I'd been vegetarian for some years when I decided to work as a veterinary nurse. Whilst I loved my job I found it disturbing to see both the conditions the animals were kept in and the amount of medication they were given routinely to prevent infections. I was concerned that the medication would pass through the animal, and in cows particularly into my milk, then the BSE crisis became public knowledge and trials of BST, a particularly nasty chemical to increase milk yield that has been banned elsewhere, started locally so I decided that for my own health I wouldn't have any more dairy produce. Eggs followed shortly after I realised that most chickens at that time were also given antibiotics routinely.

Whilst I must be one of the few vegans that went vegan for my welfare and not that of the animals I now realise that it is no longer acceptable and certainly not necessary for animals to be farmed in the way we do now and I actively support many animal welfare groups.