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Scientists at Eindhoven University in the Netherlands have grown in-vitro meat, using cells from a live pig to replicate growth in a petri dish. Why is that my husband won't eat bones with fat on them because they are "gross," but will eat burgers and processed meat? From an opinion piece in the Times of India. Da da da da!
The book, which I have not read, that saved Derrick Jensen 's life is called The Vegetarian Myth: Food, Justice, and Sustainability by Lierre Keith, who was a vegan for 20 years, suffered serious medical problems, and started feeling better when she recommenced eating animals. Throughout the book, Keith mocks vegetarians and vegans.
Is a vegan's efforts at advocacy worth more than a vegetarian's or even a meat eater's if they happen to agree on the same issue? If a meat eater eats meat, but hates the factory farm system or animal experimentation, do we discount anything we can get out of them because they are not "pure."
The meat industry will say yes, of course, all animals are treated and killed humanely. For some people, it is inhumane to eat meat in any situation, no matter how well the animal is treated prior to and during slaughter. In my opinion, and I am a vegetarian, the second definition of humane is the MINIMAL that we should expect.
The good news is that if you know someone who needs to be schooled on all of the sordid details of factory farming, and appreciates good writing, this is a great book. He always refers to himself and his wife and his child as "vegetarian." But why does he say "vegetarian?" Ever, in fact.
The only cool thing is that Gene Bauer's views on the meat industry are so similar to those expressed on this blog a few weeks ago. While a nationwide vegan or vegetarian lifestyle change is highly unlikely, the abuse can be maintained through increased government regulation. How many people know this about the Animal Welfare Act?
Some go vegetarian first, then vegan. Then there's me, going vegetarian then vegan, and then eating filet mignon and salmon for a year before going vegan again, and my husband who went vegan overnight after being an omnivore for 38 years. We all know junk-food vegans and vegans who eat "faux meat" products every day.
Ethical vegetarianism is the thesis that killing and eating animals is morally wrong whenever equally nutritious plant-based alternatives are available. The case for ethical vegetarianism starts with several uncontroversial premises. Carruthers, The Animals Issue , p. No one disputes premise (3). Premise (4) is widely acknowledged.
For an explanation of this feature, click on “Moral Vegetarianism” at the bottom of this post. The Argument from Glass-Walled Slaughter Houses Mel Morse, former president of the Humane Society of the United States, once remarked: “If every one of our slaughter houses were constructed of glass this would be a nation of vegetarians.”
There is a general consensus that vegetarianism and veganism are different philosophically. Hence the psychological continuum described (below) by Austria's Association Against Animal Factories from about a year ago. How about this?
The strongest part of [Peter] Singer's case against meat eating is his brief discussion of the world food crisis. More specifically, they eat far more meat than is necessary to maintain adequate nutrition. But even this fails to establish a case for vegetarianism.
We can thank factory farming for yet another antibiotic-resistant supergerm: Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA). In recent years, MRSA has been found in retail cuts of chicken, pork, beef and other meats—a particularly worrisome trend since MRSA can be contracted simply by handling infected cuts of meat.
For an explanation of this feature, click on “Moral Vegetarianism” at the bottom of this post. The Argument from Human Grain Shortage All of the clearly moral arguments for vegetarianism given so far have been in terms of animal rights and suffering. It is argued that beef cattle and hogs are protein factories in reserve.
An enormous volume of material has already appeared on the conditions under which animals live and die on factory farms, and more is almost certainly on the way. Indeed, our feeling of revulsion may be so intense that we simply can no longer bring ourselves to eat meat.
According to Singer , the principle of the equal consideration of interests 'requires us to be vegetarians'. This, however, is precisely what factory farming does. By forgoing meat in our diets, we can reduce, if not eliminate, this massive suffering of animals, merely through bringing market forces to bear upon factory farming.
Not all meat eaters are cold, cruel, selfish individuals insensitive to animal suffering. Many, if not most, of the meat eaters I know are deeply concerned about the fact that the animals they eat are raised in factory farm conditions. They realize that factory farming is inhumane. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The wrongness of factory farming is overdetermined. Why does it not call for the abolition of factory farming? Think of all the progressives— Michael Moore , for example—who either eat meat or go out of their way to ridicule vegetarians. See here for one sufficient ground. Instead, it seeks to reform it.
But there is a net loss in all meat production, not just of farmed fish or feeding fish to land animals being raised for food. And while there are varying estimates, it takes between 3 and 15 pounds of grain to produce a pound of meat. 11, 2008 To the Editor: We are seeing environmental ruin because of factory farming.
Hi Keith, I am writing to request a copy of "Simplifying the Case for Vegetarianism." Also I would like to recommend this essay by David DeGrazia to your readers. This is one of the best essays I have read on the subject of animal ethics. Thanks in advance for the essay.
And thanks to federal corn and soybean subsidies, factory farms saved an estimated $3.9 It’s time that our tax dollars no longer finance the inhumane conditions—for workers and animals and the climate—of factory farms. But one consequence that Mr. Kristof doesn’t note is that meat prices would certainly be substantially higher.
Beyond the environmental impacts of meat production there is a basic ethical issue involved. I suspect that meat consumption would decline dramatically under such a code; it would certainly make many of us less hypocritical. However, I agree with Mr. Foer that factory farming has to go. Elaine Livesey-Fassel Los Angeles
The meat and dairy industries want to keep their operations away from the public’s discriminating eyes, but as groups like PETA and the Humane Society have shown us in their graphic and disturbing undercover investigations, factory farms are mechanized madness and slaughterhouses are torture chambers to these unfortunate and feeling beings.
For an explanation of this feature, click on “Moral Vegetarianism” at the bottom of this post. Consequently, one ought not to eat meat until actual practice is changed. The question that must be raised, however, is how the conclusion not to eat meat follows from this. Consequently, one ought not to eat meat.
According to this study published today in the British Journal of Medicine , "Higher IQ at age 10 years was associated with an increased likelihood of being vegetarian at age 30." The study itself doesn't explain why individuals with higher IQs are more likely to be vegetarians as adults, but Catharine L.
In his fresh and candid first post (available here ), Jonathan admitted that he is struggling with the issue of ethical vegetarianism. He thinks that the treatment of animals in factory farms is morally unjustifiable, and yet, he continues to support those practices financially by purchasing and eating meat and animal products.
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