Rosie Struve/Getty Images
When Cindy first tried the Artemisia Anti-Hemorrhage Formula supplement purchased on Amazon, there was no reason to suspect that she was eating donkey. A California-born lifelong vegetarian, she thought the world’s largest online retailer had vetted the bottle’s claim that it was made from “100% pure, natural herbs.” But as she read the back of the bottle, she noticed an ingredient she had never seen before. “Black gelatin” She Googled it and what she found made her stomach turn.
Each year, millions of donkeys are slaughtered and skinned to make the so-called black gelatin found in Cindy’s nutritional supplements. More commonly called “ejiao” or “donkey skin gelatin”, this animal product is made from donkey skin. According to his 2019 report for the advocacy group Donkey Sanctuary, demand for its claimed health benefits is so high that donkey populations around the world are plunging, and the animals There is an increase in brutal treatment of Videos obtained by the organization show workers in Tanzania hammering donkeys to meet slaughter quotas. “It’s not an herb. It’s literally made of donkey,” says Cindy, who asked to go by only her first name for privacy reasons. ?”
Some retailers such as Walmart and eBay have pledged to withdraw products containing ejiao, but foods containing the ingredient are widely sold on Amazon despite multiple petitions to stop selling them. I’m here. A lawsuit filed last week in California by law firm Evans & Page on behalf of the nonprofit Center for Contemporary Equine Studies found Amazon’s continued sale of these donkey-based products offensive. not only is it , but it may also be illegal.
The center alleges that Amazon’s distribution and sale of ejiao violates a vague California animal welfare law called the Slaughter of Horses and Sale of Horsemeat for Human Consumption Act. The 1998 ballot initiative, known at the time it passed as Proposition 6, states that horsemeat is prohibited for human consumption on the grounds that horses, like dogs and cats, are not food animals and deserve similar protection. criminalize the sale of The Center argues that under the statute, horsemeat is defined to mean any part of a horse, including donkeys.
For Frank Rothschild, director of the Center for Modern Equine Research, the law is clear. Donkeys are horses and it is illegal to sell edjao for human consumption in California. “We are a scientific body, not for national advocacy. We want the defendant to stop selling his ejiao because it is illegal,” he said. . “That’s the law.”
Bruce Wagman, a non-complaint attorney who has practiced animal law in California for 30 years, says the Center presents reasonable arguments, but the statute’s language is open to interpretation, so it’s unlikely that the court will be able to do so. “Horsemeat is not really defined in the relevant statutory body,” he says. “But the spirit of Proposition 6 is to completely prevent horses, including donkeys, from being slaughtered for people’s consumption. Period.”
