Animal Ingredients in Home Improvement Products

By Steve Graham, Hometalk

To get serious about having a vegan home, you must look beyond the pantry and the wardrobe. A large number of home improvement products contain animal ingredients. Unfortunately, it is hard to identify all of these animal byproducts because most home improvement products are not required to list ingredients.

To avoid animal ingredients, consult the Vegan Society’s Animal Free Shopper directory or look for the “no animal ingredients” label. However, note that there is no independent verification of the “no animal ingredients” label. It may mean different things to different manufacturers, and it does not guarantee an avoidance of animal testing.

Here is a partial list of products that may contain animal ingredients. In many cases, synthetic ingredients or petroleum products have largely replaced the animal ingredients, but these substitutes may be a greater concern for some eco-conscious homeowners.

Tools

Many hammers, axes, knives and other carpentry tools still have real leather handles. Even if every hammer and knife you own has a 100-percent plastic handle, tool belt and tool aprons are most often made of leather. Some people also have secondary environmental concerns about the chemicals used in leather tanning and production, and the resulting pollution.

Rubber tool parts may also contain animal ingredients, including animal fats and casein, a milk protein derivative.

Paint

Casein also is a common binder in paint. It is widely used in natural paints as an alternative to synthetic binders. Some paint colors also include animal ingredients. For example, Golden Paints notes that it uses no animal ingredients, with the exception of bone black pigment, which is derived from ground cattle bones.

Also, many paints and paint ingredients are tested on animals. Even Golden and other companies that avoid animal testing say they cannot guarantee all their suppliers avoid animal testing.

Paint brushes

Natural paint brushes have animal-hair bristles. Many are pig hair, but some artists’ brushes and other specialty products contain hair from more unusual animals such as the Siberian weasel.

Image: UrsOnMac/stock.xchng

1 of 2

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Svetlana B.

5:58AM PST on Dec 14, 2011

Thank you

send a green star

colleen p.

4:42AM PST on Dec 12, 2011

a long time ago, mankind used every part of the animal. in today's world we can afford to be wasteful and use only what non vegans want

Past Member .

7:19PM PST on Dec 11, 2011

Thanks.

Edo R.

3:00AM PDT on Aug 28, 2011

Thanks for sharing

Roxana J.

2:54PM PDT on Aug 23, 2011

good to know!!

Suzanne H.

11:55AM PDT on Aug 17, 2011

Jeez, it seems everything I have used has some part of an animal in it... Time for change!

Regina P.

10:36AM PDT on Aug 16, 2011

Good to know, alot of them I had no idea they had animal ingredients. Thanks

10:43AM PDT on Aug 15, 2011

Charlie Parkinson I am thinking more "Eskimo" kind of things. not
fake fur for fashion. for function. I am talking about functionality.

Yvette T.

9:20PM PDT on Aug 14, 2011

Soaps may contain animal fatty aids : "fatty acids may be listed as caprylic acid, lauric acid, myristic acid, oleic acid, palmitic acid and stearic acid. Some of these fatty acids also have plant sources, so you may be able to use products containing them if you can verify the source." I will try to verify that my cleaning things are vegan!

dawn w.

11:56AM PDT on Aug 6, 2011

There is so much more to veganism than food ,soap and faux-leather shoes.