What happens when Europe goes cruelty-free next month?
It's going to be a battle.
For sure.
Plus, traditional remedies for modern lives.
Why you need to stock up on garlic.
I'm Susan Barnett, and this is 51% the women's perspective.
March brings a huge change in the European Union.
Animal testing for personal products will be banned and companies that test on animals
won't be able to sell their products there.
That's bad news for China which requires animal testing, and many American companies
which claim to testing despite new tests which are cruelty-free.
Pascaline Clarek is Senior Director for Animal Research Issues at the Humane Society
of the United States.
When I joined the Humane Society of the United States, people were asking me, oh, we're
still working on this issue.
I'm like, yes, we are because there's still a certain amount of people that don't know
that cosmetics are still tested on animals.
It's a major problem, especially when you see what is happening in other countries,
like Israel, we pass a ban on marketing and imports of cosmetics tested on animals,
and the same thing will happen in March in Europe.
We're in the US basically last, you know, after the race on ending animal testing for
cosmetics.
And it seems that the public in Europe is more aware of this issue than the public in
the United States.
And I know the argument that we always hear from people who argue for no change is that
this testing is necessary.
Clearly, that argument must not be true if other countries are saying no more testing.
It's very hard to convince the public opinion that you don't need animal testing to prove
that it's product is safe, but they are alternatives right now that exist and that companies
have developed and that have been approved to be used to do the exact same type of testing
that are done on animals.
And it's proven that the tests give results that are as good if it's not better than what
we get from animal testing.
So there's no need to test on animals.
Pascaleem, what kind of animals are used in this testing?
Guinea pigs, rabbits are the most used rats in mice as well.
So you know, depending on the type of species, you cannot, I mean, you can get different
data and therefore it's not given that data you get from a test on the rabbits will be
the same that you will get on mice or on a guinea pig.
And therefore what is the relevance of this type of testing for products that are being
used by humans?
And I'm assuming it's a very large industry that supports this animal testing.
Is that where most of the argument comes from simply, it cuts off an industry that doesn't
want to be cut off?
Oh yes, I mean, you know, can you imagine if you tell to a big corporation that starting
tomorrow they cannot test on animal and then we'll have to work on adopting new techniques.
It's going to be a big change in Europe in March.
So the European Union is voting on the ban of cells of cosmetics that are tested on animals.
They already had a ban on basically they were not able to produce any cosmetic and test
them on animals but now they won't allow any cosmetic coming from foreign countries to
be sold on the European market.
So the European Union will become in March the world's largest cruelty-free cosmetic
market.
So that will make a lot of company think about animal testing, especially companies in
the US or in China because they won't be able to sell their products in Europe anymore.
If everyone adopts this, do we lose any kind of products or is this simply no, you do
a different type of test?
You just do a different type of test and you know the food drug and administration in the
US does not require animal testing to prove safety.
So in the US there is no agencies requiring animal testing.
So there is, you know, companies could use different ways and use alternative to do the
exact same job.
Okay, now let's do the stuff that nobody likes to talk about.
What actually happens to the animals that are being tested?
Why is it that we want to stop this?
So basically animals are restrained and companies will test products on their skin so they will
be shaved and they will pour products on their skin, they will pour products in their eyes.
They will also make them breathes but not in a very nicely way.
They will basically, you know, stick a tube in their throats and make them like, inhale
humes from cosmetics.
It's very not, I mean, it's very cruel.
There's no other way to describe this type of technique.
So when you know that there are alternatives, something like that exists and will, you
know, end the suffering of animal, it's still very frustrating to see that, you know,
nothing is moving faster on the issue.
Well and what people can do individually, of course, is look for those pet animal friendly
animals safe, no animal testing labels.
Can those be relied on if you see a product that has that?
Do you know there was no animal testing?
So, you know, the human society of the United States is part of the coalition of consumer
information and cosmetics, which is CCCIC and they have a website which is lippingbunny.org
where you can find actual companies that have requested to be on this website.
And the CCCIC is, you know, has various tricks standards.
So you cannot test your ingredients, you cannot sell your product in China because China
requires animal testing.
You cannot be part of the CCCIC if you don't need all the standards, the very strict standards
that CCCIC require.
And CCCIC is also doing some audits.
So even if you're part of the CCC, they may ask you to give more information about what
you're doing.
So this is for us, basically the, you know, website that everybody should go because all
these companies on the lippingbunny.org website are cruelty free.
There are other companies that will claim to be cruelty free, but they're not part of any
organization.
You know, it's basically you have to trust them.
So I will definitely encourage people to contact their customer service and ask questions
such as, are you testing your ingredients on animal because they may claim that they're
cruelty free because they don't have the finished products.
So it's, you know, big difference.
They can also have been, maybe they're selling in China.
If there are, I'm the Chinese market market, it means that they are required to do animal
testing to be able to enter the markets.
Therefore, they're not cruelty free.
Is there any movement in China to change that?
That's obviously a huge split between the European market and the Chinese market.
It's going to be a battle for sure.
Pasqualeen Clarek is Senior Director for Animal Research Issues at the Humane Society of the
United States.
Find out more at their website and at leepingbunny.org.
Coming up, garlic and cider vinegar may be the answer to what ails you.
If you missed part of this show or want to hear it again, visit the 51% Archives at wamc.org.
This week's show is number 1232.
It's been a wicked flu season in the northeast and much of the country.
Did you take your garlic?
Laurie Steelsmith of Hawaii, a natural path and author of great health through natural
choices, maintains there are lots of things you can do for yourself that don't require
a trip to the pharmacy.
And antihistamine doesn't create great health.
It just takes away the histamine.
An aspirin takes away the headache, but it doesn't give you great health.
So what does great health come from?
And it comes from the simple things that we do each and every day.
Some of these simple things like the apple cider vinegar before a meal to help people with
digestive problems.
I mean, that's something that's in your kitchen.
It's something that you can do.
These are actually a lot of them are folk remedies that have been passed down for decades
of centuries, hundreds of years actually, not thousands of years.
And people can use these things to help create actual health.
So how did you come to compile all of these things?
What's your history?
Well, my history is that I had the incredible opportunity to go live in Europe when I was
16, 17 and 18.
I actually lived in Norway for three months with a family as an exchange student.
And then I lived in Germany for a year with three different families.
And I had the opportunity to learn a lot of these different folk remedies.
I was exposed to a whole new way of life that was very different from the American life
that I was brought up with.
And then when I was 16, I had the opportunity to meet my first natural pathic doctor.
And I was working in a health food store.
And I remember saying to him, I want to just know everything you know.
And how do I find out?
Where did you go to school?
How do I find this information?
There weren't a lot of natural pathic doctors at the time.
This was close to 20 years ago.
And I feel like I've been somewhat of a pioneer here to help bring awareness of natural medicine
to the islands.
And I've written books and I've had a column in the statewide newspaper.
It's really been a fulfilling career and fulfilling and helping people to get better
and to create really good health.
Maybe 20, 30 years ago, if you said you were a natural path, people would assume that
you were some sort of a hippie holdover.
And I think that perception has changed remarkably in recent years.
Is that what you're finding?
The explosion of natural medicine and the demand for people to get whole natural foods.
And not to be ingesting a lot of genetically modified food, not to be ingesting a lot
of non-organic food.
People want to know what they can do themselves to create great health.
So could you give us a couple of simple tips for those of us who don't have the book
and say, all right, I'm coming down with a cold?
What can I do to help myself recover quickly?
Okay, so we're having a cold.
Usually a cold is due to a viral infection.
And so what we need to do is we need to do everything we can to try to augment, support,
and enhance our immune system's ability to fight that virus.
So one of the things that we would do is eat a lot of garlic.
Maybe one of the first things I'd tell a patient to do.
Second, we would want patients to steam and to steam with some eucalyptus oil or some
peppermint oil.
And what that means is to boil water, pour that into a bowl, put the oils into the bowl,
put a towel over your head, and breathe that in.
Because we want to make sure that we keep the eucus membranes flowing.
You know, I had a patient ask me the other day, like, I don't where did all this eucalyptus
come from?
And you know, should I just take a de-conjusted?
And actually, I really encourage people not to use a de-conjusted because actually all
that flowing eucus is bringing that virus out of your system.
It's helping escort it out.
We want to take the garlic because it's a really great antiviral.
And it helps to open up the finances as well.
Some other things that people can do is make sure that they're drinking a lot of hot
herbal tea.
You want that hot fluid against your throat if you have a sore throat and also loosens
the eucus secretions.
Stay away from dairy.
Stay away from sugar because these things create more sicker mucus and also the sugar lowers
your immune system function.
And then finally, you know, get some good rest.
Make sure that you're, you know, really paying attention to your body's needs.
And stay home and don't take that virus everywhere you go to work and everything.
To stay home and rest and you will recover, you know, very, very quickly.
And then finally, take note of the fact that, you know, you did contract this virus.
And you know, I think that there is the idea of there really are no agents that get you
sick.
And what that means is that, you know, you became susceptible to getting that virus.
And we need to look at why.
And usually we get that virus because we've somehow broken our bodies down and we're
fatigued.
We're not getting the sleep.
We're not eating well.
We're not creating a good foundation of health.
So it really takes stock of what led you to be susceptible to a virus and then make those
lifestyle changes so that you're not susceptible in the future.
Is natural medicine effective for more serious ailments as well?
Well, I know that natural medicine can be used to help support somebody through a serious
illness.
So for instance, I have a lot of patients who are going to cancer, chemotherapy treatments
and radiation treatments.
And with these patients, you know, we provide a lot of nutritional support for them.
We provide acupuncture, a lot of emotional support.
So for severe conditions, you know, natural medicine can definitely help to create that
foundation of health provide a lot of different tips and tools on how to get through the issues
or the symptoms and the side effects that come up from chemotherapy or for patients who
have severe autoimmune disease.
You know, there is so much that we can do.
If you are trying to protect yourself from the onslaught of chemicals that are now in
the world, they either were breathing them or ingesting them or whatever, what do you
recommend?
What do you eat?
What kind of supplement do you take?
Okay, it's a great question because yes, we are all a soup of different chemicals
just living in the Western world.
In fact, you don't even need to live in the Western world to have this.
This could be, even if you live in Antarctica, you're going to be exposed to a plethora of
chemicals from our environment.
And you know, the key thing here is that we want to be detoxifying every day.
Part of my foundation of health is that first, we need to have a really great diet.
Second, we need to exercise regularly.
And third, we need to have really good elimination and detoxification.
And we can do that elimination detoxification on a daily basis or we could do an actual
really, a program, like a 21-day cleanse.
In terms of diet, we want to eat whole foods.
We want to eat the healthiest possible diet for our bodies.
We want to eliminate and rule out food allergies that could be creating more inflammation in
our bodies.
We want to try to eat organic so that we don't get all those chemicals.
And you know, we either pay the price now or we pay it later.
I think people need to be using a water filter.
That's very important.
Another simple thing that they can do on a daily basis is drink lemon water, which means
to squeeze some lemon into some water and drink that before meals.
It not only helps support digestion, but it also astringes the liver or helps the liver
to work better.
And then supplements, if we were to look at supplements, now we don't create great health
from a bag of pills.
I thought I could say right there.
We need to have that foundation of health, which is a really good diet.
We want to have adequate exercise and exercise helps us to detox too.
There are certain supplements that can really support detoxification more than others.
One of them is known as clorella.
And clorella is like a blue-green algae.
And research has shown that it can help bring pulmurkery out of your system.
And if you eat a lot of seafood, then you definitely want to help mobilize that mercury
out of your system.
Other supplements that people can take are an antioxidant formula.
And the antioxidant formula means that it has vitamin C and E and blueberry extracts
and anacetyl-15.
These things really help your liver to upregulate.
It's detoxification cycles.
Many of you may have heard of milk thistle.
Milk thistle protects the liver, but it also helps the liver to make bile and help
it to dump into the intestines.
Supplements that help to detoxify the intestines are important.
Early we mentioned garlic for people who have a viral infection.
Well, garlic can also kill parasites and yeast and bacteria.
And there's another supplement that I use a lot called bearbaring or B-E-R-B-E-R-I-N-E
and it's from Golden Seal and Oregon grapefruit.
This too has the ability to kill parasites and abnormal bacteria.
Dr. Laurie Steelsmith is a natural path and author of great health through natural
choices and great sex naturally.
Find her at DrSteelsmith.com.
Finally, social networking is important and not just for work.
When you're a new mother, face-to-face networking can be a lifesaver.
In the city and globally, parents make up the biggest category of meet-up groups on meetup.com.
Correspondent Eli Chen features one of over 400 mom meet-ups based in New York City.
Emily, come here.
Tell the nice lady would be O-O-K spells.
I like coloring books, huh?
Inside a playroom on the Upper East Side, there are six moms and six kids, ages 14 months
to three years.
Some are playing with toy cars, others are stuffing their mouse with Cheerios and wandering
around.
One is napping.
The moms are watching and talking amongst themselves.
This is the Upper East Side stay at Home Moms group, organized through meetup.com.
I was always around people and suddenly there was this forced isolation.
That's Mary Corsan Tiago.
She's one of the moms running the group.
I found the Upper East Side meet-up groups and made some really different.
The group meets regularly in places throughout the city.
Their meet-ups include Storytime at St. Catharines Park or Touring the Museum of Motherhood,
which happens to be right in their neighborhood.
This week, the moms are holding a charity event.
They're using the playroom as a drop-off location where people can donate toys and baby products
to help low-income mothers and hurricane Sandy victims.
I was so normal.
You're an idol, aren't you people?
The Upper East Side stay at Home Moms is one of about 8,200 meet-up groups in New York
City.
More than 400 of these are moms groups, which also, by the way, include dads.
Not only do they dominate the New York City meet-up scene, they're also the number one type
of meet-up group around the world.
In New York City, there's a meet-up for every type of mom, new, single, Jewish, lesbian,
busy professionals, vegan.
You name it.
If you're a Brooklyn mom who wants to stay fit, there's the Stroller Strides Brooklyn
Area Moms group.
If you're raising your kid to speak two languages, there's the NYC moms of bilingual squirts.
Many groups involve play dates like the Upper East Side moms meet-up, but some, like
the downtown NYC new moms, spend nights out together without their kids.
Catherine Fink is meet-up's head of community development.
She says these mom groups are so popular because they fill a real need for new parents.
Dr. Sue Varma is an adult psychiatrist and former director of the World Trade Center's
Mental Health Program.
Motherhood can sometimes feel a little isolating.
A lot of times you feel like you're investing time and energy, taking care of somebody that's
dependent on you, but it's not the same type of interaction that you have, maybe with
your friends or other women.
Dr. Varma prescribes meet-ups to many of her patients.
She says having a social support system can help people who've gone through big life
experiences like having a child.
There's a lot of pain involved in the labor, and then afterward you are having a variety
of hormonal shifts, your body still adjusting, but having other women, I think specifically,
to talk to is a bonding experience, and also there's so many questions that people have
when you're in that new phase of what bottles to get and what kind of diapers and how do I
do sleep training.
And I mean, it really is learning an entirely new language.
It can also change the way mom sees themselves.
Upper East Side Mom, Christy Daly says motherhood took a real toll on her self-confidence.
It was almost afraid to go meet other moms because I thought, you know, they must love
it.
It was strange, like, so then I would meet them and they'd be saying, it's the best thing
that ever happened to me.
I would be thinking, sometimes I'm really sad or alone, but from the first time I met
these girls, we just clicked from personalities and I realized everyone has their hard days
and everyone has their good days.
When she got involved with this meet-up, she noticed that it made her life easier.
Her son, Clint, now has other kids you can play with.
When Christy has other mom friends that she can talk to about things, her husband can't
really grasp.
One of the friends Christy made through meet-up was Arwa Zafar.
Her son, Kaseem, is 14 months old and he's having a hard time sleeping through the night.
I was just talking to another mom that just left and she's telling me she had the same
sleep issues as my son and giving me advice and, you know, now we're going to email all
about how the sleeping situation is going.
Mom's uses network to connect in all kinds of issues.
Safety, transit, buying groceries and a popular topic, how to get around the city with a
bulky stroller.
The subway I find impossible.
Twice we did without a stroller.
Once I try to find a stroller.
Stacy Massey and Christy Daly's conversation has all the elements of a good friendship,
being able to vent about problems, sharing useful information, and laughing about it along
the way.
In New York City's Upper East Side, this is Eli Chen.
Eli Chen is a freelance radio and print journalist based in New York City.
And that's our show for this week.
Thanks to Katie Britain for production assistance.
Our theme music is by Kevin Bartlett.
This show is a national production of Northeast public radio.
Our executive producer is Dr. Alan Shartock.
If you'd like to hear this show again or visit the 51% Archives, go to our website at
www.wamc.org.
Thanks so much for joining us.
We'll be back next week with another edition of 51% The Women's Perspective.
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