0:00:00.359,0:00:05.110
Despite decades of debate, denial, and dubious[br]behavior on the part of the tobacco industry

0:00:05.110,0:00:10.219
regarding the potential dangers of cigarettes,[br]it’s now generally agreed upon that smoking

0:00:10.219,0:00:16.260
is bad for your health. Smoking damages nearly[br]every organ in the body, causing strokes,

0:00:16.260,0:00:21.340
coronary heart disease, respiratory diseases,[br]a whole slew of cancers, and other deleterious

0:00:21.340,0:00:25.660
effects. And while big tobacco has[br]done its best to feign ignorance since the

0:00:25.660,0:00:31.500
40’s, we now know the answer to “Is smoking[br]bad for you?” is a resounding yes. But a

0:00:31.500,0:00:36.880
less-hotly debated question remains: is smoking[br]vegan?

0:00:36.880,0:00:44.920
Hi it’s Emily from Bite Size Vegan and welcome[br]to another vegan nugget. While being vegan

0:00:44.920,0:00:49.610
is often associated with a level of health[br]fanaticism approaching daily wheatgrass juice

0:00:49.610,0:00:55.059
enemas and coffee colonics, the truth is,[br]not everyone goes vegan for their health.

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There are junk food vegans, vegans who drink[br]alcohol, and yes, even vegans who smoke. And

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I mean tobacco, not the other thing everyone[br]assumes all vegans smoke…

0:01:08.150,0:01:13.150
But can cigarettes be considered vegan? As[br]usual, the answer to this question is more

0:01:13.150,0:01:17.520
complex than it would first appear. I’m[br]going to touch on the various areas of concern,

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but please refer to the blog post for this[br]video for citations and more detailed information.

0:01:22.729,0:01:27.299
The main areas of concern we’ll be addressing[br]are: animal ingredients in cigarettes,

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animals killed in the farming process, animal[br]testing, the environmental impact, second

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hand smoke and companion animals child[br]labor and worker toxicity exposure and of

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course a nod to health

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The most basic measure of whether something[br]is vegan or not is whether it contains animals

0:01:42.759,0:01:47.650
or their byproducts. When we combine the myriad[br]of ways we disguise animal byproducts with

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the close to 600 ingredients found in cigarettes, including arsenic, formaldehyde, lead, ammonia,

0:01:53.880,0:01:59.070
acetone and other far less-pronounceable elements,[br]it becomes rather difficult to ascertain if

0:01:59.070,0:02:01.380
anything is animal-derived.

0:02:01.380,0:02:05.900
This issue was brought to a very public head[br]back in 2010 when a press release, light on

0:02:05.900,0:02:11.060
the facts but big on the sensation, claimed[br]that cigarettes may contain pig’s blood.

0:02:11.060,0:02:15.670
This revelation came from artist Christien[br]Meindertsma’s three-year-long project entitled

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Pig 05049, which tracked and documented all[br]of the ways one pig’s body was used post-slaughter,

0:02:23.790,0:02:26.340
including in cigarette filters.

0:02:26.340,0:02:30.819
Anti-smoking advocate Professor Simon Chapman[br]of the University of Sydney saw this as an

0:02:30.819,0:02:36.209
opportunity to use public outrage, particularly[br]among Jewish, Muslim, vegetarian and vegan

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populations, to bring to light “concerns[br]that ingredients such as additives or processing

0:02:40.810,0:02:45.739
aids used in tobacco products are virtually[br]unregulated and non-transparent.”

0:02:45.739,0:02:50.540
After creating the press release, the story[br]went viral and built into quite a frenzy,

0:02:50.540,0:02:55.069
with Iranian officials calling it a Zionist[br]conspiracy and tobacco companies churning

0:02:55.069,0:03:00.459
out denials left and right. The truth of the[br]matter is far less titalating. In 1997 a Greek

0:03:00.459,0:03:05.300
tobacco company set out to create a healthier[br]cigarette, using pig’s blood in the filter

0:03:05.300,0:03:11.129
to mitigate toxins. The resulting BioFilter[br]led the company to second place in the Greek

0:03:11.129,0:03:15.530
tobacco industry, though every scientific[br]study to evaluate these claims found them

0:03:15.530,0:03:20.599
to be patently false, and in 2002[br]Greece finally outlawed their “healthier

0:03:20.599,0:03:25.370
smoking” claims. As far as I can tell, the[br]filters are still on the market and I have

0:03:25.370,0:03:28.890
link on the blog post to the company’s website[br]with more information.

0:03:28.890,0:03:33.500
There are also at least two other animal-derived[br]ingredients in cigarettes, which are far more

0:03:33.500,0:03:39.370
regularly employed: beeswax and castoreum.[br]Beeswax is rather self-explanatory and you

0:03:39.370,0:03:44.080
can see my video here on the vegan-ness of[br]bee products for more information. Castoreum,

0:03:44.080,0:03:49.810
used in cigarettes to lend a sweet, smoky[br]flavor, is another matter entirely.

0:03:49.810,0:03:54.950
I covered the glories of castoruem in one[br]of my very first vegan nuggets ever on What’s

0:03:54.950,0:03:59.930
Really In Your Food, back when both my editing[br]skills and language were a little less polished.

0:03:59.930,0:04:02.810
“If all of that isn’t enough for you,[br]have you ever wondered where artificial raspberry,

0:04:02.810,0:04:09.849
vanilla or strawberry flavors come from? Castoreum![br]- An extract made from dried, ground up sacs

0:04:09.849,0:04:11.650
located by the anal glands of beavers.

0:04:11.650,0:04:15.819
Yes, we are talking about pouches in the *ss[br]of a beaver. It can be added to foods such

0:04:15.819,0:04:20.839
as gums, alcohol, candy and baked goods. Perhaps[br]tossing a beaver’s salad does give you a

0:04:20.839,0:04:24.479
nice little vanilla flavor but does that really[br]make it right?”

0:04:24.479,0:04:27.069
[I’ve come a long way…]

0:04:27.069,0:04:31.150
Castoreum is harvested by killing beavers[br]and cutting out their castor glands, making

0:04:31.150,0:04:34.409
it a most definitively un-vegan ingredient.

0:04:34.409,0:04:39.059
So when it comes to animals in your smokes,[br]bees and beaver butts are more likely than

0:04:39.059,0:04:41.330
pigs blood, but just as un-vegan.

0:04:41.330,0:04:45.949
Now I’ll just speak very briefly to the[br]concern of animals killed during tobacco farming

0:04:45.949,0:04:50.379
and harvesting. While we should strive for[br]pesticide-free, sustainable farming,

0:04:50.379,0:04:54.639
with any crop, field animals are going to[br]be unintentionally harmed and killed in the

0:04:54.639,0:04:59.969
farming and harvesting process. We have to[br]eat but we don’t have to smoke, so the animals

0:04:59.969,0:05:04.080
killed by tobacco farming are entirely avoidable[br]deaths.

0:05:04.080,0:05:08.550
And now, to the heavy-hitter of the vegan[br]cigarette debate: animal testing. I have a

0:05:08.550,0:05:13.319
four-part video series on animal testing which[br]goes into greater detail about the inefficacy

0:05:13.319,0:05:19.059
of animal tests, why we are still conducting[br]them, how they endanger and even kill humans,

0:05:19.059,0:05:23.439
and what viable alternatives exist, which[br]I’ve linked up here and below if you want

0:05:23.439,0:05:25.229
to delve deeper into this matter.

0:05:25.229,0:05:30.309
Perhaps the most insane aspect of animal testing[br]as a whole is its complete and utter lack

0:05:30.309,0:05:35.610
of credible results. It’s no secret that[br]our bodies differ greatly from other species,

0:05:35.610,0:05:39.419
and so, it follows, would our reactions to[br]stimuli and toxins.

0:05:39.419,0:05:44.270
In regards to tobacco specifically, Dr. C[br]Ray Greek of Americans for Medical Advancement

0:05:44.270,0:05:49.270
states that “Animal experiments failed notoriously[br]to demonstrate a smoking-cancer connection

0:05:49.270,0:05:53.729
for over half a century...If the greatest[br]killer of our time was promoted by physicians

0:05:53.729,0:05:58.189
based on animal experiments, there is obviously[br]something terminally wrong with the system."

0:05:58.639,0:06:04.439
A 2015 paper drawing on more than 50 recent[br]toxicology studies, demonstrated the superiority

0:06:04.439,0:06:09.740
of widely available modern, non-animal models[br]over inaccurate animal tests for measuring

0:06:09.740,0:06:14.949
the toxicity of tobacco products. In 2012,[br]the U.S. Congress even stated that “there

0:06:14.949,0:06:19.839
is significant scientific evidence that animals[br]are poor models for the testing of tobacco

0:06:19.839,0:06:21.439
products used by humans.”

0:06:21.439,0:06:26.639
Unlike all medications, tobacco products are[br]not required to undergo animal testing. The

0:06:26.639,0:06:31.759
UK, Germany, Belgium and other countries even[br]banned their usage and Canada requires only

0:06:31.759,0:06:36.899
in vitro studies, meaning on a cellular level[br]rather than on whole living animals.

0:06:36.899,0:06:41.249
Even the tobacco industry’s own studies[br]have concluded that “in vitro toxicology

0:06:41.249,0:06:46.559
tests can be successfully used both for better[br]understanding the biological activity of cigarette

0:06:46.559,0:06:50.809
smoke … and for guiding the development[br]of cigarettes with reduced toxicity.”

0:06:50.809,0:06:56.089
Despite this fact, tobacco companies, government[br]agencies, the American Cancer Society, National

0:06:56.089,0:07:02.039
Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, among other[br]organization and, yes, even anti-smoking groups

0:07:02.039,0:07:05.069
continue to test cigarettes on animals.

0:07:05.069,0:07:09.179
On this video’s blog post I have links to[br]several articles and studies which catalogue,

0:07:09.179,0:07:13.559
describe, and demonstrate the myriad of horrifying[br]animal tobacco tests,

0:07:13.559,0:07:16.069
but I’m going to just share a few of them[br]with you.

0:07:16.069,0:07:20.999
Perhaps the most visually shocking type of[br]tobacco testing are the direct smoking tests,

0:07:20.999,0:07:26.839
made famous in 1975 by undercover Sunday People[br]reporter Mary Beith in her expose known as

0:07:26.839,0:07:31.099
“The Smoking Beagles.” Beith got a position[br]in an Imperial Chemical Industries laboratory

0:07:31.099,0:07:36.749
where 48 beagles were restrained with straightjackets,[br]placed into what Beith described as “medieval

0:07:36.749,0:07:41.809
stocks” and fitted with tubed masks which[br]forcibly pumped cigarette smoke into their

0:07:41.809,0:07:47.669
lungs day in and day out for up to three years[br]for some of the dogs. Beith reported that,

0:07:47.669,0:07:51.589
“when they have finished their smoking stint[br]the dogs are killed and sent to pathology

0:07:51.589,0:07:55.779
laboratories to be cut up and examined for[br]signs of cancer, liver or heart diseases or

0:07:55.779,0:08:00.270
other possible effects. Some of the dogs have[br]acquired a smoker’s cough judging from the

0:08:00.270,0:08:01.599
sounds I heard.”

0:08:01.599,0:08:07.469
The images Beith captured sparked global outrage,[br]yet only two of the 48 beagles were rescued

0:08:07.469,0:08:12.989
in a technically illegal act of liberation[br]by activist Mike Huskisson and an unnamed

0:08:12.989,0:08:16.179
partner in the early days of the Animal Liberation[br]Front.

0:08:16.179,0:08:20.429
While not garnering the same level of disgust[br]from the public, direct smoking tests on mice

0:08:20.429,0:08:25.709
and rats are just as horrifying. Their entire[br]bodies are crammed into tiny canisters that

0:08:25.709,0:08:31.479
pump smoke directly into their noses for six[br]or more hours a day up to two years.

0:08:31.479,0:08:37.279
Direct smoking tests can also involve tracheotomies.[br]In a 2001 study at the Oregon National Primate

0:08:37.279,0:08:43.078
Research Center involving sixty-seven pregnant[br]Rhesus macaque monkeys, half of the monkeys

0:08:43.078,0:08:48.279
had tubes surgically implanted in order to[br]subject them to a continuous flow of nicotine

0:08:48.279,0:08:52.779
for the last four months of their pregnancies.[br]Five days before the mothers reached full

0:08:52.779,0:08:58.089
term, the experimenters cut out, killed and[br]dissected the fetuses of all 67 mothers.

0:08:58.089,0:09:02.389
These kind of experiments are still being[br]carried out on mice, rats, beagles, monkeys,

0:09:02.389,0:09:06.410
apes, and other sentient beings.They are not required by law,

0:09:06.410,0:09:11.490
have no scientific validity and they even[br]endanger humans with the cross-species application

0:09:11.490,0:09:16.470
of their results, and are all for a product[br]that is not only completely unnecessary but

0:09:16.470,0:09:20.000
also deadly to consumers and damaging to the[br]environment.

0:09:20.000,0:09:25.339
Speaking to the environmental impact of smoking,[br]around 5.6 trillion cigarette butts are dumped

0:09:25.339,0:09:29.589
into the environment every year. When these[br]butts land in water or on the soil, all of

0:09:29.589,0:09:34.610
the chemicals and carcinogenic ingredients[br]we discussed creates leachates, a toxic soup

0:09:34.610,0:09:36.990
that poisons fish and other wildlife.

0:09:36.990,0:09:40.970
Of course smoking also affects one’s home[br]environment as well. A series of studies at

0:09:40.970,0:09:45.899
Tufts University and Colorado State University[br]found that second hand smoke is just as harmful

0:09:45.899,0:09:50.410
to companion animals as it is humans. Cats[br]living with smokers are twice as likely to

0:09:50.410,0:09:55.029
develop malignant lymphoma, and dogs living[br]with smokers develop cancers of the nose and

0:09:55.029,0:09:59.019
sinus area, all of which are terminal within[br]a year.

0:09:59.019,0:10:03.000
And then there’s the human cost of tobacco[br]farming. Green Tobacco Sickness (GTS) is cause

0:10:03.000,0:10:07.680
by the constant exposure of workers to the[br]nicotine of the plants, which is absorbed

0:10:07.680,0:10:12.240
through their skin. This is exacerbated[br]in the case of child workers and child labor

0:10:12.240,0:10:17.069
is a major issue within America’s tobacco[br]farming. While several countries, including

0:10:17.069,0:10:22.750
major tobacco producers such as Brazil and[br]India, prohibit children under 18 from working

0:10:22.750,0:10:28.649
on tobacco farms, in the US children as young[br]as 12 work in fields for 50 to 60 hours a

0:10:28.649,0:10:33.620
week in extreme heat and with ongoing exposure[br]to pesticides and nicotine.

0:10:33.620,0:10:38.189
And of course, there are the health consequences,[br]which may or may not even be an inherently

0:10:38.189,0:10:43.649
vegan issue, and which is thoroughly documented[br]elsewhere. If you are a smoker and want to

0:10:43.649,0:10:48.180
stop for any reason, please see the blog post[br]for this video where I’ve included a list

0:10:48.180,0:10:50.569
of resources to support you in quitting.

0:10:50.569,0:10:54.829
I hope that this video has been helpful. I’d[br]love to hear your thoughts- do you think smoking

0:10:54.829,0:10:59.800
can be considered vegan? If you were a smoker[br]who went vegan, did you quit? Are you a non-vegan

0:10:59.800,0:11:04.259
smoker wanting to go vegan but overwhelmed[br]that now you have to ditch the cigarettes

0:11:04.259,0:11:10.100
too? [If so, personally, I’d say focus on[br]the meat, dairy, eggs and honey first and

0:11:10.100,0:11:14.069
then tackle big tobacco.][br]The time it to produce this video clocks in

0:11:14.069,0:11:18.120
at around ____ .   If you’d like to[br]help support Bite Size Vegan so I can keep

0:11:18.120,0:11:22.680
putting hours to bring you this educational[br]resource, please check out the support links

0:11:22.680,0:11:26.980
in the video description below where you can[br]give a one-time donation or receive perks

0:11:26.980,0:11:30.589
and rewards for your support by joining the[br]Nugget Army--the link for that is also in

0:11:30.589,0:11:31.540
the iCard sidebar.

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If you enjoyed this video, please give it a[br]thumbs up and share it around to help inform

0:11:35.180,0:11:39.149
others. If you’re new here, be sure to hit[br]that big red subscribe button down there for

0:11:39.149,0:11:45.230
more awesome vegan content every Monday, Wednesday,[br]and some Fridays! Now go live vegan, just

0:11:45.230,0:11:47.020
say no, and I’ll see you soon.

0:11:47.334,0:11:51.964
In a repeated national survey, doctors in all branches of medicine

0:11:51.994,0:11:57.604
doctors in all parts of the country we asked, "what cigarette do you smoke doctor?"

0:11:57.612,0:12:01.612
Once again, the brand named most was Camel.

0:12:01.612,0:12:08.042
Yes, according to this repeated nationwide survey, more doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette.

0:12:08.849,0:12:13.889
Why not change to Camels for the next 30 days and see what a difference it makes

0:12:13.889,0:12:18.335
in your smoking enjoyment. See how Camels agree with your throat.

0:12:18.335,0:12:22.335
See how mild and good tasting a cigarette can be.