Which would you prefer? Humane killing of creatures who’ve been badly damaged/injured in a research facility (which what PETA did)or letting the facility continue torturing them for as long as they’re ‘useful’ to the facility?

Thanks for a great post, Abhi.

Haha! Sorry, it was a typo (z is just below s and I’m tired) but I actually met a guy who said it twice in one hour. He was showing a room for rent in a place that turned out to be illegal. Lucky I didn’t rent it – I wouldn’t have wanted to know what kind of orgazms ;P were living there!

thoroughly disappointed .

Yeah, I hear ya, although lactobacillus and bifidus and the other “probiotics” already live in most people’s digestive systems and all over our bodies besides (keeps many other organizms from taking over like members of the genus candida) whereas botulism bacteria don’t. Still, yuck. When my kids don’t drink their milk it turns into “yogurt” in the sink overnight if I forget to rinse the cup.

Yeah, and the way they make silk is just plain sad.

I’m not a vegan but if I was I think I would have to live on sustainably farmed organic fair wage eco soy chocolate.

well… madamoise and monsieur PETA, what about the eggs from vegetarian fed, cafe free hens?

PETA would probably insist on non-cafe free hens, because don’t all hens have the right to their morning frappuccino?

What about yogurt? It’s rotting milk full of germs.

Some hardcore vegans don’t eat honey either. Or wear silk.

Great points. I totally agree with you on the eggs, although they are kind of annoying to use so I usually reserve them for cookies.

Interestingly on the Jain point, having many Jain in-laws (BIL married a Jain) I’ve learned the following:

Honey – not only does it contain botulism bacteria (that’s why kids under 2 are not supposed to eat it) the larvae are also fed the honey and are contained in the combs when they are extracted from the hives to get the honey and are usually killed. Honey cannot be pasteurized because the consistency is ruined so it’s kid of gross if you think about it: sugar syrup steeped in bug juice and germs.

Figs – bugs lay eggs in them. ‘Nuf said

Mushrooms – apparently the Jains friends/family I know are kid of split on this issue, although the biologists really tend to shun them. The reason is that when characterizing their cell type they are not really plants. Plants (kingdom Plantae) have cells referred to as prokaryotes with a distinctive cell structure and nucleus, and kingdoms Animalia and Fungi and most members of Bacteriae (? forgot if this is part of animalia) have cells referred to as eukaryotic which have neuclei, mitochondria etc. much like ours. Basically I think the reason for shunning the ‘shrooms would be that they are more closely related to animals then plants.

I’m a total nerd. I know.

Euthanizing an animal that’s in pain is a kindness.