I found this out today and feel so icky about it! I had no idea!!

can you elaborate?

On my local news this morning, one of the commentators was at some type of agricultural event where they "educating" school kids about farming and all the products that come from these animals :-/ They were saying that toothpaste and marshmallows are made from cow hooves! I had never heard this before and thought maybe I was just in the dark. I was also so mad because they took a baby piglet away from it's mother during a feeding just to show it on tv. :(

I believe the commentator was referring to gelatin, which is indeed made from cow hooves (or tendons, I'm a little fuzzy on the details). Marshmallows do contain gelatin, except for vegan marshmallows (search on VB for details on that), and, I guess, certain brands of toothpaste. I only use Tom's of Maine brand toothpaste, which does not use gelatin.

There are lots of threads on VB about gelatin.

Okay, thanks for your help :)

Yes! the hoofs and tendon and cartlidges can all include gelatin. there is tasty dish cdall tonkotu and its all pig cartlidges. I only eat it for the vegetebles!

I believe the commentator was referring to gelatin, which is indeed made from cow hooves (or tendons, I'm a little fuzzy on the details).
Bones, hooves, tendons, connective tissue, etc. from cows, pigs, AND horses.
Snopes.com confirmed there are horses in gelatin, but I'm not positive on how reliable Snopes is (most people think it is though).

Yes! the hoofs and tendon and cartlidges can all include gelatin. there is tasty dish cdall tonkotu and its all pig cartlidges. I only eat it for the vegetebles!
:guitar: Kichigai! :boobies:

tricalcium phosphate is the animal-derived toothpaste ingredient to look out for.
With so many wonderful vegan toothpastes on the market, many which are also fluoride-free ( a good thing IMHO), why bother with Crest/Colgate & the rest of that bad lot?
btw: For toothpaste connaisseurs, try Weleda salt toothpaste.

I've never seen gelatin in toothpaste.

From Wikipedia:
It is also known as calcium orthophosphate, tertiary calcium phosphate, tribasic calcium phosphate, or "bone ash" (calcium phosphate being one of the main combustion products of bone).

However It can also be non-animal derived!
... It is found in nature as a rock in Morocco, Israel, Egypt, and Kola (Russia) and in smaller quantities in some other countries.

Like always you just need to be certain of the source.

Toothpaste Ingredients

A major point to understand in reference to toothpastes is that glycerin can come from pig or cow in addition to plants.

Crest says they will be going to use glycerin from a vegetarian source in the future, which means that it is made from animal ingredient right now.

Sensodyne uses animal (beef).

Colgate has a list of the toothpastes that they make which are vegetarian.
Regarding Colgate toothpaste, the information below may be helpful to you. The following products do not currently contain glycerin or
contain only synthetic or vegetable sourced glycerin:

• All Colgate Toothpastes for Children
• (Kids, Junior, My First -- all variants)
• Colgate Cavity Protection Winterfresh Gel
• Colgate Cavity Protection Great Regular Flavor (2.7 oz.)
• Colgate 2-in-1 Toothpaste & Mouthwash Fresh Mint,
• Icy Blast Whitening, Whitening and Tartar Control
• Colgate 2-in-1 Kids Toothpaste & Mouthwash:
• Watermelon, Bubble Gum, Fairly Odd Parents
• Colgate Fresh Confidence with Whitening Toothpaste
• Colgate Herbal White Fresh Mint Toothpaste
• Colgate Sparkling White Cinnamon Spice Gel
• Colgate Max Fresh Toothpastes
Additionally, another line of Colgate Oral Care products, Colgate
Simply White Clear Whitening Gel and Colgate Simply White Night Clear Whitening Gel also currently utilize only synthetic or vegetable derived glycerin.


Colgate Toothbrushes are free of any animal-derived ingredient

Heh. I was thinking that too, kpickell. I was l/o for a long time, but avoided gelatin, so I looked for stuff like that. I even used gel toothpaste.

So it's glycerin not labeled as gelatin...

You can find major brands with no animal ingredients as referenced by the list I just put there, but Then you are still not sure if they Tested on animals.

The only way to be really certain there is no animal ingredients and no animal testing is to look for the leaping bunny. http://www.leapingbunny.org

Well, if it's glycerin, it's not gelatin, so that's why it's not labeled that way. Glycerin is usually from fat, gelatin is tendons/hooves/cartilage, etc. (blech) Glycerin can be plant based, as well.

Thought everyone might be interested to know that Tom's of Maine is teaming up with Colgate. All of their principles will be upheald by Colgate. WooHoo!

For fun, since I'm sitting in front of a drawer full of toothpastes of all types and brands I decided to check the ingredients. None had gelatin, and about a third of them had glycerin.

Nature's Gate: Cream de Minte

BEST TOOTHPASTE EVER! ....imo :)