The Mighty Convincer 101 Reasons Why I’m a Vegetarian tweNtY-YeAr ANNIVERSArY • Ninth edItIoN • 2011 • bY PAmelA Rice Above images are of Veggie Pride Parade NYC 2008, 2009, 2010 & 2011. Picture credits can be found on the back page. No laws stop institutional cruelty on farms The federal-level Animal Welfare Act is projected to rise by 30 percent, pro- strain. However, there are six other 1does not apply to farmed animals, duction of agricultural crops will need E. coli strains that infect 30,000 people despite the name. And many state anti- to increase by up to 100 percent, thanks every year as well, but few public health cruelty statutes for livestock were conve- to another doubling of world meat con- labs in the country test for them. niently stripped of any teeth in the 1980s sumption. Such a prospect is truly sober- A U.S. meat-inspector-turned-whis- and 1990s, just as large-scale intensive ing, since meat production plays a 7tleblower testified in 2010 that pigs farming was getting a foothold. The dominant role in just about every envi- in the slaughterhouse where he worked Humane Slaughter Act does not apply to ronmental problem on the planet. were being shackled and bled out while chickens, which represent over 95 per- World fishing has brought 29 per- still conscious, and the animals were cent of all farmed animals, and, in any 4 cent of fish species to utter collapse, regularly being unloaded from trucks so case, is rarely enforced. The Twenty- that is, to generally 10 percent of histori- aggressively they were forced to tram- Eight Hour Law says that livestock may cal levels. A 2006 report predicted that ple one another. Considered a trouble- not be confined in a vehicle or vessel for essentially all wild edible fish will be maker, the inspector was harassed and more than 28 consecutive hours without gone from the ocean by 2048. Still, local then shunted off to another plant where being unloaded, fed, watered, and given supermarkets display plentiful supplies. conditions were even worse. Meanwhile, rest. This law is not effectively enforced And global catches continue to stay sta- a U.S. Government Accountability Pro- and does not apply to birds. Farm cruelty ble, though made up from fish at lower ject survey of USDA inspectors across is not regulated at the federal level; at trophic levels. How can this be? Accord- the country confirmed that enforcement the state level it is dealt with as a crimi- ing to a 2010 study, fish stocks would of the Humane Methods of Slaughter nal offense. But local police rarely moni- have long ago crashed outright if not Act is woefully lax. Inspectors often err tor it, let alone obtain a warrant to step for the industry’s steady plunder of new on the side of inaction when confronted onto a private farm. Since the majority fishing grounds, primarily in the south- with a violation. And only about one per- of states specifically exempt “common,” ern hemisphere. A 2011 report from the cent of the Food Safety and Inspection “customary,” “normal,” or “accepted” International Programme on the State of Service budget had been designated for farming practices, there is essentially the Ocean warned that ocean life is at enforcement of the HMSA. nothing to stop the institutional cruelty high risk of entering an unprecedented A tiny percentage of all the water on that is all-pervasive on today’s farms. phase of extinction. We must ask, what 8Earth is potable, that is, fresh. About Major studies in England and Ger- shall we say to our descendents when 70 percent of this precious store is used 2many have shown that vegetarians the fish are all gone? in agriculture. Yet, because of in creasing are about 40 percent less likely to develop Incredibly, 81 million Americans live meat consumption, global water demand cancer compared to meat eaters. In the 5with some kind of cardiovascular is forecast to go up by 40 percent by U.S., studies of Seventh Day Adventists disease, thanks to the standard Ameri- 2030. It’s important to realize that half have shown significant reductions in can diet. Heart disease alone costs the of all the world’s cultivated grain is fed cancer risk among those who avoided U.S. economy over half a trillion dollars to livestock. So, when people hear the meat. Studies at Harvard have shown per year. But hope is far from lost. Stud- word “agriculture,” they largely need that meat eaters have about three times ies show that 82 percent of those who to think animal agriculture. Production the risk for colon cancer as those who changed to a low-fat, low-processed- inputs for a single hamburger amount rarely eat meat. Clues to why? Meat is food vegan diet were able to reverse to 634 gallons of water, 25 times that high in saturated fat and animal protein. their CVD symptoms entirely. Virtually needed for the equivalent in wheat. It’s devoid of fiber. It contains certain all heart diseases are a function of ani- In what is still the most comprehen- carcinogens (HCAs and PAHs), formed mal-based and processed foods, includ- 9sive investigation of diet and life- as meat is cooked at high temperatures. ing bottled vegetable oils. Keeping style ever conducted, The China Study Red and processed meats especially are stress levels down is important as well. found that the consumption of surpris- linked to cancer risk, notably colorectal Cattle today are typically “finished” ingly small amounts of animal pro- cancer and cancers of the oesophagus, 6in excrement-replete feedlots. Cow tein is linked to chronic disease. The lung, pancreas, stomach, endometrium, feces is the carrier of the deadly E. coli many findings from this grand epide- and prostate. On the other hand, plant strain O157:H7, which sickens 73,000 miological study are especially compel- foods are rich in antioxidants and other Americans every year. Thanks to break- ling because they allowed meaning- anti-cancer compounds. neck line speeds of 400 animals per hour ful comparisons between populations The world’s total meat supply was at the slaughterhouse, caked-on manure with similar genetic backgrounds yet 3 71 million tons in 1961. By 2007, will migrate to edible portions during de- with nonhomogeneous diets. All in all, this amount had quadrupled. In parts of hiding. A single ground-beef patty may The China Study provides the ultimate the developing world, meat consump- contain the flesh of hundreds or even vegan vindication. tion rose by sevenfold in just the past 20 thousands of animals. The USDA has a Slim profit margins in poultry pro- years. By 2050, when world population zero-tolerance policy for the O157:H7 10 cessing compel giant slaughter- Ninth Edition • 101 REASONS WHY I’M A VEGETARIAN • by Pamela Rice Livestock contribute 51% of climate gases houses to turn to cheap, often illegal, cific sheep from two years prior when was part of a closed, multi-use opera- labor. Poultry-line work is difficult, dirty, presented front- and side-view images; tion where everything was utilized. and dangerous. Generally, no one stays they prefer a happy human face to a sad That’s all changed. According to a 1997 on worker payrolls for more than a year. one. And a cow will experience “eureka USDA report, America’s farms generate Companies simply refuse to offer higher moments”—kicking up her heals and 1.37 billion tons of livestock waste every wages and better working conditions. tossing her head when she discovers that year, which equates to 5 tons for every Laborers work in a milieu of flying fatty a lever will allow her into a pasture. American. Such gargantuan quantities fleshy pieces, roaring racing conveyors, The chemical process that con- of manure came about for one reason: and the constant fear of fellow employ- 13verts atmospheric nitrogen into the trend toward farm specialization. ees wielding sharp knives in close quar- fertilizer is considered by some to be By-product has no purpose on farm sites ters. Thirty thousand knife motions per the most important discovery since the anymore; it becomes pollution. day by one employee is not uncommon. advent of agriculture. In 1905 it ush- Industrial agriculture is environ- Nearly 15 percent of workers face debil- ered in a world of food and feed in great 17 mentally unsustainable in terms itating injuries on the job each year, abundance, allowing man to not only of water, topsoil, and fossil-fuel. It turns mostly because of repetitive trauma of feed himself to excess but his livestock arable land into desert and forest into the wrists and fingers. as well. Indeed, the discovery allowed eroded wasteland. Yet, the level of meat Today, more meat is produced humans to become habitually carnivo- production—the hidden purpose for 11on fewer farms. No trend in agri- rous. Unfortunately, it also brought a sur- industrial agriculture—grows steadily culture is more all-pervasive than this. feit of “nutrients” into the environment. across the globe. And worse, tragically, Hundreds of thousands of small oper- The water, air, and land across the globe while half of the world’s harvest is fed ations have been put out of business are choking under their polluting bur- to animals, approximately 925 million while industry concentration has placed den. Dead zones, harmful algae blooms, people worldwide (1 in 7) are under- total control in the hands of a few king- and acidification are everywhere on nourished. No matter the species, feed- pins who dictate production methods. Earth. Climate change must be counted to-flesh conversion is wastefully inef- Traditional price discovery is no longer as a consequence as well.