Water -"Must be something in the Water!" With safe drinkable water being a problem for half of the world's population, it seems ludicrous that we should want to pollute such a precious resource. Our water may be accidentally contaminated by nitrates, lead or agrochemicals; or purposely by aluminium (added to make the water clear), chlorine ( to prevent algae bloom) and fluoride (claimed to reduce dental decay). The toxicity of chlorine is undoubted, however methods such as UV treatment , ozone treatment and improved filtration can be used to end the need for chlorine. Steps can be taken to reduce water contamination in the home by replacing lead piping or solder and filtering drinking water. Use cold water to fill your kettle, as the copper in hot water pipes dissolves into the warm water. Filters are targeted to remove specific chemicals, so water testing is required before fitting one. 12, 34

Whey - From milk.

Wine - Organic wines are supposedly free of gelatine or isinglass, because most of them use cold filtering. Clare Estate, Eden Ridge (including 'David Wynn' and 'Mount Adam') and Dalwhinnie are Australian Organic wines with national distribution. The UK VegSoc recommends Eden Ridge and Orlando Jacobs Creek.

Wool - see Sheep

Wood - Hardwood deforestation is a major problem in third world countries. It is largely through first world greed for these products, and the relative poverty of the countries from which the wood is derived that slow growing rainforest hardwoods are being decimated. Stanway claims that Japan accounts for one third of the world's consumption of hardwood, used for chopsticks and plywood boxes for take-away foods. Species particularly at risk include Teak, Mahogany, Rosewood, African Walnut, Meranti and Iroko.