I agree with the sliding scale, particularly with vegans. There will ALWAYS be someone more “hardcore” so it just isn’t right or practical to give people a hard time about their choices. Cars aren’t vegan, for heaven’s sake (the paint), and we can be only as cruelty-free as modern medicine and science will allow us to be.

In case people aren’t sure what we’re talking about (because i have a loooooot of family members who don’t get why I won’t eat marshmallows, and a veg bf who didn’t know until recently what’s in jello shots), here’s an interesting link about ingredients: http://www.vrg.org/nutshell/faqingredients.htm

Here’s the gelatin entry:
What is gelatin made from?

Gelatin is derived on a commercial scale in the United States today from, (in order of predominance), pigskins, cattle bones, and cattle hides. A very small percentage used today is from fish bones and skins. It is an animal protein with many functional properties in food applications such as a gelling agent, a thickener, an emulsifier, a whipping agent, a stabilizer, and substance that imparts a smooth mouth feel to foods. Gelatin is often used in confectionery, such as gummy bears and marshmallows; desserts including Jell-O®; “lite” or low-fat foods including some margarines; and dairy products such as yogurt and ice cream. Gelatin is also used in hard and soft gel capsules for the pharmaceutical industry. Gelatin is always animal-derived although there are several all-vegetable gelatin alternatives available today that may be erroneously referred to as “vegetable gelatin” or something similar.