There
Was
No Slaughterhouse in the Garden of Eden.
Meat
contains no essential nutrients that cannot
be obtained in higher quality directly from
plant sources.
The main reason for
becoming vegetarian is self preservation.
The consumption of animal products causes
the pH of the body to become acidic,
leading to cellular degeneration and the
onslaught of disease. This has been
confirmed in hundreds of scientific
studies. An acidic pH in the body is the
primary precurser to all disease. When you
choose a vegetarian lifestyle, you not
only help yourself, but you help the
planet as well.
"As we sow, so shall we
reap." "Thou shalt not kill." " For every
action there is a reaction." "Do unto
others as you would have them do unto
you." "Whatever we do to the creatures of
the earth, we do to ourselves." In many
ways and in many cultures, the same
message has been delivered. We must gently
live with others if we want gentle
reactions. Inflicting pain and death
brings the reaction of premature pain and
death. Witness our healthcare system.
No Human is a Carnivore
If you've ever watched a carnivore eat,
you know instantly that humans are not
carnivores. Carnivores stalk their prey.
They attack, usually biting through the
neck and ripping the throat to shreds.
After killing, they rip open the belly
with their sharp teeth and devour the
entrails. They lap up the blood. Finally,
they chew the bones, crushing them in
their powerful jaws. No human could eat
like a carnivore eats, except perhaps, the
totally insane. We are not carnivores.
The only way humans can
eat animals is to disguise what they are
really doing... get someone else to kill
the animal, then drain and dispose of its
blood, slice the muscles into pieces that
are unrecognizable, grind the internal
organs to make "sausages", cook it,
smother it with sauces and seasonings...
all in an effort to keep from experiencing
the reality of what a carnivore does and
is. We are not carnivores.
If you have ever had a
pet, you know that animals have feelings,
that they are intuitive, sensitive
creatures. The production of animals for
the consumption of their muscle and organ
tissues is less than human. If we are
going to create a Heaven on Earth, these
atrocities must end. Interspersed
throughout the text below are positive
options and useful statistics.
Some statistics
Over 7 billion
farm animals die or are slaughtered in the
U.S. every year for the production of
flesh, mostly in highly mechanized
factory-like systems using unprecedented,
largely unregulated methods of brutality,
danger, and cruelty.
Over a billion cattle populate the earth,
with a combined weight greater than the
entire human population. They are
sustained unnaturally in these numbers to
satisfy demand for their flesh. They are a
primary cause for the destruction of the
environment. Beef cattle return only 1
pound of meat for every 16 pounds of grain
and soybeans they are fed, causing huge
inefficiencies in food utilization, while
millions of people go hungry.
Animal-based diets are high in saturated
fat, excessive protein and cholesterol,
leading to heart disease and stroke,
nearly 50% of all deaths in the U.S.
It takes about 2,500 gallons of water to
produce a single pound of meat. According
to Newsweek, "The water that goes into a
1,000 pound steer could float a
destroyer." In contrast, it takes only 25
gallons of water to produce a pound of
wheat.
The world's cattle alone (not including
other livestock) consume food enough for
8.7 billion people. Over a hundred million
of tons of grain go to animals while only
5 million tons of grain could adequately
feed the 15 million children throughout
the world who starve to death every year.
By feeding grain to livestock, we lose 90%
of the protein, 96% of the calories, 99%
of its carbohydrates, and 100% of the
fiber.
A meat-eating American needs 3-1/4 acres
of cultivated farm land; vegetarians only
require 1/6 acre.
There are virtually no laws against
cruelty to animals raised for food in the
U.S.
Meat contains no essential nutrients that
cannot be obtained in higher quality
directly from plant sources.
Grotesque methods of
reproduction are employed on animal farms.
One method of animal procreation employs
so called "teaserbulls" (cattle) or
"sidewinders" (boars) to identify females
in heat. Their penises are surgically
re-routed to come out of the sides of
their bodies so that they cannot reproduce
directly. These mutilated, frustrated
studs exist only to identify fertile
females. The cows or sows are artificially
inseminated.
Meat would cost over $35/lb. if the water
used by the meat industry were not
subsidized by the U.S. government.
Livestock production accounts for twice
the pollution of industrial sources in the
U.S.
Dr. T. Colin Campbell,
a key researcher involved with The China
Study, says "In the next 10 to 15 years,
one of the things you're bound to hear is
that animal protein ... is one of the most
toxic nutrients of all that can be
considered." Risk for disease increases
dramatically when even a little animal
protein is added to the diet.
The planet's entire petroleum reserves
would be exhausted in a just over a decade
if the whole world adopted the technology
used in the U.S. to produce the standard
American meat-centered diet.
Trees are being cut at an alarming rate to
clear land for meat production. If
tomorrow people in the U.S. switched to
vegetarian, 200 million acres could be
returned to forest.
"Redskins" are chickens on the conveyer
belt to death which missed not both the
brine-filled electrified stunning trough
but also the knife that was to cut their
throats and bleed their bodies. Their
deaths occurred in the scald tank where
feathers are loosened before plucking.
Piles of them are thrown aside every day.
Chicken feed is routinely laced with
hormones and antibiotics to allow
agribusiness the efficiency of massive
flocks under intensive confinement. Only
with massive drugs, a practice begun in
the fifties, can such cruel and brutal
conditions be maintained. These hormones
and antibiotics make their way into those
who eat their flesh causing hormonal
imbalances and antibiotic resistance.
Meat-centered diets are linked to many
kinds of cancer, such as cancer of the
colon, breast, cervix, uterus, ovary,
prostate, and lung.
U.S. livestock produces 20 times the
excrement of the human population.Their
waste no longer serves to fertilize
pastures a little at a time, since they
spend much or all of their lives in
factory sheds or feedlots. Wastes are
often simply flushed away dangerously
raising ammonia and nitrate levels in our
drinking water. Going vegetarian helps to
clean up our nation's water more than any
other single action.
The human digestive system is not designed
for meat. A natural carnivore's bowel is
relatively short (2-3 times the length of
its torso) and smooth inside, a human's
bowel is 12 times the length of the torso
and deeply twisted and puckered. The
carnivore has much stronger digestive
acids. In the long convoluted human
digestive tract, meat putrifies and
becomes toxic to the body.
John Robbins, author of Diet for a
New America, says that a
dairy cow living in today's modern milk
factory "is bred, fed, medicated,
inseminated and manipulated to a single
purpose -- maximum milk production at
minimum cost. She lives with an
unnaturally swelled up and sensitive
udder, is kept inside a stall her entire
life, is milked up to 3 times a day, and
is kept pregnant nearly all of the time
with her young taken from her almost
immediately after birth. "Contented" is
the characteristic most often attributed
to the cow. However, cows in factories are
fed tranquilizers to calm their frazzled
nerves."
On a calorie basis, spinach has 14 times
the iron of sirloin steak. Animal products
are deficient in vitamin C which is needed
for iron absorption.
Male cattle in the beef industry are
castrated to make them more docile and to
promotes a fattier (more profitable)
animal. Anesthetics are seldom used.
The typical egg factory may hold 80,000
hens per warehouse with 4 or 5 layer hens
squeezed into a 12" x 18" cage. Poultry
producers de-beak their chicks with
hot-knife machines to prevent the crazed
birds from killing each other in response
to their intense confinement.
The National Cancer Research Institute
found that women who eat meat daily are
almost 4 times more likely to get breast
cancer than those who eat little or no
meat
At the expense of their own hungry
populations, exporters in poor countries
produce luxury foods such as meat to sell
to rich countries. Meat is much more
profitable than subsistence crops of rice,
beans and vegetables.
Cattle are responsible for 12% of the
methane emissions. Methane contributes to
global warming by trapping 25 times more
solar heat than carbon dioxide.
Pigs in today's factory farms are often
stacked two and three decks high in space
just big enough to fit in. They stand on
metal or concrete slats which painfully
cripple the legs of half of them before
slaughter. Their entire lives are lived
this way. Pigs have a similarly high
intelligence and sensitivity as the family
pet dog.
Mother's milk from a nursing woman who
eats a diet rich in animal sources is so
toxic that if it were to be sold across
state lines, it would be subject to
confiscation and destruction by the FDA.
Two hundred years ago, American topsoil
averaged 21 inches. Today, it's only about
6 inches. Each year an area the size of
Connecticut is lost to topsoil erosion.
Livestock production is responsible for
about 85% of this erosion.
Fish concentrate toxic chemicals. Consumer
Reports (Feb., '92) notes
that the incidence of unacceptable levels
of PCB's and mercury were found in certain
species of fish. Ingesting PCB's is
considered a primary cause for the sperm
count in American men to be 70% of what it
was 30 years ago. Half the world's fish
catch is fed to cattle, which concentrates
the poisons.
Drugged animals in factory sheds are
supposed to have their drugs stopped at a
certain time before slaughter. Withdrawal
schedules are often lax. Troughs of old,
drug-laden feed are not removed when
withdrawal should begin. Since animals are
often fed animal waste and flesh, drug and
pesticide residues accumulate.
The common cold, as well as allergies to
dust, cats and pollen, are likely to go
away when milk is removed from the diet.
No other mammal in nature drinks milk
after weaning, or drinks the milk of other
species. Cows will not even drink cows
milk after weaning.
USDA meat inspection today is virtually
non-existent with sometimes as few as 3
out of 1,000 carcasses checked. Federal
inspectors are not allowed to stop the
assembly line if a problem is sighted,
they may only complain. Many cancerous
carcasses pass inspection.
Cattle grazing destroyed most of the lush
ecosystems in North America. Grazing is
the primary cause for the loss or
endangerment of plant species in the U.S.
The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
and the Food and Nutrition Board recommend
eating only 2.5% to 6% of one's calories
as protein to satisfy requirements. It's
nearly impossible to get below 9% with a
vegetarian diet. Typical Americans eat 28%
of their calories as animal protein and an
additional 12% as non-animal protein. High
protein intake is the primary cause of
osteoporosis.
About 98% of all milk in the U.S. is
produced with factory methods. Today's
factory cow is fed dangerous levels of
hormones to produce two to three times
more milk than normal. After about four
years, when the hormones no longer work,
the spent cow becomes hamburger. Slaughter
ends the agony of mostly solitary, intense
confinement, in which our friend has never
seen a blade of grass. A cow naturally
lives 20 years.
Cattle grazing is subsidized on public
lands in the U.S. The market rate is about
$6.40 to $9.50 per month per cow, many
government permit holders pay less than
$2. According to U.S. Congressman Dick
Armey of Texas, our nation's "farm cartel"
government policy is simply "Welfare to
the rich."
Factory-farmed animals have as much as 30
TIMES more saturated fat than yesterday's
free-range, pasture-raised animals.
Nearly half then fish tested by Consumers
Union were found to be contaminated by
bacteria from human or animal feces. The
suspected cause is poor sanitation
practices.
In the barnyard of the past, a sow gave
birth to 6 piglets a year. Today's factory
farms are working towards 45! Frankenstein
methods include hormone injection for
greater fertility, artificial
insemination, "embryo transfers" where
embryos are surgically removed, and
implanted into other sows -- all in the
name of greater meat production at reduced
cost. Similar methods are employed in the
beef industry.
Cow's milk is meant for calves, not
humans. An infant's natural protein needs
are actually quite low. Human milk
contains only 5% of its calories as
protein which enables an infant to double
in size in 180 days. In contrast, cow's
milk is 15% protein by calorie. Newborn
calves double in size in only 47 days.
At most stockyards so called "downers" may
lie suffering for days until they are
dragged by chain to their slaughter. The
tragedy is that an animal can legally be
kept in agony, sick or with broken bones
simply because alive it will fetch a
higher price for a rancher.
More antibiotics are used in animal
production than for humans. Animal drug
sales are in the billions.
Meat industry apologists claim that
livestock do not compete for edible food
with humans because they live on forage
humans cannot eat. In truth, 70% of all
the grain produced in the U.S. is fed to
livestock.
Today's animals are packed indoors and
kept alive with drugs and vitamin
injections. The battle against infection
and death in the factory farm shed is a
constant concern. Misting animals with
insecticides has become routine. In the
chicken factories, birds are fed chemicals
to control flies which are so potent, they
stay active even in their droppings, still
able to kill larvae.
The great Ogallala Aquifer, which supplies
the nation's bread basket with water, is
being pumped dry, mostly for growing grain
to feed livestock. It spans over 8
midwestern states with an area three times
the size of New York State. This natural
reservoir from the last Ice Age may be
gone in 30 years.
Meat contains about 14 times more
pesticides than plant foods; dairy
products more than 5-1/2 times.
There are 20 - 30 thousand animal
drugs currently in use. Roughly 90% have
NOT been approved by the FDA.
The Physicians Committee for Responsible
Medicine, a group of 3,000 physicians,
introduced the New Four Food Groups:
fruit, vegetables, whole grains, and
legumes. Meat, poultry, fish, nuts, seeds,
and oils are termed "optional" foods, not
considered necessary for health.
All natural instincts are restricted in
today's pig factories. Driven insane,
bored, and frustrated, these naturally
intelligent, playful creatures are driven
to gnawing and biting on other pig tails
and hind ends. A mauled pig may die from
an attack and then be eaten by his
attackers. Mauled pigs cannot be sold, a
definite problem to the producer. In
answer? Pigtails are amputated and animals
are kept in total darkness except for
feeding.
The Bureau of Labor lists poultry
processing as one of the most hazardous
occupations. Workers often contract
diseases from sick animals. The meat
packing industry suffers injuries10 times
the national average, primarily nerve and
tendon damage from repetative motion (up
to 8,000 times an hour).
Egg factories all over the country weed
out male chicks and dispose of them en
masse in plastic bags and barrels where
they are crushed and suffocated. A half a
million chicks a day are disposed of. They
may also be ground up WHILE STILL ALIVE
for use as animal feed.
Animals at the top of the food chain
absorb many of the toxic chemicals in
their diet. Pesticides, insecticides,
petrochemicals, hormone injections,
antibiotics as well as toxic wastes such
as PCB's and mercury in our oceans. Today,
more than ever, it is wise to eat low on
the food chain. Plant foods are the
safest.
A diet vegetarian diet helps prevent
diabetes, often relieves the symptoms, and
can even eliminate the need insulin
treatments.
Detection of salmonella is not required by
the USDA. Not a single plant in the
country inspects for it. CBS's "60
Minutes" found half of the chickens they
randomly purchased to be contaminated.
The male calf born to a dairy cow is taken
immediately after birth to a veal factory
and locked up, immobile, for his entire
life. He is fed a diet without iron or
roughage to produce tender milky white
meat. He is injected with growth hormones
and antibiotics to keep him alive. He is
kept in darkness except for feeding. Veal
fetches a premium price.
Agricultural engineers discovered that the
energy costs of producing poultry, pork
and other meats was over10 times that of
any plant food.
Nearly all toxic chemical residues in the
American diet (95% to 99%) come from
animal sources.
To help end the controversy over whether
humans are carnivores, consider that it is
not common for a person to stalk a wild
animal, catch it by sinking claws into its
body, bite its neck, and feel comfort in
the taste of fresh warm blood and uncooked
flesh.
To crank up pork production, piglets may
be taken away from their mother soon after
birth. They are then provided with a
mechanical teat, without which they would
die from the emotional loss. The forced
weaning allows the sow to end her
lactating period, so she can become
pregnant again.
The high incidence of constipation
hemorrhoids, hiatal hernias,
diverticulosis, spastic colon and
appendicitis parallels today's widespread
high fat, low fiber, meat-centered diets.
Our dwindling water supply is directly
tied to meat consumption. Over half of the
water in the U.S. irrigates land for
livestock feed and fodder.
Considering factory housing, irrigation,
trucking, refrigeration, and petrochemical
fertilizer, vast amounts of energy, about
a gallon of gasoline, is required for
every pound of grain-fed beef.
The Allied naval blockade during World War
I forced Denmark dramatically into
nationwide vegetarianism. The death rate
from disease during the period dropped by
34%.
Chicken feathers, guts, and waste water,
which normally would be discarded, are
routinely "recycled"back to the hen houses
as feed. Industry experts believe this
unclean slaughtering, processing, and
forced cannibalism, leads to the rampant
salmonella epidemics in poultry plants.
Ignoring true causes, the U.S. government
recommends food irradiation to "sanitize"
contaminated birds. Food irradiation
causes potentially carcinogenic changes to
proteins.
Even, though organic farming and natural
insect controls are proven, agribusiness
continues with pesticides. Pesticides may
take hundreds of years to decompose.
In a March, 1984 Time magazine
reported on cholesterol and heart
disease... "in regions where ... meat is
scarce, cardiovascular disease is
unknown."
An acre cultivated in spinach yields 26
times more protein than it does for beef.
Human beings have no sharp needle-like
teeth to puncture flesh as do carnivores;
humans have flat back teeth to grind
(plant) food unlike carnivores.
The USDA does not inspect for trichinosis
in pork, which must be thoroughly cooked
before eating. About 4% of Americans have
trichinella worms in their muscles.
Vegetarians live on average about six
years longer and are healthier than meat
eaters.
Desertification, now affecting 29% of the
earth's landmass, is largely due to the
demands of livestock production around the
world. Meat-eating countries, such as the
U.S., drive continued increases due to
conversion of land which has been
sustainably farmed for centuries being
converted to beef production for export.
European countries have banned nearly all
imports of American beef because of the
routine feeding of antibiotics to
livestock.
Demand for ocean fish contributes to over
200,000 deaths of marine mammals and birds
caught in fishing nets every year.
Doctors learn to treat diseases with drugs
and surgery. Today's physician has
virtually no education on nutrition.
USDA poultry inspectors are expected to
inspect about 90 birds per minute on a
fast moving conveyor. An impossibility.
They are forced to allow unsafe poultry to
get the USDA's stamp of approval.
To produce foie gras, duck and geese are
force-fed huge quantities of grain three
times a day through a feeder tube. This
painful process lasts 28 days before
slaughter, often causing stomachs
sometimes to burst. Diseased livers, which
swell to several times normal size by this
process, are considered a delicacy which
sells for about $12 an ounce. About 8,000
tons are
produced worldwide each year.
A vegetarian diet is often a quick cure
for ulcerative colitis.
Each pound of feedlot beef can be equated
with 35 pounds of eroded topsoil, at an
estimated cost of $44 billion a year.
Antibiotics for medical use are becoming
ineffective because excessive use of
antibiotics, especially in the meat
industry, creates super bugs that are
resistant to all known antibiotics. It is
predicted that we are about to embark upon
an era in which antibiotics are useless.
It's easy to become a vegetarian.
Simply do not buy meat or eggs when you go
to the grocer or to a restaurant. If you
do not buy it, you will not consume it.
You will learn how to cook and serve
nutritious and delightful vegetarian fare.
There are many cookbooks available at your
favorite natural food store or
bookstore.
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