Healing Our World It DOES Matter
It is so important to try to make our lives a statement of our values and beliefs. Because so many of our environmental and social dilemmas can be traced to our consumer based corporate culture, what we buy and what we take into our homes and into our lives directly impacts those values, our Earth and our society. Yet the way we have been brought up, the assumptions we have been trained to make, and our perceptions of what our needs are makes these choices difficult and sometimes daunting. How do we determine if something in our lives conflicts with our values - and then what do we do? After a long search for the perfect water bottle to carry around with me, I finally found the right one. It holds 32 ounces, is soft, and has a great spout. It even has a hinged cover over the spout that I use as a little cup for taking supplements. And it is made by the Nalgene company, a U.S. firm that has a long history of making fine water bottles for the backpacking industry. Unfortunately, I learned yesterday that I can't use it any more. I am very disappointed - and tempted to ignore the whole thing - but I can't. Every few weeks, I visit some websites that track corporations and their activities (see Resources below). They provide me with a list of boycotts and other actions that are being waged against businesses. What I learn and the choices I then face remind me of how much I have been indoctrinated by this culture to believe that I should have whatever I want, whenever I want it. It is not totally my fault, though. By the age of 5, I, like most U.S. children, probably had seen nearly 100,000 commercials. My values had already been molded. By an even earlier age, my parents taught me that I am what I accumulate. So it is no surprise to me that I find it hard to believe that I have to give up my water bottle. I was shocked when I visited the Corporate Accountability Project page the other day and saw Nalgene there. When I clicked on that link, I learned that the company also distributes products used by medical researchers to experiment on animals. The products included various housing, activity, testing, and restraint devices that allow the researcher to work on the animal during experimentation procedures. This was of great concern to me, as I have spent many years researching the cruelty and questionable validity of animal research, and I am very much against the way in which research is conducted. Even if you assume that animal experimentation is needed in some cases, the way it is conducted is abominable. The U.S. government funding agency, the National Institutes of Health, does not require that the experiment being proposed be unique, valuable, or necessary. There may be hundreds of the same study going on at any moment. There is no requirement that these researchers share their results or even to talk to one another. Even if you believe that one, two, or even ten of these studies is necessary, it is impossible to justify the duplication that goes on. The research animals used are often stolen from wild populations. Some primates used in research are captured as babies in other countries. The typical procedure is for the hunter to kill the parents and have dogs chase the baby until it is worn out. For every one of these babies that reaches the research lab, many have died during capture or transport. Throughout the world, dogs and cats are taken from animal shelters to be used in experiments. Some cities, including Los Angeles, ban this practice. Pound seizure results in former pets being subjected to the horrors of experimentation. From a scientific standpoint, the data resulting from using animals with unknown backgrounds and mixed genetic composition is questionable at best. All these issues are floating through my mind as I look at my beloved water bottle. Nalgene has nothing to do with the experiments themselves, but they do supply some of the equipment. So what do you do if you decide to boycott a product? See the Resources section for some simple steps to take. However, be sure your information is correct! The Internet is a great resource, but there are thousands of old, outdated web pages out there. In fact, when I went back to the activist web page today, I got concerned about the Nalgene issue when I saw that the page was last updated in January 1997! Searching the web for more current information, I visited the Nalgene corporate web site and found no reference to animal science products. I called the company and left a message. At first I thought this could mean that they eliminated the product line, but after speaking with Margaret Gregory, Nalgene's sales and marketing manager and Dr. Dan Gorlick, a biologist on their staff, they informed me that they do still carry 50 to 100 products in the animal science line. The company chose, Gregory told me, to take any reference to those products off the web site because of the controversy surrounding them. Gregory referred me to another web site, done in the style of a tabloid newspaper, where Nalgene has stated the company's position on the subject. http://nalgene-outdoor.com/truth/animal/ Nalgene is doing nothing wrong, but to me, their role matters. Today, all Nalgene products in my home go into the recycle bin. Will the city take them? I will be writing Nalgene a letter telling them of my action. If they stop selling those products, I will buy their bottles again. You have to decide for yourselves what is important to you. You see, it DOES matter. In general, if you want to boycott a product: Using the Internet, it is easy to find out the address of the manufacturer of the product or service in question. Write a letter to the chairperson of the board and the chief executive officer. Tell them that you will no longer use or recommend their product and tell them why. Send a copy to your local newspaper, humane society, and elected representatives. For example, a copy of the letter could be sent to every camping store in your city if you wanted to alert them to the water bottle issue. You can send e-mail messages as well. Alert your family and friends of your decision. If you choose another product, write to that company and tell them why you have chosen them over the other. If the company you are boycotting ever stops the practice you were concerned about, thank them and resume buying their products. RESOURCES 1. For a good discussion that will provide an alternative view to the Nalgene position about animal research, visit http://www.aavs.org/html/common_questions.html 2. If you want to comment to Nalgene, send a letter to the President and CEO, Nalge Nunc International, World Wide Headquarters, 75 Panorama Creek Drive, Rochester, NY 14625. You can call them at 716-586-8800. You can call them for a name of their president and for his/her email. Their corporate web site is at http://www.nalgenunc.com/ 3. Millions of dollars in research grants are given out by government and private companies to conduct research. Yet there are virtually no requirements that any productive research result from those studies. In fact, the U.S. National Institutes of Health own investigator has said that 25 percent of the animal research they fund turns out to be fraudulent. Send an email message to Dr. Harold Varmus, Director of the NIH at execsec1@od.nih.gov telling him you want their funding requirements tightened up. 4. Most animals are not like humans and testing human drugs on them is ludicrous. If guinea pigs had been chosen as the animal subjects for penicillin tests, that drug would never have been released - penicillin kills guinea pigs. Learn about this aspect of the issue from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals at http://www.peta-online.org/ 5. For a list of companies that do and do not test on animals, visit the National Anti-Vivisection Society at http://www.aavs.org/html/companies.html 6. For a good list of commonly asked questions about animal research, visit http://www.aavs.org/html/common_questions.html 7. Visit the Johns Hopkins University Center for Alternatives to Animal testing at http://www.sph.jhu.edu/~altweb/ 8. Visit the site of the Medical Research Modernization Committee at http://www.mrmcmed.org/critcv.html 9. Visit Psychologists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals at http://www.psyeta.org/ 10. Check out an interesting discussion of animal experimentation issues in a module for a course at Allegheny University at http://pwp.auhs.edu/~perryc/er5x1.htm 11. Keep an eye on what companies are doing at the following sites: Boycott Action News at http://www.coopamerica.org/Boycotts/bancover.htm
12. Keep an eye on activism world wide at Macrocosm at http://www.macronet.org/ 13. The National Institute on Media and the Family can help you decide the best television and media strategy for your children at http://www.mediaandthefamily.org/home.html 14. Learn about children and how they use and interpret the media at http://www.mediaandthefamily.org/chduse.html 15. Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting will help you stay ahead of the media at http://www.fair.org/ 16. 16. Find out who your Congressional representatives are and e-mail them. Write them often about issues that matter to you. If you know your Zip code, you can find them at http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/ziptoit.html or you can search by state at http://www.webslingerz.com/jhoffman/congress-email.html 17. Learn about the issues. Seek out books on the subject. A good source for used (and new) books is Powell’s Bookstore in Portland, Oregon at http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/associate?assoc_id=212 where you will find a wonderful alternative to the massive chain bookstores taking over the market. You can also find your representatives at http://congress.nw.dc.us/innovate/index.html Visit the Healing Our World Archive and check out the many resource links in past articles. This Healing Our World article appear
courtesy of Jackie Giuliano (copyright 1998) Jackie Giuliano, Ph.D., can be found in Venice, California, mourning the loss of his water bottle and feeling his anger about animal experimentation. He is a Professor of Environmental Studies for Antioch University, Los Angeles, and the University of Phoenix Southern California Campuses. Please send your thoughts, comments, and visions to him at jackie@healingourworld.com
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