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SO YOU'RE AN ENVIRONMENTALIST; WHY ARE YOU STILL EATING MEAT?
By Jim Motavalli
E Magazine
January 3, 2002

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12162

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 press time, 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.

Americans spend $110 billion a year on meat-intensive fast food, and its
growing popularity around the world may be a factor in dramatic increases in
global meat consumption.

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.

Somalian famine victims line up for food handouts. Producing a pound of beef
requires 4.8 pounds of grain, and critics of our modern agricultural system
say that the spread of meat-based diets aggravates world hunger.

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.

Circle Four Farms, a Utah-based pork producer, hosts a three-million gallon
waste lagoon. When lagoons like this spill into rivers and lakes as happened
in North Carolina in 1995, the result can be environmentally catastrophic.

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, 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.

..........

FOR RESOURCES ABOUT VEGETARIANISM, CONTACT:

International Vegetarian Union:
http://www.ivu.org

North American Vegetarian Society:
http://www.navs-online.org

Vegetarian Resource Group:
http://wwwv.vrg.org


PREVIOUS NHNE NEWS LIST ARTICLES:

Butchered Animals: 'They Die Piece by Piece' (4/10/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/1358

The Scientist Who Dared to Say Animals Think (2/6/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/1130

White Poison: The Horrors of Milk (12/4/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/2360

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