I came to know this decades ago and was horrified because we are vegetarians. I did not know about veganism at the time but I did stop using gelatin and started reading labels more seriously while also probing deeper into how things are made. I shudder to think of some of the things I discovered. Animal products in cosmetics was perhaps the worst thing at the time. Ugh. Fortunately we have so many kinder versions. (Also, I don't use cosmetics :-D )