The
Case Against
Meat
Evidence
Shows that Our
Meat-Based Diet
is Bad for the
Environment,
Aggravates
Global Hunger,
Brutalizes
Animals and
Compromises Our
Health
by Jim
Motavalli
http://www.emagazine.com/view/?142
There has
never been a
better time for
environmentalists
to become
vegetarians.
Evidence of the
environmental
impacts of a
meat-based diet
is piling up at
the same time
its health
effects are
becoming better
known.
Meanwhile,
full-scale
industrialized
factory
farming-which
allows diseases
to spread
quickly as
animals are
raised in close
confinement-has
given rise to
recent, highly
publicized
epidemics of
meat-borne
illnesses. At
presstime, the
first discovery
of mad cow
disease in a
Tokyo suburb
caused beef
prices to
plummet in
Japan and many
people to stop
eating
meat.
All this
comes at a time
when meat
consumption is
reaching an
all-time high
around the
world,
quadrupling in
the last 50
years. There
are 20 billion
head of
livestock
taking up space
on the Earth,
more than
triple the
number of
people.
According to
the Worldwatch
Institute,
global
livestock
population has
increased 60
percent since
1961, and the
number of fowl
being raised
for human
dinner tables
has nearly
quadrupled in
the same time
period, from
4.2 billion to
15.7 billion.
U.S. beef and
pork
consumption has
tripled since
1970, during
which time it
has more than
doubled in
Asia.
One reason
for the
increase in
meat
consumption is
the rise of
fast-food
restaurants as
an American
dietary staple.
As Eric
Schlosser noted
in his
best-selling
book Fast Food
Nation,
"Americans now
spend more
money on fast
food-$110
billion a
year-than they
do on higher
education. They
spend more on
fast food than
on movies,
books,
magazines,
newspapers,
videos and
recorded
music-combined."
Strong
growth in meat
production and
consumption
continues
despite
mounting
evidence that
meat-based
diets are
unhealthy, and
that just about
every aspect of
meat
production-from
grazing-related
loss of
cropland and
open space, to
the
inefficiencies
of feeding vast
quantities of
water and grain
to cattle in a
hungry world,
to pollution
from "factory
farms"-is an
environmental
disaster with
wide and
sometimes
catastrophic
consequences.
Oregon State
University
agriculture
professor Peter
Cheeke calls
factory farming
"a frontal
assault on the
environment,
with massive
groundwater and
air pollution
problems."
World Hunger
and
Resources
The 4.8
pounds of grain
fed to cattle
to produce one
pound of beef
for human
beings
represents a
colossal waste
of resources in
a world still
teeming with
people who
suffer from
profound hunger
and
malnutrition.
According to
the British
group Vegfam, a
10-acre farm
can support 60
people growing
soybeans, 24
people growing
wheat, 10
people growing
corn and only
two producing
cattle.
Britain-with 56
million
people-could
support a
population of
250 million on
an
all-vegetable
diet. Because
90 percent of
U.S. and
European meat
eaters' grain
consumption is
indirect (first
being fed to
animals),
westerners each
consume 2,000
pounds of grain
a year. Most
grain in
underdeveloped
countries is
consumed
directly.
While it is
true that many
animals graze
on land that
would be
unsuitable for
cultivation,
the demand for
meat has taken
millions of
productive
acres away from
farm
inventories.
The cost of
that is
incalculable.
As Diet For a
Small Planet
author Frances
Moore
Lappé
writes, imagine
sitting down to
an eight-ounce
steak. "Then
imagine the
room filled
with 45 to 50
people with
empty bowls in
front of them.
For the 'feed
cost' of your
steak, each of
their bowls
could be filled
with a full cup
of cooked
cereal
grains."
Harvard
nutritionist
Jean Mayer
estimates that
reducing meat
production by
just 10 percent
in the U.S.
would free
enough grain to
feed 60 million
people. Authors
Paul and Anne
Ehrlich note
that a pound of
wheat can be
grown with 60
pounds of
water, whereas
a pound of meat
requires 2,500
to 6,000
pounds.
Environmental
Costs
Energy-intensive
U.S. factory
farms generated
1.4 billion
tons of animal
waste in 1996,
which, the
Environmental
Protection
Agency reports,
pollutes
American
waterways more
than all other
industrial
sources
combined. Meat
production has
also been
linked to
severe erosion
of billions of
acres of
once-productive
farmland and to
the destruction
of
rainforests.
McDonald's
took a group of
British animal
rights
activists to
court in the
1990s because
they had linked
the fast food
giant to an
unhealthy diet
and rainforest
destruction.
The defendants,
who fought the
company to a
standstill,
made a
convincing
case. In court
documents, the
activists
asserted, "From
1970 onwards,
beef from
cattle reared
on
ex-rainforest
land was
supplied to
McDonald's." In
a policy
statement,
McDonald's
claims that it
"does not
purchase beef
which threatens
tropical
rainforests
anywhere in the
world," but it
does not deny
past
purchases.
According to
People for the
Ethical
Treatment of
Animals (PETA),
livestock
raised for food
produce 130
times the
excrement of
the human
population,
some 87,000
pounds per
second. The
Union of
Concerned
Scientists
points out that
20 tons of
livestock
manure is
produced
annually for
every U.S.
household. The
much-publicized
1989 Exxon
Valdez oil
spill in Alaska
dumped 12
million gallons
of oil into
Prince William
Sound, but the
relatively
unknown 1995
New River hog
waste spill in
North Carolina
poured 25
million gallons
of excrement
and urine into
the water,
killing an
estimated 10 to
14 million fish
and closing
364,000 acres
of coastal
shellfishing
beds. Hog waste
spills have
caused the
rapid spread of
a virulent
microbe called
Pfiesteria
piscicida,
which has
killed a
billion fish in
North Carolina
alone.
More than a
third of all
raw materials
and fossil
fuels consumed
in the U.S. are
used in animal
production.
Beef production
alone uses more
water than is
consumed in
growing the
nation's entire
fruit and
vegetable crop.
Producing a
single
hamburger patty
uses enough
fuel to drive
20 miles and
causes the loss
of five times
its weight in
topsoil. In his
book The Food
Revolution,
author John
Robbins
estimates that
"you'd save
more water by
not eating a
pound of
California beef
than you would
by not
showering for
an entire
year." Because
of
deforestation
to create
grazing land,
each vegetarian
saves an acre
of trees per
year.
"We
definitely take
up more
environmental
space when we
eat meat," says
Barbara Bramble
of the National
Wildlife
Federation. "I
think it's
consistent with
environmental
values to eat
lower on the
food
chain."
The Human
Health Toll
There is
some evidence
to suggest that
the human
digestive
system was not
designed for
meat
consumption and
processing (see
sidebar), which
could help
explain why
there is such
high incidence
of heart
disease,
hypertension,
and colon and
other cancers.
Add to this the
plethora of
drugs and
antibiotics
applied as a
salve to
unnatural
factory farming
conditions and
growing
occurrences of
meat-based
diseases like
E. coli and
Salmonella, and
there's a
compelling
health-based
case for
vegetarianism.
The
factory-farmed
chicken, cow or
pig of today is
among the most
medicated
creatures on
Earth. "For
sheer
overprescription,
no doctor can
touch the
American
farmer,"
reported
Newsweek.
According to a
Centers for
Disease Control
and Prevention
(CDC) report,
the use of
antimicrobial
drugs for
nontherapeutic
purposes-mainly
to increase
factory farm
growth
rates-has risen
50 percent
since 1985.
Ninety
percent of
commercially
available eggs
come from
chickens raised
on factory
farms, and six
billion
"broiler"
chickens emerge
from the same
conditions.
Ninety percent
of U.S.-raised
pigs are
closely
confined at
some point
during their
lives.
According to
the book Animal
Factories by
Jim Mason and
Peter Singer,
pork producers
lose $187
million
annually to
chronic
diseases such
as dysentery,
cholera,
trichinosis and
other ailments
fostered by
factory
farming. Drugs
are used to
reduce stress
levels in
animals crowded
together
unnaturally,
although 20
percent of the
chickens die of
stress or
disease
anyway.
One result
of these
conditions is a
high rate of
meat
contamination.
Up to 60
percent of
chickens sold
in supermarkets
are infected
with Salmonella
entenidis,
which can pass
to humans if
the meat is not
heated to a
high enough
temperature.
Another
pathogen,
Campylobacter,
can also spread
from chickens
to human beings
with deadly
results.
In 1997,
more than 25
million pounds
of hamburger
were found to
be contaminated
with E. coli
0157:H7, which
is spread by
fecal matter.
The bacteria
are a
particular
problem in
hamburger,
because the
grinding
process spreads
it throughout
the meat. E.
coli, the
leading cause
of kidney
failure in
young children,
was the culprit
when three
children died
of food
poisoning after
eating at a
Seattle Jack in
the Box
restaurant in
1993.
The British
epidemic of
bovine
spongiform
encephalopathy
(BSE), or mad
cow disease,
which began in
1986 and has
affected nearly
200,000 cattle,
jumps to
beef-eating
humans in the
form of the
always-fatal
Creutzfeldt-Jakob
Disease (CJD).
The CDC reports
that an average
of 10 to 15
people have
contracted CJD
from meat in
Britain each
year since it
was first
detected in
1994. In 1998,
the British
Medical
Association
warned in a
report to
Members of
Parliament,
"The current
state of food
safety in
Britain is such
that all raw
meat should be
assumed to be
contaminated
with pathogenic
organisms." In
1997, it added,
Salmonella or
E. coli
infected a
million people
in Britain. BSE
spreads through
cattle that are
fed
contaminated
central
nervous-system
tissue from
other animals.
"Its future
magnitude and
geographic
distribution…cannot
yet be
predicted," the
CDC reported.
In the U.S.,
deer have been
affected with
chronic wasting
disease, which
has many
similarities to
British BSE,
though a
definitive link
to humans has
not been
established.
In the book
Eating With
Conscience, Dr.
Michael W. Fox
reports that
what is known
as "animal
tankage"-the
non-fat animal
residue from
slaughterhouses-is
used in a wide
variety of
products, from
animal feed and
fertilizer to
pet food. Dr.
Fox adds that
hundreds of
cats in Europe
(and several
zoo animals)
that ate
tankage-laced
food have
contracted
forms of BSE.
The Japanese
outbreak is
believed to
have originated
in
BSE-contaminated
feed imported
from
Europe.
According to
the U.S.
Department of
Agriculture
(USDA), more
than 10 million
animals that
were dying or
diseased when
slaughtered
were "rendered"
(processed into
a protein-rich
meal) in 1995
for addition to
pig, poultry
and pet food.
Animals that
collapse at the
slaughterhouse
door or during
transportation
are called
"downers," and
their corpses
are routinely
processed for
human
consumption. A
2001 Zogby
America poll
conducted for
the group Farm
Sanctuary found
that 79 percent
of Americans
oppose this
practice, which
could be an
entry point for
BSE into the
U.S. meat
supply. Farm
Sanctuary
petitioned the
USDA in 1998 to
end processing
of downer meat
for human
consumption,
but its
petition was
denied.
Europe will
spend billions
of dollars
bringing a
virulent
epidemic of yet
another
animal-borne
disease-foot-and-mouth-under
control. In the
last two years,
60 countries
have had
outbreaks of
foot-and-mouth,
which kills
animals but
does not spread
to people.
One of the
major western
exports is a
taste for meat,
though it
brings with it
increased risk
of heart
disease and
cancer.
Clearly, there
is something
seriously wrong
with a diet and
food production
system
resulting in
such waste,
endemic disease
and human
health
threats.
Caring About
Animals
The average
meat eater is
responsible for
the deaths of
some 2,400
animals during
his or her
lifetime.
Animals raised
for food endure
great suffering
in their
housing,
transport,
feeding and
slaughter,
which is
something not
clearly evident
in the neatly
wrapped
packages of
meat offered
for sale at
grocery
counters. Given
the
information,
many
Americans-especially
those with an
environmental
background-recoil
at knowing they
participate in
a meat
production
system so
oppressive to
the animals
caught up in
it.
The family
farm of the
nineteenth
century, with
its
"free-range"
animals running
around the
farmyard or
grazing in a
pasture, is
largely a thing
of the past.
Brutality to
animals has
become routine
in today's
factory farm. A
recent article
in the pig
industry
journal
National Hog
Farmer
recommends
reducing the
average space
per animal from
eight to six
square feet,
concluding
"Crowding pigs
pays." Morley
Safer reported
on the
television
program 60
Minutes that
today's factory
pig is no
"Babe":
"[They]
see no sun in
their limited
lives, with no
hay to lie on,
no mud to roll
in. The sows
live in tiny
cages, so
narrow they
cannot even
turn around.
They live over
metal grates,
and their waste
is pushed
through slats
beneath them
and flushed
into huge
pits."
Beef cattle
are luckier
than factory
pigs in that
they have an
average of 14
square feet in
the overcrowded
feedlots where
they live out
their lives.
Common
procedures for
beef calves
include
branding,
castration and
dehorning. Veal
calves, taken
away from their
mothers shortly
after birth,
live their
entire lives in
near darkness,
chained by
their necks and
unable to move
in any
direction. They
commonly suffer
from anemia,
diarrhea,
pneumonia and
lameness.
Virtually
all chickens
today are
factory raised,
with as many as
six egg-laying
hens living in
a wire-floored
"battery" cage
the size of an
album cover. As
many as 100,000
birds can live
in each
"henhouse."
Conditions are
so
psychologically
taxing on the
birds that they
must be
debeaked to
prevent pecking
injuries. Male
chicks born on
factory
farms-as many
as 280 million
per year-are
simply thrown
into garbage
bags to die
because they're
of no economic
value as meat
or eggs.
Some 95
percent of
factory-raised
animals are
moved by truck,
where they are
typically
subjected to
overcrowding,
severe weather,
hunger and
thirst. Many
animals die of
heat exhaustion
or freezing
during
transport.
Some of the
worst abuse
occurs at the
end of the
animals' lives,
as documented
by Gail
Eisnitz' book
Slaughterhouse,
which includes
interviews with
slaughterhouse
workers. "On
the farm where
I work,"
reports one
employee, "they
drag the live
ones who can't
stand up
anymore out of
the crate. They
put a metal
snare around
her ear or foot
and drag her
the full length
of the
building. These
animals are
just screaming
in pain." He
adds, "The
slaughtering
part doesn't
bother me. It's
the way they're
treated when
they're alive."
Dying animals
unable to walk
are tossed into
the "downer
pile," and many
suffer agonies
until, after
one or two
days, they are
finally
killed.
The threat
to
slaughterhouse
workers' safety
is largely
underreported
or ignored in
the media. For
example, Mother
Jones magazine,
in an otherwise
admirable story
on
slaughterhouse
workers, barely
mentions the
frequent
injuries caused
by pain-wracked
animals lashing
out inside the
slaughterhouses.
Despite the
existence of
the Humane
Slaughter Act
and regular
USDA
inspection,
animals are
often skinned
alive or-in a
major threat to
worker
safety-regain
consciousness
during
slaughtering.
The
Vegetarian
Solution
Vegetarianism
is not a new
phenomenon. The
ancient Greek
philosopher
Pythagoras was
vegetarian, and
until the
mid-19th
century, people
who abstained
from meat were
known as
"Pythagoreans."
Famous
followers of
Pythagoras'
diet included
Leonardo da
Vinci, Benjamin
Franklin,
George Bernard
Shaw and Albert
Einstein. The
word
"vegetarian"
was coined in
1847 to give a
name to what
was then a tiny
movement in
England.
In the U.S.,
the 1971
publication of
Diet For a
Small Planet
was a major
catalyst for
introducing
people to a
healthy
vegetarian
diet. Other
stimuli
included Peter
Singer's 1975
book Animal
Liberation,
which gave
vegetarianism a
moral
underpinning;
Singer and Jim
Mason's book
Animal
Factories, the
first
expose´ of
confinement
agriculture;
and John
Robbins' 1987
Diet for a New
America. In the
U.S., according
to a 1998
Vegetarian
Journal survey,
82 percent of
vegetarians are
motivated by
health
concerns, 75
percent by
ethics, the
environment
and/or animal
rights, 31
percent because
of taste and 26
percent because
of
economics.
Is the
vegetarian diet
healthy? The
common
perception
persists that
removing meat
from the menu
is dangerous
because of
protein loss.
Lappé
says there is
danger of
protein
deficiency if
vegetarian
diets are
heavily
dependent upon
1) fruit; 2)
sweet potatoes
or cassava (a
staple root
crop for more
than 500
million people
in the
tropics); or 3)
the particular
western
problem, junk
food.
But Reed
Mangels,
nutrition
advisor to the
Vegetarian
Resource Group
(VRG), says
vegetarians can
meet their
protein needs
"easily" if
they "eat a
varied diet and
consume enough
calories to
maintain their
weight. It is
not necessary
to plan
combinations of
foods. A
mixture of
proteins
throughout the
day will
provide enough
'essential
amino
acids.'"
Although
meat is rich in
protein,
Vegetarian and
Vegan FAQ
reports that
other good
sources are
potatoes, whole
wheat bread,
rice, broccoli,
spinach,
almonds, peas,
chickpeas,
peanut butter,
tofu (soybean
curd), soymilk,
lentils and
kale.
Supermarket
shelves
overflow with
soy- or
seitan-based
meat
substitutes.
The soybean
contains all
eight essential
amino acids and
exceeds even
meat in the
amount of
usable protein
it can deliver
to the human
body. (It
should be
noted, however,
that some
people are
allergic to
soy, and the
"hyper-processing"
of some
soy-based foods
reduces the
useful protein
content.)
Animal rights
advocates also
claim that,
contrary to the
urging of the
meat and dairy
industries,
humans need to
consume only
two to 10
percent of
their total
calories as
protein.
How many
vegetarians are
there in the
U.S.? It
depends on whom
you ask. A PETA
fact sheet
asserts that 12
million
Americans are
vegetarians,
and 19,000 make
the switch
every week.
Pamela Rice,
author of 101
Reasons Why I'm
a Vegetarian,
puts the number
at 4.5 million,
or 2.5 percent
of the
population,
based on recent
surveys. Older
counts, from
1992, put the
number of
people who
"consider
themselves" to
be vegetarians
at seven
percent of the
U.S.
population, or
an impressive
18 million. A
1991 Gallup
Poll indicated
that 20 percent
of the
population look
for vegetarian
menu items when
they eat
out.
Actual
vegetarian
numbers may be
lower. VRG got
virtually the
same results in
two separate
Roper Polls it
sponsored in
1994 and 1997:
One percent of
the public, or
between two and
three million,
is vegetarian
(eats no meat
or fish, but
may eat dairy
and/or eggs),
with a third to
half of them
living on a
vegan diet
(eschewing all
animal
products).
Roughly five
percent in both
studies "never
eat red meat."
A 2000 poll was
slightly more
optimistic,
putting the
number of
vegetarians at
2.5 percent of
the population.
Women are more
likely to be
vegetarians
than men;
and-surprisingly-Republicans
are slightly
more likely to
abstain from
meat than
Democrats.
The American
Dietetic
Association
says in a
position
statement,
"Appropriately
planned
vegetarian
diets are
healthful, are
nutritionally
adequate and
provide health
benefits in the
prevention and
treatment of
certain
diseases."
Vegetarians now
have excellent
opportunities
to put together
well-planned
meals. The sale
of organic
products in
natural food
stores is the
highest growth
niche in the
food industry,
according to
Nutrition
Business
Journal, and it
grew 22 percent
in 1999 to $4
billion. The
natural food
markets of
today are not
the tiny
storefronts of
yesteryear, but
full-service
supermarkets,
with vigorous
competition
among giant
national
chains. Diverse
veggie entrees
are now
available in
most
supermarkets
and on a
growing list of
restaurant
menus.
It's never
been easier to
become a
vegetarian, and
there have
never been more
compelling
reasons for
environmentalists
to make that
choice. It's
not always easy
to do-most
environmentalists
still eat
meat-but the
tide is
beginning to
turn.
