Not Tested on Animals - 1

I wanted to write this post for a long, long time but never could muster enough courage to endorse a product on this blog. There are enough links online on animal testing, one might lose appetite for eternity. I don't want to write about it. It's the most worst thing that can happen to any living creature and sadly most aren't even aware of what animals go through so that we can shave, shampoo, cleanse, smell good et al. Every other mundane looking products we use in our bathrooms and kitchen has some suffering behind them. This can be polarizing subject as well. The so called necessary evil is animals in medical research (which cannot be stopped anytime soon) but the most avoidable one is use of animals in testing consumer health products. There isn't much public morality debate on this one... most talk about ending factory farming by end of this century (which is no doubt late but good nevertheless)
Sampler from Ross Douthat - "I’ll speculate that a century or so hence, breakthroughs in laboratory-created meat substitutes will have put an end to the killing of animals in general (in factory farms and family farms alike), and worked a revolution in moral sentiments that makes my present belief in the moral acceptability of meat-eating seem hopelessly barbaric."

What I was interested was to find products not tested on animals. My criteria's were simple but seemed unrealistic at that time: 

• Wouldn't buy any consumer health products online
• Buy only at a regular grocery or drug stores 
• Stay away from speciality stores and Whole foods et al 
• Price tag should match the regular products 

Bottom line, I was waiting for ubiquity of not tested on animals products. Not because I couldn't do any of the above but because not everyone can (or will) do any of the above. I didn't want to live in that bubble of morality feeding my Lady Macbeth effect.

Thanks to Daniel Goleman, I found goodguide. I learned about the products but yet couldn't find them any place. Eventually, I got the lucky break early this year in the unlikeliest of places - Sams Club (Walmart but not in Walmart though) 
1. Toothpaste 
2. Deo-ordant 
Both are products of Toms of Maine. Both are excellent products with same price tag and for novelty seekers they do have handful of varieties to choose from as well. Yes, it's not flamboyant enough but one could gladly make that trade off.

Long ways to go... but for now round one winners are Toms of Maine and Sams Club!!