in some way, however prescription drugs are the 4th biggest killer in the USA.
If we'd relied on rat tests, we'd still believe smoking doesn't cause cancer and alcohol doesn't cause liver damage.
Asbestos didn't poison animals, so for years, it was denied that it was harming humans. Heart Bypass didn't work on  dogs, so the procedure was denied to humans for years.
Polio researchers misled the world for years about how humans catch the disease, because they were working on monkeys.
Had penicillan been tested on guinea pigs to whom it is fatal, this valuable drug could have been lost for ever. And, although a number of white mice were initally used to test it, it was actually 1st properly tested on a human being.
Medicines that might have been useful to people but was poisonous to animals haven't been developed and toxic chemicals have been used because they appeared safe to animals but proved harmful to humans.
ANIMAL EXPERIMENTATION HAS SIMPLY DELAYED MEDICAL PROGRESS.
These are all examples (and there are plenty more) of how pointless and needless animal experiments are when finding cures for our health defects.

AFTER DECADES OF ANIMAL EXPERIMENTATION, CANCER CASES ARE INCREASING, NOT DECLINING.
http://www.healingcancernaturally.com/why_alternatives15.html
THERE IS NO MIRACLE CURE IN SITE FOR CYSTIC FYBROSIS, THE HUMAN LUNG PROBLEM, DESPITE THE PROMISES.
SCIENCE SHOWS THAT ANIMAL EXPERIMENTATION DOESN'T WORK, IT DOESN'T HELP PEOPLE WHO ARE SICK GET BETTER AND IT DOESN'T PREVENT OR CURE DISEASE.

Animal Experiments are not predicative for what will occur in Human Beings. There is no one Animal or combination of animals that will give the right result. We may as well flip a coin.

Human Diseases can take a different form in animals as shown by aids. Chimps, who have a similar genetic makeup to us do not develop the disease when injected with the Aids virus..

So why does Animal Experimentation  continue? For the same reason as most other destructive, negative and unhelpful industries continue - MONEY. There is a huge movement built on the misery and exploitation of our fellow, sentient beings. Huge pharmaceutical companies such as Glaxosmithkline and the like are there to make money, and to make money, they have to introduce new drugs. When 1 drug co. produces a successful drug, other co's copy it. It's NOT NEED, IT'S ABOUT MONEY (there are over 18,000 medicines on the market); Universities ( scientists, researchers and academics);Instrument makers; Animal suppliers; Feed producers;cage suppliers. They all profit from the terrible tragedy that is Animal Experimentation and Vivisection. Careers are built on it sadly.

The way forward is to study ourselves. Many major medical advances have come by studying people NOT animals. We need Social Reform, changing the way we do things. It was thanks to the Social Reformers 100 years ago,who observed that living in squalour and poverty was the main cause of death of people from infectious diseases. Through social reform, sewarage systems were built. Clean water and better housing transformed Britain and did more  to lower the death rates than all the drugs and vaccines put together. So by studying how people live and improving their living conditions, we can bring about better health and reduce illness and disease. This is called "Epidemiology" and it's how the link between cancer and smoking was made, through studying smokers, NOT by forcing animals to inhale tobacco smoke. Our knowledge of heart disease, cancer and aids comes from studying people's lives. We don't need Animal Experiments to tell us that Environmental Pollution causes ill health.

PREVENTION IS THE WAY FORWARD. MOST BIG KILLER DISEASES COULD BE PREVENTED BUT THE SEARCH FOR CURES SOAKS UP ALL THE MONEY, LEAVING ONLY A TINY FRACTION FOR PREVENTION.

WE NEED SOCIAL REFORM; A CHANGE IN LIFE STYLE AND WE NEED TO REASSESS OUR PRIORITIES.

Drugs, Medicine and surgery can prolong life but the most important area is PREVENTION and Animals cannot help with that. Instead we must look at the Human Situation - Our diet and our way of life. And here lies another strong argument against killing Animals for meat.
A worldwide study supported by the World Cancer Research fund , looking at the effects of lifestyle and diet on health, indicated a direct link between animal protein intake and certain kinds of cancer, particulary bowl cancer.
Heart disease and diabetes is linked with obesity which is linked with a poor diet of saturated fats, much of  which comes from dairy products and meat from cows, chickens, pigs and sheep which have been kept in intensive farming conditions where disease is rife because there is no freedom of movement and disease is easily spread from one animal to the other.
These diseases include BSE, Salmonella, Bird Flu, Foot&Mouth all of which have affected Human health too. Not to mention the growth hormones injected into these poor, trapped beings which are passed into the food chain to be consumed by humans; and the traces of pus and blood from infected dairy cows' teats (because they are so over milked that they suffer painful infections of the udder) that people end  up drinking when they buy milk. Current regulations permit millions of pus cells per litre.

IF ALL THAT ALONE ISN'T A GOOD ENOUGH REASON TO REVERT TO A PLANT BASED DIET, THEN I DON'T KNOW WHAT WILL PERSUADE YOU!

Maybe this will -
From "The WEEK", 9th July 2011
".............some experts predict that most of our meat will, in future, be grown in the laboratory..............There are problems to overcome, making sure the stem cells become muscle cells and not, say, brain cells........................"

And yet again, I ask, why does the cruelty continue when the cost to the environment and our health is so plainly evident? Well isn't that plainly obvious? It's US, our GREED. The consumer is to blame, we want fast, cheap food and we don't care about the consequences. Each year, with  around £700 million worth of tax payers money, the government is helping to prop up factory farming and fund the food production that has such a devastating impact on our environment.

Modern day, intensive farming exists to produce meat, dairy and products as cheaply and as quickly as possible. To keep production costs down, the animals are given the bare minimum they need to survive. They are fattened in huge, dirty cramped sheds and deprived of everything that makes life worth living. They can hardly stretch their wings or legs and will never be able to roam.

The average meat eater will eat 11,000 animals in their lifetime,  including fish and shellfish.

WE HAVE A CHOICE, THE ANIMALS DON'T. THEY PAY WITH THEIR LIVES. APPROXIMATELY 1 BILLION ANIMALS ARE KILLED EVERY YEAR IN THE UK ALONE. THIS FIGURE DOESN'T INCLUDE FISH AS THEY ARE KILLED IN SUCH VAST NUMBERS, THEY ARE COUNTED IN TONNES.
THESE ANIMALS  ARE TREATED LIKE UNFEELING OBJECTS, BUT EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THEM; FISH, BIRD, DUCK,  HORSE, GOAT, MONKEY, RAT, RABBIT, COW, SHEEP, CALF,LAMB, DOG, CAT, PIG, MOUSE, CHICKEN, QUAIL, PHEASANT, PARTRIDGE, DONKEY, FOX HARE, AND SO MANY MORE; IS CAPABLE OF EXPERIENCING PAIN, FEAR, DISCOMFORT AND DISTRESS.
BY GOING MEAT-FREE AND BOYCOTTING ALL PRODUCTS THAT HAVE BEEN TESTED ON ANIMALS, WE CAN HELP PREVENT THIS SUFFERING AND SLAUGHTER.
KILLING AN ANIMAL FOR FOOD OR FOR VIVISECTION PURPOSES CAN NEVER BE REGARDED AS HUMANE. ANIMALS LIVES ARE AS IMPORTANT TO THEM, AS OURS ARE TO US.

WE ALL HAVE CHOICES TO MAKE, WE CAN STAY IN THE OLD WORLD WHERE ANIMALS ARE TREATED SOLELY AS OBJECTS TO SATISFY HUMANS, OR WE CAN LIVE BY A NEW ETHIC BASED ON RESPECT AND COMPASSION FOR ALL THOSE WE SHARE THE PLANET WITH.

IN THE WORDS OF ANIMAL AID, from whose website I have obtained much of the information data, and pictures that are in this post; -.............................................

"THEIR FUTURE IS IN YOUR HANDS"