Just how "vegan" are you? -Linsea

I have come to realize that there are varying degrees of vegan. I hadn't necessarily considered this prior to beginning my experiment but now feel it is a question I should tackle. I did decide that I could not afford to deal with changing my clothing or household products (cleaning or beauty). So this experiment, for now, will only be concerned with ingestion.

After eating some leftover homemade hummus for lunch- and realizing that I may have gone slightly overboard with the garlic- I found myself asking around for a piece of gum

. When the question, "Is gum vegan?" was presented to me, I was baffled! Upon researching this query I came to find the issue surrounding refined sugar. Apparently, certain refined sugars

are processed through bone char- which is ground cow bone, heated and turned i

nto carbon. According to the Sugar Association, bone char comes from cows that have died of natural causes and never from the US Meat Industry ( http://www.ivu.org/news/2-97/sugar.html).

This is where having a strong and decisive moral code might help me to pick a side. On the one hand- refined sugar uses animal by-

products. On the other hand- If we can trust the "Sugar Association," the animals have died from natural causes...in which case...what's the big deal?

I work in customer service and for the most part have a rather large desk separating me from the guests. But every now then, I must venture beyond my protective shield and risk contact with a close talker. Am I to subject myself and others to bad garlic breath all for the sake of avoiding bone char from some poor, granny cow?

I suppose I could carry a toothbrush and toothpaste........shit. Now I feel the need to check the ingredients on my Colgate.