Why are they now called vegans? Technically, Veganism (?) is an off-shoot of the Hindu religion. A part of it is diet, which excludes not only animals, but all animal products. However, the religion also calls for never doing harm to, or killing animals. I once saw a TV report on it, and they will refuse even "mercy killing" of an animal that is in intese pain.
Anyway, what most people in the US claim is vegan is actually only describing the dietary guidelines of the Vegan religion.
Mark
Back in college , I knew a few hard-core "vegans".
They would not USE any animal products or byproducts..
They followed this to the point of eating no honey (no support of bee slave labor ya know), no clothes of leather or wool.(they wore lots of polyesther & canvas)
I had many a mind numbing discussion with them about their philosopies...Amazing the levels of confusion for people at that age...
I always wondered just how long someone could live that way, and what kind of person would they become following such ways...maybe like Golem?