Philosophical Vegan Forum

I've been a vegan since about Halloween, (weird time to choose seeing as there is so much candy and two months from Christmas) and I only realised quite recently that my medication Prozac in particular contains lactase. I checked the ingredients in it and it doesn't have lactase but the actual pill capsule itself is made of it. I hate how things contain either eggs or milk or honey when they don't require it. But what should I do? I'm considering going on the liquid form and can I still consider myself a vegan?

descendancy0 wrote:I've been a vegan since about Halloween, (weird time to choose seeing as there is so much candy and two months from Christmas) and I only realised quite recently that my medication Prozac in particular contains lactase. I checked the ingredients in it and it doesn't have lactase but the actual pill capsule itself is made of it. I hate how things contain either eggs or milk or honey when they don't require it. But what should I do? I'm considering going on the liquid form and can I still consider myself a vegan?

Yeah, go on the liquid!

Of course you can still consider yourself a vegan! You had no idea the medicine had lactase.

I think most vegans have accidently consumed animal products before. It's bound to happen.

In addition, many processed foods are made on shared equipment with things with animal products or in the same facility, so they have small trace ingredients.

It's not about purity, it's about not doing harm!

Thank you, that really both cheered me up and taught me something new.

descendancy0 wrote:Thank you, that really both cheered me up and taught me something new.

Great!

To clarify:

Lactase is the enzyme which is used to break down lactose. The suffix "-ase" means an enzyme that breaks down whatever the prefix is. Like nylonase (breaks down nylon), or proteinase (breaks down protein).

Lactase itself is vegan, derived from Yeast or Aspergillus strains (almost all enzymes are vegan).

Lactose, however, is a sugar which is derived from dairy products, and isn't vegan.

They should have an alternative, like a liquid (and that's a good choice).
But if they don't, medicines are an exemption, because they're not a choice.

Even if a medication contained beef, you'd still be vegan if it were really necessary and prescribed by a doctor (not a naturopath -- fake medicine doesn't count, because it's not necessary). Luckily, today medicines contain very few animal products, beyond the binders used in pills. Liquid forms are pretty safe.