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Human Health Issues
There are numerous diseases attributed to a meat-based diet, such
as cancer and heart disease. All of the nutrients that we need to
stay healthy can be found in a plant-based diet and those plant-based
sources are always a healthier form of the nutrient. Also, calcium
found in an animal's milk causes calcium build up in our bones, which
causes osteoporosis, whereas dark greens and broccoli provide plentiful
amounts of calcium that can be completely digested by our body with
no build up at all.
It is very easy for a vegan diet (no meat or dairy) to meet the recommendations
for protein as long as calorie intake is adequate. Strict protein
planning or combining is not necessary. The key is to eat a varied
diet. Almost all foods except for alcohol, sugar, and fats are good
sources of protein. Vegan sources include: potatoes, whole wheat bread,
rice, broccoli, spinach, almonds, peas, chickpeas, peanut butter,
tofu, soy milk, lentils, kale... 1 Eating meat does provide
a complete protein all by itself, but plenty of protein is also found
in beans, nuts, and grains. Though they don't contain a complete protein
on their own, as long as you make sure to eat some of each then you'll
have all the protein you need.
When all animal products are eliminated from one's diet, it is important
to make sure you get enough B12. Vitamin B12 is the only nutrient
that is only found in living sources, but that doesn't mean that it
has to be an animal. B12 supplements can be produced from yeast. For
a detailed list of all nutrients and how they can easily be found
in a vegan diet, see the Vegetarian
Resource Group.
The living conditions of livestock on factory farms are so bad that
they are routinely given antibiotics just to keep them from dying.
This enables the factory farming industry to keep conditions deplorable
without losing too much of their "product." But animals are living
beings. They deserve better than to be just kept alive. Additionally,
the routine overuse of antibiotics will cause antibiotic resistance
in people. When animals consume antibiotics, antibiotic-resistant
bacteria develops in the animals. When humans consume meat and dairy
products, the antibiotic-resistant bacteria is passed to humans. The
antibiotic-resistant bacteria leads to antibiotic resistance in humans,
meaning that antibiotics will no longer work when you need them. In
order to keep antibiotics working when you are sick and need them,
it is important that you do not become antibiotic resistant. If that
happens, antibiotics will no longer be an effective cure when you
are sick.
In 2002 a bill that dealt with antibiotic resistance was proposed
to the 107th congress. Though the bill was not enacted into law, the
bill did accurately find antibiotic resistance to be a human health
threat. The findings from bill number S. 2508 are as follows, "Study
after study has shown that the practice of using antibiotics to promote
growth and fatten livestock erodes the effectiveness of these important
pharmaceuticals. Mounting scientific evidence shows that this nontherapeutic
use of antibiotics in agricultural animals can lead to development
of antibiotic-resistant bacteria that can be transferred to people,
making it harder to treat dangerous infections."
The bill can be seen in full at: http://thomas.loc.gov/home/r107query.html.
Note: once you get to the page, type the following into the
search field and hit search: antibiotic resistance additives to animal
feed
Sustains Global Hunger
In 1998, over 700 million people did not have enough to eat. Every
year hunger kills 12 million children world wide.2 But
now, estimates put the number of people who suffer from hunger well
over 800 million.
At the same time, wasteful agricultural practices, such as the intensive
livestock operations known as factory farming, are rapidly polluting
and depleting the natural resources upon which all life depends. Trying
to produce more food by these methods would lead only to more water
pollution, more soil degradation, and, ultimately, more hunger.3
It takes 2,500 gallons of water to produce a pound of meat, but only
25 gallons to produce a pound of wheat. Twenty thousand pounds of
potatoes can be grown on one acre of land, but only 165 pounds of
beef can be produced in the same space.4 A meat-based diet
is not an efficient use of water or resources. Plus, funneling thousands
of pounds of crops though an animal just to get back a few pounds
of meat is a wasteful use of food when so many people are starving
from hunger.
Environmental Degradation
Energy: Raising animals for food
requires more than one-third of all raw materials and fossil fuels
used in the United States. Producing a single hamburger patty uses
enough fossil fuel to drive a small car 20 miles and enough water
for 17 showers.5
Pollution and Water: Raising animals
for food uses half of all the fresh water consumed in the United States.
Plus, the meat industry causes more water pollution in the United
States than any other industry. Therefore, a meat-based diet
uses the majority of our fresh water and pollutes what it doesn't
use.
Forested Areas are destroyed to
make room for livestock grazing and to grow livestock feed. When natural
land is turned into agricultural land it looses its natural protective
cover of trees, bushes, and wild grasses causing the topsoil to be
eroded over time when it's carried away by wind and heavy rain. In
some areas toxic chemicals cause the erosion. The vast majority of
agricultural crops grown are for livestock feed (87%). Therefore a
meat-based diet is the reason for the vast majority of environmental
destruction that is caused by of agriculture.
Rainforest Destruction: The American
appetite for meat is not only having irreversible effects in the US,
but is the cause for much of the rainforest destruction as well. Many
corporations, such as McDonald's, have moved their cattle ranches
to the rainforest because land prices are so cheap and laws are lenient.
Read our Habitat Loss
page to learn more about the impact that a meat-based diet has on
these delicate forests.
Why Care About Soil Erosion? Of
all the earth's crustal resources, the one we take most for granted
is soil. We are terrestrial animals and depend on soil for life, yet
most of us think of it only in negative terms. English is unique in
using "soil" as an interchangeable word for both earth and excrement.6
The truth is that soil is a wonderful, complex, and living resource
that we cannot afford to take for granted. There are 20,000 different
soil types in the United States and many thousands more worldwide.7
Soils vary depending upon the needs of the climate. Some soils are
better suited from growing certain plants than other soils. Once soil
is depleted from an area, it is very difficult and expensive to restore
to the point that it is considered virtually impossible to restore
soil. Areas which were once plush and green are now a barren desert.
This is called desertification.
Soil also becomes unusable for growing crops when nutrients are depleted.
Without using sustainable growing methods our soil is quickly becoming
depleted of many necessary nutrients. Soil also needs to be properly
aerated and allow for proper drainage to be usable for agricultural
needs. In order for this to happen there needs to be a proper blend
of silt, sand, and clay. There is a lot more to topsoil than just
being "dirt". Since the population of our planet continues
to increase at alarming speeds, the last thing we want is for our
topsoil to loose the necessary properties needed to grow food. We
could feed everyone much more efficiently if everyone ate a plant
based diet. If the majority of crops didn't have to be grown for livestock
feed, then far less land would be used and eroded for agriculture
yet many more people could be fed.
The International Soil Reference and Information Center in the
Netherlands estimates that every year 3 million ha (7.4 million acres)
of cropland are ruined by erosion, 4 million ha are turned into deserts,
and 8 million ha are converted to nonagricultural uses such as homes,
highways, shopping centers, factories, reservoirs, etc.8
With the usable agricultural land decreasing so fast, we need to make
the best and most efficient use of it as possible. Eating a plant-based
diet is the very best way to feed the ever-growing population in a
sustainable and long-term way.
With careful husbandry and sustainable agriculture techniques, soil
can be renewed and replenished indefinitely... but not renewed once
it's gone. Since most modern farming corporations only care about
short-term profits, they do not make the effort to employ sustainable
techniques. This is already having devastating impacts all over the
world including the United States.
References
1 Vegetarian Resource Group, Veganism
in a Nutshell
2 "12 Myths About Hunger" based on "World
Hunger: 12 Myths", 2nd Edition, by Frances Moore Lappé,
Joseph Collins and Peter Rosset, with Luis Esparza (fully revised
and updated, Grove/Atlantic and Food First Books, Oct. 1998
3 Global Hunger Alliance, http://www.globalhunger.net
4 Environmentalist Leaflet, People for the Ethical Treatment
of Animals (PETA), http://www.peta.org/pdfs/leafletback.pdf
5 Ibid.
6 Environmental Science: A Global Concern, William Cunningham
& Barbara Saigo, McGraw Hill, 2001, p. 242.
7 Ibid., p. 243.
8 Ibid., p. 246.
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