Animal Products Hiding in Plain Sight

May 31, 2021

"Every time you spend money, you’re casting a vote for the kind of world you want."
-Anna Lapp

1. Bear bile

Bear bile farming is about as horrendous as it sounds, as these wild animals are contained in small, cramped cages while bile is extracted from their gallbladders. In the past, bears were hunted for their gallbladders, but today, they suffer their whole lives until eventually withering away or being killed. The bile, taken from various ursine species, is often associated with traditional Chinese medicine, but it can also be found in products ranging from tea to toothpaste.

2. Blood meal

This is one of those products with which I was unfamiliar until seeing a bag of it sitting out in a neighbor's yard. It is a type of fertilizer made of, you guessed it, powdered animal blood. (Blood is also a common ingredient in farmed animal feed, which opens the door to disease spread.) Of course, these harmful gardening products -- ranging from fake fertilizers made to nurture the ground to synthetic pesticides designed to slaughter the critters who live in it -- are just symptoms of humans' desire to destroy native habitats in order to recreate the land in an image we find appealing.

3. Donkey milk

Absurdly, donkey's milk is believed to have anti-aging benefits and has found a niche in the skincare market. Of course, donkey milk, just another cog in the insidious dairy machine, is as cruel as traditional milk. The adults are sexually assaulted, the babies are kidnapped, and they all are killed. There's absolutely no need for humans to lather our faces with a product of animals' suffering.

4. Guanine

Guanine -- sometimes referred to as pearlescence -- is used in the cosmetics industry to give beauty products an iridescent sheen. It is created from ground fish scales, which have that natural luster humans so greatly desire.

5. Horsehair bows

Horses' hair can be used in many ways, but I grew up as a violin player, so I'm familiar with it as the material used in string instrument bows. Though bows with synthetic hair are abundant, horsehair remains the choice for traditional string players. While horses are not farmed on as great a scale as many other animals in the United States, the live export and slaughter of them is common in other countries, including our neighbors to the north.

6. Lactoperoxidase

As can be determined from the root of this word, lactoperoxidase is an enzyme found in dairy, and it is commonly added to cosmetics and skincare products. Though it is believed to have beneficial qualities for skin health, there are a plethora of other, natural ingredients that don't require the exploitation of some of the most vulnerable beings on the planet.

7. Lanolin

Lanolin is a derivative of wool, and though I first learned of it because it's often used in the lubricating strip on disposable razors, it has a wide variety of uses. Similar to dairy, the wool industry would like consumers to believe their sheep are happy and peaceful and live on a fairytale farm where nothing bad ever happens, but that couldn't be further from the truth. The animals subjugated by the wool industry suffer immensely and are killed when their usefulness wanes.

8. Natural gut strings

Cow intestines remain a staple in the tennis industry and are used to craft strings for racquets. Though synthetic alternatives are widely available, "natural gut" is still commonly used. (Not-so-fun fact: Wool is often what gives tennis balls their signature fluffiness, so whenever a match is being played, the real losers are the animals.)

9. Royal jelly

Royal jelly is a funny little name for a honeybee secretion made for larvae. However, of course, humans want to use this for ourselves, so we take it from them to use in homeopathic medicine, health supplements, and cosmetics. (Have you noticed how often these cruel animal-based ingredients and materials are put into products traditionally marketed towards women?) I feel like a broken record at this point, but honeybees, like all other animals, are abused and killed in the farming process. (See "To Beegan or Not to Beegan" for more information on how honeybee agriculture harms humans, animals, and the planet.)

10. Vitamin D3

While vitamin D is essential to good health and can be absorbed through our skin from the sun, an animal-based version of it -- vitamin D3 -- is frequently used as an additive in food products. (Vitamin D2 comes from plant sources.) You'll notice it on many of the ingredients lists in the cereal aisle, but it can also be found in stranger places, such as orange juice.

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