So I’m pretty sure that I have mentioned on past posts that even before I had gone vegetarian I would not buy animal tested products. It never made sense to me. On a medical level the animals they test on have such a different composition than humans that it is a waste of lives and on the level for product safety it was simply inhumane. PETA has a list of companies that animal test and I refuse to support those companies (though looking at the list toady I noticed a few that I didn’t realize now have parent companies that test.)
Ok, now that I have explained myself I may move on. Awhile back a couple of my friends (one who is vegan) volunteered for a photo shoot in order to make a calendar where the sales would go to breast cancer research. They also did a special promotion night where they were getting together some bands to play to help raise money. There was a vegan band that declined the offer because “vegans don’t believe in cancer research.”
Prior to this I had never thought about this aspect of veganism. My mom and grandma are breast cancer survivors and my sister and I our pretty much guaranteed to be 4th generation breast cancer victims. It is in our genes. I have already decided that when I get diagnosed I will have a mastectomy and decline treatment, but that is a personal choice. Now my family has been given a bigger dilemma, our cat has been diagnosed with a terminal disease and I need to choose whether or not to give him medication to make his final days more comfortable, medication that I know animals in labs have lived in pain and suffering until finally losing there lives. Unfortunately, I am unable to explain the situation to the cat or ask his opinion.
With this weekly article the responses have been minimal but they are getting a lot of people to check them out which means if nothing else people are being given something to think about. With this piece I am not looking for advise as much as for feedback if you have had a similar experience or your thoughts on cancer treatments in general. Thanks again to all of our supporters, you make this blog worthwhile.
Don't Fear the Vegan 
Have you heard about Kris Carr and the crazy sexy diet? If not you should check out her site crazysexylife.com she’s amazing has lots of cancer info and lifestyle tips. I applaud your personal choice and have been asked especially since I’m studying to be a nurse with similar questions, truthfully I don’t always have an answer but I will tell you I do not donate to any charities unless I know exactly where the money goes. When it comes to personal health my feeling is that if you have expended all natural options then and only then should you consider other choices, although I don’t know if I would be willing to try the main stream options. I just watched Forks over Knives and it also made me re think my supposedly healthy vegan diet and I’m on a path to be more whole plant based especially after they said only 1-2% of cancer is solely from genetics.
Mal, I just came across Kris Carr and the book sounds pretty interesting. It is hard for any of us to say what we would really do when faced with a life threatening disease. In theory it is easy. Hopefully with my vegan diet I will be less likely to get cancer. I loved Forks over Knives. If you haven’t already you should check out Dr. McDougall’s website. He as a lot of great info!