The Vanilla in Your Latte Comes from Beaver Anus (and Other Things You Didn’t Know You Were Consuming) [VIDEO]

I try to edit most of my interviews to a reasonable time, and to only include the must hear/know information.

When I spoke with Jon Whelan, director and producer of STINK!, a documentary that shows how many cancer causing, hormone disrupting and health deteriorating chemicals are in personal care and cosmetic products unbeknownst to us, I figured we may have to stick with the long version.

And that's what I did. You are going to want to hear every word this guy says.

The Beaver Anus Affect

Okay, maybe you are saying, "Shut up, Paul, you stupid hippy. Big business would never hurt us. They care about us."

Fine. Continue eating and slathering products all over your body that come from a beaver's ass for all I care.

Oh, yes. Common vanilla products that have ingredients listed as 'Natural flavoring' or 'Fragrance' are probably castoreum, an oil that comes from a sac that is right next to a beaver's anus. Fox News confirms it here. It's bad enough that it's used in vanilla scented stuff. Their article is about its use in food.

Next time you pick up a vanilla candy, think twice. A chemical compound used in vanilla flavored foods and scents comes from the butt of a beaver.

Castoreum comes from a beaver's castor sacs, located between the pelvis and base of the tail. Due to its proximity to the anal glands, the slimy brown substance is often mixed with gland secretions and urine.

Jon talks about it at 15:34 in the interview. Your vanilla latte was essentially extracted from the ass of a beaver. Still think big business cares about you?

The point of it all?

It's fine and good if big companies want to use harmful chemicals in their products. If killing their customers because it's cheaper is their business model, fine. Have at it. Just let us know so that we can decide if having straight hair is also worth having cancer.

Another point? America's staunch anti-regulation stances allow companies to poison us, our children and our family members without us knowing. We don't even have the information that would allow us to avoid the dangerous products. The companies putting them into the products know they are there, but they don't have to tell us.

I don't want undue burdens on business. Neither does the filmmaker. What we want is transparency. Tell us what is in what you are selling us, so we can decide for ourselves if we want cancer, hormone disruption or other negative affects, if we'd rather avoid them.

As he says in the interview:

I'm not advocating over regulating, but I think the market will work itself out if these companies are transparent. In order to have a functioning marketplace, buyer and seller need to have access to the same information.