It was brilliant
to be given the chance to do a talk at the Oxford Vegan Festival. I had said I
would talk about animal issues that jointly affect Ireland and the UK. I would
include animals in laboratories, puppy farms and live export. I started by
giving credit to Oxford for being a leading light in animal-free research
because of the Hadwen Trust that started there. It has now moved and is called
Animal Free Research but I went on to outline the questions that I put to them:
Thank you for all the work you are doing. Please could you help with any
of the following:
1. Is there any list or directory of a) existing medicines that have not
been tested on animals b) the conditions that can be treated by them and c)
their accessibility (to doctors or on request from patients).
2. Are there vaccines that do not use animal ingredients and are not
tested on animals?
3. Are there dentistry alternatives?
4) Are there any common remedies available to the public, from chemists
(parallels to say paracetemol) that have not been tested on animals?
5) How would you answer the argument that animal free research methods
are 'too expensive'? Are there simulator computer programmes, machines or
software that could/should be subsidized to encourage companies to switch?
I said that I had
left a piece of paper for people to leave their email addresses if they wanted
to hear the answers to these enquiries and I will obviously post them here as
well.
I summed up the
scale and intractability of the problem in 3 sentences. Ireland’s testing on
animals has increased by 800% plus. In the UK, the pharmaceutical companies
have an industry worth 16 billion annually. That worth is going to always be a
lot more powerful than a wave of public opinion.
In Ireland, when research
companies are caught breaching welfare legislation, they are not prosecuted and
not even penalized: The cost and responsibility for rescuing the animals if a
facility shuts down, goes to the ISPCA, the equivalent of the UK’s RSPCA.
In the UK there is
no attempt at accountability at all. The pharmaceutical industry made a
statement to the government that, if they did not criminalize animal advocacy
actions (under a pretext of economical sabotage), and essentially get pressure
groups off their backs, they would withdraw their multi-billion pound industry
from the UK. They did not make even an empty promise of better working
practice, or higher welfare standards…let alone make a commitment to explore
less severe testing methods. Some of the people present did not know about
toxicity tests that increase dosage of substances until 50% of the sample group
are dead. Then they register that amount as the lethal concentration of the
substance. Oh yes, then they put down the survivors as they are too sick to
test another product on.
I didn’t elaborate
on any gruesome details as everyone there was vegan and were probably aware of
enough painful scenarios happening for animals, already. This led on to a
suggested 3-part daily plan for activism.
3 part daily
practice for activists.
1) Work on inner
wellbeing and maintaining it
2) Do a
dispassionate assessment of the external situation arising – this could be a
local supermarket with factory farmed animal products or the threat of a badger
cull mentioned in the newspaper. Or it could be something national or
international, like a massive public subsidy going to a cruel industry/sport
like bull fighting or greyhound racing.
3) Followed by
taking action, with clarity but without accompanying anger.
I gave two
examples. As the Brexit revision of UK policies has started, the clause stating
that animals are ‘sentient’ has been omitted. This is a very important clause
as, in animal cruelty legal cases, there will be no way to win protection for
animals if the precedent is not there, that they can suffer.
I was anxious
about this but let that anxiety go and contacted the Oxford Animal Ethics
Centre where there are some very influential people and asked them to write and
insist that the clause be returned to law. I also contacted Compassion In World
Farming and found that they had been on the case for months trying to raise
awareness that animals’ sentience was at risk of being lost.
This shows how
each communication strengthens the network of awareness.
Then I suggested
how to tackle the individual response. I suggested that in every shop you
visit, you always look for the leaping rabbit on the things you buy. This
symbol means cruelty free and not tested on animals. If you don’t see it, ask
the shop assistants. Do you have any cruelty free products? Always ask in a
relaxed fashion and be faintly surprised and shocked if they don’t have any but
talk about it as if the assistant themselves is probably shocked too to find
out there isn’t any!!! This conversation will get them looking for the rabbit
symbol too and no doubt they will order one or two the following week.
Looking for
ethical sustainable products, writing letters, turning up to vegan information
days and rescue fundraising events are all things that can be done a little every
day. And then PUT IT ASIDE, live your life with enthusiasm and be satisfied
because, once you are vegan, you are already doing a lot. You are making
conscious choices all the time, what to eat, to buy, to wear, to visit and to
support. You are already educating by your conversations, articulating why you
are doing this and that and NOT doing this and that!
However, we are
disempowered as activists by any anger or upset we are carrying around.
Energetically speaking, we are creating more suffering by reliving it and
paying attention to it. Unfortunately, those that might even deserve our
resentment for their exploitation of animals don’t ever RECEIVE the resentment.
It is only the person carrying the resentment that suffers. It is a big part of
the demoralization of our humanity and we must not let ourselves fall for it.
Equally, we must not justify, to ourselves even, any lingering upset and anger.
We must keep ourselves well and happy. Only that way can we be powerful and
purposeful at the same time. This is the greatest danger for vegans that we become
de-energized by the magnitude of the problems
I had to rustle up
some things to be grateful for and the first was that you can trust yourself
once you’ve made that change in your life as you have proved to yourself that
you can respond to new information and live according to it, rather than just
continue with what you used to do out of bloody mindedness, laziness or fear of
change. You have proved as well that you can live with compassion and still do
well, without being too ‘go getting’ and risk someone else’s wellbeing.
So I went on to
talk about puppy farms and the how and why of export and all the God forsaken
creatures that are exported but I will try and remember more about that
tomorrow. For today, I think that was the main vision. Be content inside and
generate loving feelings amongst your nearest and dearest people and pets. Then
trust your intuition that the particular causes you need to pay attention to
will show up for you. Then take some action, a little every day. Sign petitions
and put companies and ministers under pressure to disassociate from cruel
revenue streams.
No comments:
Post a Comment