For some reason, I always assumed that India was a country compassionate towards animals. I suppose this assumption was made based on documentaries I had seen about the temples/sanctuaries for monkeys, rats etc.. where these animals lived in peace, were looked after, and fed by people who thought they were holy sacred beings. I was particularly impressed by the footage I saw of people preparing food for hundreds, possibly thousands of rats in a temple. I thought, wow now THAT's compassion for you. Everywhere else in the world rats are reviled and even a lot of supposedly kind and animal-loving people wouldn't hesitate to kill/poison/trap a rat. Usually it seems kindness is limited only to those who are cute and considered 'clean' so I was touched by the care shown to the rats.
India has a large vegetarian population due to certain widespread religious beliefs about compassion and not taking the lives of living things. I'm a huge consumer of skin and body care products manufactured by an Indian company called Himalaya. Their products are not animal tested and contain no animal derived ingredients. For some reason (i'm sooooo naive and dumb sometimes) this led me to believe that other Indian products would probably be cruelty-free as well. I really thought that vegetarians + compassionate society = cruelty-free capitalism. I must be out of my frickin mind. Gandhi said "The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way in which its animals are treated". I hoped his countrymen thought so too.
Well, I suppose that's why I was so surprised when I found out that the animal-testing facility being set up in Malaysia is being done so in partnership with Indian biotech company Vivo Biotech Limited and Malaysian company Malacca Biotech. I wasn't surprised by the Malaysian part, after all its well-known that Malaysia is not a compassionate society and animals have no rights here. I was surprised by the Indian part because I didn't know (again very naive of me) that there was actually an industry for animal-testing research over there. It never occurred to me that societal beliefs have nothing to do with economics and there are always going to be some fuckers in every country that will exploit anyone and anything for a buck. I had even assumed that there were laws protecting animals from the cruelties and agony of vivisection. My ignorance and idealism amaze me. ugh. Its as if I thought everyone would be like Gandhi. Yes, laugh. Go ahead laugh at me.
Anyhoozers I did some reading and it turns out that yes of course India uses animals for their drugs and cosmetics industries. Duh. In fact more and more Indian companies are churning out pharmaceuticals and cosmetics all the time. Hundreds of billions of rupees worth get exported around the world every year. Animal testing is a HUGE industry in India pushed on by humanity's constant desire for new and innovative products, but it was barely regulated. There were no rules or laws dictating what could or could not be done to the animals. The researchers and scientists could do whatever they wanted.. until 1998. That's when the first animal testing regulations first went into effect. Now, pharmaceutical companies in India must deal with a lot of angry animal rights groups. Animal testing has become a huge religious and political issue over there. They can no longer test on canines or primates and other small animal testing is extremely limited and strictly regulated. Did i mention that the facility they are setting up in Malaysia will include canine and primate testing facilities? ooohhhhhh what a co-inky-dink!!
That's why India's Vivo Biotech Limited is EXPORTING their cruelty to Malaysia. Smart move on their part. Bastards. They are setting up their crap here because animal protection laws are seriously lacking over here. They can go back to being cruel, barbaric, archaic, and they can use all kinds of disgusting methods and procedures outlawed elsewhere in the world. They don't have to worry about legal issues... there aren't as many activists over here. Its a vivisection lover's dream come true. They can avoid their own animal welfare laws. How convenient.
What does Malaysia get out of this? A piece of the bloody RM170 billion (US 50 billion) pie of course. Yay for Malacca state. I think we should all boycott the Malaysian state of Malacca and any products produced by Vivo Biotech and Malacca Biotech. Remember, always do your research so you can find cruelty-free cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. There are lots. When the petitions and protests begin, take part! Don't let cruelty be shoved down your throat. Don't consume it, don't encourage it.
Here are some great animal-testing reads:
http://www.petaindia.com/campaigns/vivisection.asp
http://www.boston.com/business/healthcare/articles/2006/11/25/outsourcing_animal_testing/
http://www.calcuttanews.net/story/226032
http://www.stopanimaltests.com/
And for those who don't care where the crap they buy comes from. Don't care about the suffering that comes with the purchase.. Well just because you haven't seen it doesn't mean it doesn't happen. And if you do buy cruelty, you're GUILTY of the cruelty as well. You might as well have held the poor critters down and sliced them open yourself, after all you are paying the salaries of the people who put them there.
So here, take a look you bastards.. http://www.animalsvoice.com/gallery/cosmetic.html
(Almost) Wordless Ryu
2 days ago
3 comments:
All of that is simply heart breaking.
There's little point in blaming consumers for buying things tested on animals when 99.9% of products don't state if they were tested on animals or not. The people to target are the ministries that regulate this stuff. Make them accountable for when animal testing happens and not, and for making people put notes on their products so that consumers have a chance to choose!
PS and let's ban all traditional medicines that contain animal ingredients!!
I believe that the mere labelling of products would not have the impact on consumer consciousness that we want. The problem here isn't that of a lack of awareness, but the fact that most consumers believe vivisection to be a "necessary evil".
"It's either us or them", they'd say. "How else can we know if a product is safe for human use?" "If your child had cancer, then which choice would you make -- which life would you choose to save first -- a rabbit or your child?"
The solution, in my opinion, is not only to make product labelling a legal requirement, but for us activists and campaigners to point out the shortcomings of vivisection and to highlight alternatives to animal testing, e.g.
1. There are too many duplications of tests;
2. Medical products tested safe on animals may not be safe on humans, therefore to say that vivisection is the only way we can determine the safety of medical products for human use is wildly inaccurate. E.g. Thalidomide was tested safe on primates and cats, and therefore declared safe for human use. Ah-Ha!
3. MRIs, allergy patch tests, human volunteers for vaccines etc are all far more accurate methods of medical research than animal testing.
To me, our strategy should not just be to illuminate which companies still test on animals, but to inform and educate the public that animal testing is inaccurate, cruel and unnecessary.
And yes, a lot of people don't realise that animals are injected with cancer cells for cancer research. They actually think that the benevolent researchers go to pounds and shelters and pick up poor little animals suffering from cancer and treat them with these wonderful new drugs to make them feel all better, rainbows and sunshine.
Damn. It's people who should be spayed or neutered or put to sleep, mate, not animals.
Re Vivo Biotech: I have 2 dogs and 6 cats who have volunteered their services to poop at the entrance of their research facility.
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