Opportunity to write about cruelty in dairy products

[Guest guest]

This morning on NPR's morning edition discussion was chocolate - this is a perfect opportunity to write and speak about the unspeakable cruelty that goes into chocolate making - (the products) - my letter --

 

http://www.npr.org/contact/confirm.html--Forwarded Message:

 

 

I am a chocoholic so what would Valentine's Day be without chocolate and rich chocolate cake? What a shock when I learned that my chocolate indulgence has a dark sinister secret, hidden from the public and that our chocolate is actually made up of the worst unconscionable cruelty. The eggs come from hens that are confined to battery cages and denied everything natural to them; unwanted male chicks are disposed of, ground up alive or suffocated; hens are de beaked. Cows are warehoused in huge sheds and treated like milk machines, producing 100 pounds of milk a day— 10 times more than they would produce in nature and they are artificially inseminated to keep milk production as high as possible. Growth hormones and unnatural milking schedules cause dairy cows' udders to become painful, and infected and they are denied medical care. Male calves, the "byproducts" of the dairy industry, are snatched from their mothers right after birth, denied their own mother's milk and endure 14 to 17 weeks of torment in veal crates, tied by their necks to crates so small that they can't even turn around, never getting a chance to see the sun or frolic and play outside. Lawson suggests looking for brands of chocolate containing a minimum of 70 percent cocoa solids - as chocolate is an indulgence and not a necessity I suggest looking for chocolate that is cruelty-free made without dairy products. I now can enjoy my chocolate and eat it too, with my conscience clear and knowing I am not contributing to this barbaric treatment of animals for the sake of our indulgences.

 

Melanie Blake

 

www.choosewelltravel.com (ten percent of profits to organizations fighting to end animal exploitation)

 

 

 

 

 

"Never be afraid to do what's right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society's punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way."

 

~~ Martin Luther King, Jr.The year's hottest artists on the red carpet at the Grammy Awards. AOL Music takes you there.