Introduction To The Second Edition

For us, the past two years have consisted of a painstaking collection of data and research. As before, space constraints have required us to exclude a lot of helpful articles in their entirety. However we have taken the cold hard facts of these articles and included them here. A complete listing of these articles can be found in the back of this book and we do recommend that you take the time to dig them up and read them.

We have attempted not to write an animal rights book, but a clear, concise reference Manual. Our views on animal rights should be self-evident.

As thorough and complete as we have attempted to be, no one list on the subject can ever be considered absolutely complete. Industry is creating new ingredients every day. With this in mind, you will find a bit more explanation in this edition to aid in making the many educated guesses that a vegan is faced with on a day to day basis. Starting with some nutrition facts to help dispell myths about how unhealthy not eating meat is, we go on to bring fact to the fiction (or non-fiction) of many rumors that we have all heard many times and even some that we were surprised to hear. Regardless of how outrageous a reported rumor would sound, we went to lengths in checking it out through the FDA, the manufacturer, and wherever else we could find the information.

Most of the FDA boards that review products and make policies regarding their labeling are typically all ex-food product executives. This fact alone makes the FDA an unreliable source of information. In the current political climate, and with capitalism at it's strongest, the FDA is often pressured to make decisions biased to the manufacturers liking. Often a good deal, if not all of the research on any given product is done by the manufacturers themselves. So the bias should be obvious. Food manufacturers also use tactics (coined by Procter & Gamble) like contributing large amounts of capital to key members of the Congress to gain lobbying power.

The manufacturers were not helpful in finding out specifics on particular products as they went to every extreme to protect their products and maintain the salability to all consumers. Of course, any food product from any major manufacturer (ie. Proctor & Gamble, General Mills, etc.) will have most likely been tested on animals regardless of whether or not there are animal derived products in it.

It is best to buy food products from the smaller companies out there, or try your hand at organic gardening. Unfortunately these two alternatives are not always feasible depending on where you live. That's why we've worked so hard to pull a book like this together.

In researching this book we have been astounded at some of the inventive places animal products can pop up. Our diets have changed in the course of compiling the information here, as we were surprised to find many ingredients that we were eating contained animal products.

We have continued to be as thorough and correct as possible. All information contained in this publication is from reliable sources, all of which are documented at the end. Most have been double checked with our own resources, If you find any additions or corrections let us know at: E.G. Smith Press, P.O. Box 82026, Columbus, Ohio, 43202 USA - please include sources and explanations.

As far as we know, the E.G. Smith collective does not exist anymore, and can not be contacted at the above address

Introduction To The First Edition

The purpose of this pamphlet isn't to preach about why you shouldn't eat animals and how animals are tortured because of society's consumption of them. It has been compiled as a working reference for those who are most likely vegan, and who wonder if Dihydroxyethyl Soyamine Dioleate in their favorite potato chips is vegan (which it isn't)

This pamphlet is comprised of several different articles from all over the country. There were a lot of things that we had collected that we wanted to include but due to the space constraints we were forced to carefully select articles that stayed consistent with the original goal we had set out to accomplish.

The Possible Animal Derived List in this pamphlet requires some explanation. This is a myriad of ingredients that fit into two categories. The first, are ingredients that are most likely animal-derived, but no confirmation has been given by the manufacturer(s). The other are ingredients that in some cases are animal-derived, but not always. Usually it is best to use your judgement. Lecithin for example will say Soy-Lecithin if it is not derived from animals, on the other hand some ingredients offer no clue to their origins. It is usually best to avoid most of the products listed in this section, just to be safe.

The booklet focuses mainly on food, but it also extends somewhat into shampoos and other products that even people of the meat-eating culture wouldn't normally eat. We have tried to be as thorough and correct as possible, all the information contained in this publication is from reliable sources, all of which are documented at the end, and most have been double checked with our own resources. If you find any additions or corrections please direct them to E.G. Smith Press, P.O. Box 82026, Columbus, Ohio, 43202 - please include sources and explanations.

As far as we know, the E.G. Smith collective does not exist anymore, and can not be contacted at the above address

- E.G. Smith Press Collective

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