WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.080
가죽을 만드려면 동물들이 죽어야 하는 것은 당연하지요

00:00:04.080 --> 00:00:09.527
그런데 어쨋든 고기때문에 죽는다면 가죽은 낭비되는거 아닌가요?

00:00:09.527 --> 00:00:16.010
While even many non-vegans object to the fur industry, 
the ethical line about leather is far less clear.

00:00:16.010 --> 00:00:18.720
Is leather truly a byproduct of the meat industry?

00:00:18.720 --> 00:00:23.178
To answer that question, we'll be answering 
others you didn't even know to ask.

00:00:23.178 --> 00:00:28.248
Like, do you know what country your leather was made in? 
Do you even know which animal it's made from?

00:00:28.248 --> 00:00:32.010
And, did you know there's a chance it's a cat or a dog?

00:00:32.010 --> 00:00:40.000
Once again I'm here to ruin your day with education.
You’re welcome.

00:00:48.880 --> 00:00:52.880
Hi, it's Emily from BiteSizeVegan.org, 
where you can find free resources,

00:00:52.880 --> 00:00:57.040
eCourses, kids' content, and a Guided 
Search to help you find just what you need,

00:00:57.040 --> 00:01:02.000
even if you don't know what to ask! Speaking of 
eCourses, this video has one of its very own,

00:01:02.000 --> 00:01:04.340
so you can test your knowledge after watching! 


00:01:04.340 --> 00:01:09.508
Just click the "take the eCourse now" button at bitesize.link/LeatherByproduct

00:01:09.508 --> 00:01:12.560
where you'll also find all the sources for this video.

00:01:12.560 --> 00:01:16.480
Before we dive into whether leather is a byproduct of the meat industry,

00:01:16.480 --> 00:01:21.760
let's cover where leather comes from. 
Leather is made from the hide or skin of animals.

00:01:21.760 --> 00:01:27.236
Most people associate leather with cow skin, which does 
make up the majority of leather produced.

00:01:27.236 --> 00:01:33.520
However, many other animals' skins are turned into leather, 
including buffalo, sheep, goats, pigs, horses,

00:01:33.520 --> 00:01:38.080
kangaroos, deer, and even cats and dogs—which 
we'll get to later in this article/video.

00:01:38.080 --> 00:01:43.440
There are also so-called "luxury" and "exotic" 
leathers made from the skin of animals like

00:01:43.440 --> 00:01:48.320
calves, ostriches, alligators, sharks, 
elephants, lizards, stingrays and zebras.

00:01:48.320 --> 00:01:52.800
As most cow skin leather is derived from 
cows either slaughtered for their meat,

00:01:52.800 --> 00:01:56.480
or after their bodies give out from 
the demands of the dairy industry,

00:01:56.480 --> 00:02:01.520
it's generally thought that leather is purely 
a byproduct of the meat and dairy industries.

00:02:01.520 --> 00:02:06.431
Companies even use this claim to insinuate 
that their leather products help reduce waste.

00:02:06.431 --> 00:02:10.480
After all, isn't it better to use as 
much of a slaughtered animal as possible?

00:02:10.480 --> 00:02:15.692
While this argument seems quite logical on the 
surface, it's entirely inaccurate.

00:02:15.692 --> 00:02:20.344
Far from an incidental, secondary product made during the 
production of meat,

00:02:20.344 --> 00:02:29.620
leather is a multi-billion dollar global industry. 
The leather goods market was valued at $407.2 billion in 2021,

00:02:29.620 --> 00:02:34.560
and is projected to grow to $743.50 billion by 2030.

00:02:34.560 --> 00:02:40.480
Leather production is not about minimizing 
waste—it's about maximizing profit.

00:02:40.480 --> 00:02:46.373
Leather is more accurately termed a coproduct 
rather than a byproduct of the meat and dairy industries.

00:02:46.373 --> 00:02:49.840
Without the sale of leather, 
the cost of meat would have to increase

00:02:49.840 --> 00:02:55.840
significantly to make up for lost profits. 
Even just a reduction in cow skin sales

00:02:55.840 --> 00:03:02.323
results in multi-million losses for a slaughterhouse. 
The economics of these industries are inextricable

00:03:02.323 --> 00:03:06.640
—they arguably cannot sustain themselves independently of one another.

00:03:06.640 --> 00:03:11.440
Additionally, not all leather is even a 
coproduct of the meat and dairy industries.

00:03:11.440 --> 00:03:16.800
As I mentioned earlier, so-called "luxury" 
and "exotic" leathers come from animals killed

00:03:16.800 --> 00:03:22.400
primarily or even solely for their skin. 
These animals may be illegally poached,

00:03:22.400 --> 00:03:28.000
even when endangered. In Myanmar, for example, the 
Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute found

00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:33.840
that endangered Asian elephants were increasingly 
being poached "for their skin instead of...ivory".

00:03:33.840 --> 00:03:37.920
While exotic skinsare a minority of 
the leather industry purely by volume,

00:03:37.920 --> 00:03:42.320
they fetch a much higher price point 
than cow skins. Some are hunted and

00:03:42.320 --> 00:03:45.369
poached in the wild while others are 
commercially farmed.

00:03:45.369 --> 00:03:52.415
An investigation into alligator and crocodile farms supplying 
the luxury brand Hermès, creator of the iconic Birkin bag

00:03:52.415 --> 00:03:57.040
(which I had never heard of before 
researching this, but is apparently a big deal),

00:03:57.040 --> 00:04:02.240
found deplorable conditions and barbaric, 
ineffective slaughter practices.

00:04:02.240 --> 00:04:08.880
Not all "luxury" leathers are exotic. 
The skin of newborn calves is highly valued for its softness.

00:04:08.880 --> 00:04:13.040
Calves are even cut out of their 
mother's wombs at slaughterhouses

00:04:13.040 --> 00:04:19.328
to have their beating hearts pierced to harvest 
bovine fetal serum—another coproduct

00:04:19.328 --> 00:04:25.760
—and their skins removed for "luxury" items. 
While even many meat-eaters draw an ethical line at eating veal,

00:04:25.760 --> 00:04:30.400
consumers still purchase calfskin products. 
With a decrease in demand for veal,

00:04:30.400 --> 00:04:33.680
calfskin becomes more and more of a primary product.

00:04:33.680 --> 00:04:38.880
Consumers have become more aware of and concerned 
about the treatment of animals killed for food,

00:04:38.880 --> 00:04:44.346
increasingly selecting so-called "humane" 
options like cage-free eggs and free-range meat

00:04:44.346 --> 00:04:48.880
—which, to be clear, are not at all humane. 
However, this consideration

00:04:48.880 --> 00:04:52.320
rarely enters the conversation 
when it comes to leather products.

00:04:52.320 --> 00:04:57.920
Even more unquestioned is whether the 
species of animal skin is accurately labeled.

00:04:57.920 --> 00:05:02.240
Much of the world's leather comes from China, 
which has no comprehensive animal welfare laws,

00:05:02.240 --> 00:05:07.920
and India, where the existing laws are poorly 
enforced. Again, the existence of animal welfare

00:05:07.920 --> 00:05:13.920
laws does not equate to humane treatment. 
There is no way to acceptably exploit and

00:05:13.920 --> 00:05:19.360
kill sentient beings. However, most consumers 
are unaware of the egregiousness of the cruelty

00:05:19.360 --> 00:05:22.960
inflicted upon the beings from which 
their leather products were derived.

00:05:22.960 --> 00:05:28.000
Investigations into India's leather trade 
found that cows who collapse from exhaustion

00:05:28.000 --> 00:05:32.480
while being marched to slaughter without 
food or water "have their eyes smeared with

00:05:32.480 --> 00:05:37.120
chili peppers and tobacco and their tails 
broken in an effort to keep them moving."

00:05:37.120 --> 00:05:42.400
In China, the leading global producer of 
leather, dogs and cats are also brutally

00:05:42.400 --> 00:05:46.960
killed for their skin, which is deliberately 
mislabeled and sold around the world.

00:05:46.960 --> 00:05:51.840
While the United States technically banned the 
importation of dog and cat fur and skin,

00:05:51.840 --> 00:05:56.800
it's impossible to effectively enforce given 
the difficulty of distinguishing the difference.

00:05:56.800 --> 00:06:02.080
Investigations into China's dog slaughterhouses 
captured dogs being bludgeoned with a wooden pole,

00:06:02.080 --> 00:06:07.200
often remaining conscious even after their throats 
were slit and their skin ripped from their bodies.

00:06:07.200 --> 00:06:11.520
Not only are leather products deliberately 
mislabeled when it comes to the species,

00:06:11.520 --> 00:06:16.160
but it's also not possible for consumers 
to necessarily know the country of origin.

00:06:16.160 --> 00:06:20.320
If an animal was skinned in China, 
but that skin was imported by Italy

00:06:20.320 --> 00:06:25.440
where the end product was manufactured, the 
label will indicate it was made in Italy.

00:06:25.440 --> 00:06:29.600
Along with the misconception that 
purchasing leather helps reduce waste,

00:06:29.600 --> 00:06:34.400
viewing most leather as a byproduct of the meat 
and dairy industries also allows consumers to

00:06:34.400 --> 00:06:38.746
believe they aren't supporting the cruelty 
inherent within those industries.

00:06:38.746 --> 00:06:43.520
However, as we've now seen, this simply isn't true. 
We've covered how leather from the meat and

00:06:43.520 --> 00:06:49.200
dairy industries is a profitable coproduct, 
creating a complete economic interdependency.

00:06:49.200 --> 00:06:53.200
We've covered how not all leather comes 
from animals slaughtered for their meat.

00:06:53.200 --> 00:06:58.640
And we've now learned that most leather products 
come from countries without even the most basic of

00:06:58.640 --> 00:07:04.240
animal welfare legislation or enforcement, 
and may even be the skin of cats and dogs.

00:07:04.240 --> 00:07:08.560
But let's say for the sake of argument 
that we are talking about cow skin leather

00:07:08.560 --> 00:07:13.360
from the meat and dairy industries within 
the United States or the European Union—which

00:07:13.360 --> 00:07:21.054
supposedly has strong animal welfare regulations. 
Does purchasing that very specific leather support animal cruelty?

00:07:21.054 --> 00:07:26.606
To answer this question, I'll give an incredibly high-level 
summary of the treatment of cows within these industries

00:07:26.606 --> 00:07:29.440
under the supposedly highest standards.

00:07:29.440 --> 00:07:33.440
Without any form of pain relief or 
anesthetic, cows within the meat and

00:07:33.440 --> 00:07:38.720
dairy industry undergo legally sanctioned 
mutilations like dehorning and castration.

00:07:38.720 --> 00:07:44.080
Cows are forcefully impregnated through artificial 
insemination—a process that can be physically

00:07:44.080 --> 00:07:49.600
damaging, especially when considering that most 
inseminations are performed by non-veterinarians.

00:07:49.600 --> 00:07:53.920
Bulls are repeatedly subjected 
to painful electroejaculation.

00:07:53.920 --> 00:07:58.000
In the dairy industry, no matter the 
country, babies are taken from their mothers

00:07:58.000 --> 00:08:03.360
after birth. Cows bond intensely with their 
babies and mother cows will cry for days

00:08:03.360 --> 00:08:07.920
until their voices are hoarse. 
We've already discussed what happens to the male calves.

00:08:07.920 --> 00:08:14.298
Most females are kept to eventually replace their mothers, 
though some are sent to meet the same fate as the males.

00:08:14.298 --> 00:08:18.880
This cycle of forced impregnation and traumatic separation

00:08:18.880 --> 00:08:26.800
is repeated over and over again until dairy cows' 
bodies give out entirely around age four or five,

00:08:26.800 --> 00:08:30.480
despite having a natural lifespan of 20 years or more.

00:08:30.480 --> 00:08:35.440
At the slaughterhouse, even in the "best" of 
conditions, a significant number of cows are

00:08:35.440 --> 00:08:41.169
ineffectively stunned with a captive bolt gun. 
This in combination with the pressure to keep the line moving

00:08:41.169 --> 00:08:46.637
often results in cows being conscious during slaughter 
and even as their skin is removed.

00:08:46.637 --> 00:08:51.112
Additionally, the vast majority of animal welfare 
regulations contain exceptions

00:08:51.112 --> 00:08:54.331
for animals undergoing halal and kosher ritual slaughter,

00:08:54.331 --> 00:08:57.956
mandating that they be allowed to be killed without any stunning.

00:08:57.956 --> 00:09:00.880
For an in-depth look into halal and kosher slaughter, please

00:09:00.880 --> 00:09:06.880
see my video and article "Are Halal And Kosher 
Slaughter Humane?" at bitesize.link/HalalKosher

00:09:06.880 --> 00:09:13.280
Even in the most "ideal" conditions, it's 
impossible to say that any animal product,

00:09:13.280 --> 00:09:21.840
coproduct, or even byproduct does not support 
overt cruelty. No animal wants to be killed.

00:09:22.400 --> 00:09:27.760
Aside from all of the economic, logistical, and 
ethical reasons that leather cannot rightly be

00:09:27.760 --> 00:09:32.560
viewed as a byproduct, the leather industry 
is responsible for profound environmental

00:09:32.560 --> 00:09:37.289
devastation entirely independent of the meat 
and dairy industries.

00:09:37.289 --> 00:09:43.040
The extreme toxicity of leather production also endangers 
the lives of tannery workers and those in

00:09:43.040 --> 00:09:47.840
surrounding communities. These issues deserve 
their own dedicated videos and articles,

00:09:47.840 --> 00:09:51.760
which I plan to produce in the future. 
For now, I will provide a very high-level summary.

00:09:51.760 --> 00:09:55.520
Please also see the article for this video for further resources.

00:09:55.520 --> 00:10:00.592
The environmental impact of the meat and dairy 
industries themselves is astronomical.

00:10:00.592 --> 00:10:06.720
On top of this destruction, most leather is tanned with 
toxic chemicals like chromium, formaldehyde,

00:10:06.720 --> 00:10:10.560
arsenic, and other heavy metals, all 
of which are dumped into waterways.

00:10:10.560 --> 00:10:14.960
Not only does this water pollution kill the 
fish and other species within the water,

00:10:14.960 --> 00:10:20.000
but it also poisons any species that enters or 
drinks from the water—including humans.

00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:25.680
Tannery workers and people in communities surrounding 
tanneries face a myriad of health issues,

00:10:25.680 --> 00:10:30.400
including increased cancer rates, leading 
to what have been termed "cancer villages".

00:10:30.400 --> 00:10:35.760
Leather's environmental impact also extends 
to the deforestation caused by raising cows,

00:10:35.760 --> 00:10:40.720
especially in Brazil, the world's third-largest 
producer of cow skins. The "cattle" industry

00:10:40.720 --> 00:10:45.440
is the single largest cause of tropical 
deforestation in the Amazon and globally.

00:10:45.440 --> 00:10:51.680
The vast majority of Amazonian deforestation is 
done illegally. Research by Stand.earth released

00:10:51.680 --> 00:10:57.520
in 2022 documents over 100 fashion 
brands—many well-known like Adidas,

00:10:57.520 --> 00:11:02.148
Nike, Coach, Prada—"have supply-chain links 
to Brazilian leather exporters...

00:11:02.148 --> 00:11:09.040
known to engage in Amazon deforestation." European 
auto manufacturers like VW, BMW, Daimler,

00:11:09.040 --> 00:11:14.720
PSA and Renault have also been linked to illegal 
deforestation for the leather used in their cars.

00:11:14.720 --> 00:11:19.840
I think at this point it's safe to say 
that leather is far from a harmless,

00:11:19.840 --> 00:11:24.720
waste-reducing byproduct of the meat industry. 
With the abundance of vegan leather alternatives,

00:11:24.720 --> 00:11:29.316
which I’ll be covering soon in a dedicated 
article, there's simply no reason to continue

00:11:29.316 --> 00:11:33.392
supporting such a cruel and environmentally devastating industry.

00:11:33.392 --> 00:11:40.238
Be sure to subscribe to the newsletter or follow the Telegram channel
to be notified when my article on vegan leather alternatives is published.

00:11:40.238 --> 00:11:43.040
Just click the Subscribe menu at BiteSizeVegan.org.

00:11:43.040 --> 00:11:46.774
Please do share this with anyone wondering 
what's so wrong with leather?

00:11:46.774 --> 00:11:51.520
And remember to take the free eCourse! 
To support content like this, head over to BiteSizeVegan.org

00:11:51.520 --> 00:11:55.040
and click the Donate menu. 
Now go live vegan, and I'll see you soon.