ONE HUNDRED & ONE REASONS TO GO VEGETARIAN
PEOPLE
Every year in the UK we feed our livestock enough food to feed 250,000,000
people while in the world 30,000,000 people die of starvation
20 vegetarians can live off the land required by one meat eater
Every 3 seconds a child dies of starvation somewhere in the world
If Americans reduced their meat consumption by 10% it would free
12,000,000 tons of grain - enough to feed 60,000,000 people (the population of
Great Britain)
If all Americans became vegetarian, it would free enough grain to feed
600,000,000 people (the population of India)
Intensification in animal farming has displaced 1,000,000's of people from
their traditional lands - eg. indigenous people in south & central
america, native americans in north america & crofters in Great Britain -
this is continuing today
People displaced from their lands into cities succumb to dietary
deficiency, diseases, parasites & opportunistic diseases
In third world countries 1 in 10 babies die before their first birthday
The UK imports ?46,000,000 worth of grain from third world countries to
feed our livestock
Due to overgrazing 850,000,000 people live on land threatened by
desertification & over 230,000,000 already live on land so severely
desertified that they are unable to sustain their existence & face
imminent starvation
1,000,000,000 people in the west gorging on meat & dairy leave
1,000,000,000 to waste away & 3,500,000,000 teeter on the brink
LAND
If they continue to clear American forests to raise cattle at the present
rate, in 50 years there will be none left
1 acre yields 165 lbs of beef or 20,000 lbs of potatoes
8/10 of cultivated land in the UK is used to grow food for animals
(14,732,000 hectares)
It takes 16lbs of high protein soya to produce 1 lb of beef
Since 1945 in the UK we have lost 95% of flower meadows, 50% of ancient
woodlands, 40% of heathlands, 50% of wet lands & 224,000 km of hedgerows
all due to animal farming
Pressure on land due to meat farming leads to soil erosion 6billion
tons/year in the USA
If everyone went vegetarian upto 90% of land used for animal farming could
be taken out of production & used to replant woodlands, leisure activities
etc.
25% of Central america's forests have been destroyed for cattle grazing
since 1960
Between 1966-1983 38% of the Amazon rain forest was destroyed for cattle
grazing
90% of cattle ranches established on cleared forest land go bankrupt in
less than 8 years as the land becomes barren due to nutrient loss &
overgrazing
Overgrazing by cattle is destroying the land & increasing
desertification, nearly 430 million acres in the USA alone has suffered a
25-50% reduction in yield since first grazed
An inch of topsoil takes 200-1000 years to develop - yet in the USA they
have lost around 1/3 of their prime topsoil in 200 years (around 7 inches) due
to animal farming
Land will be lost due to rises in sea level due to global warming due to
animal farming
AIR
The destruction of the rainforest by cattle farmers is destroying the
lungs of the planet & reducing the worlds capacity to replenish our oxygen
supply
The 1,300,000,000 cattle in the world emit 60,000,000 tons of methane per
year (methane is a greenhouse gas & leads to global warming)
Burning of forests, grasslands & agricultural waste associated with
animal farming releases 50-100,000,000 tons of methane per year
Combining these figures, 25% of methane emissions are due to animal
farming (not including the billions of sheep, pigs & poultry so the real
figure is much higher)
Fertilizer used to grow crops to feed to animals releases nitrous oxide -
thought to account for 6% of the greenhouse effect
Fertilizer, weedkiller & pesticides sprayed on crops enter the
atmosphere creating a noxious carcinogenic cocktail
CFCs are released into the air from refrigeration units used to store
decomposing flesh (meat), milk & butter - CFCs are destroy the ozone layer
Ammonia from animal urine also pollutes the atmosphere
CO2 is released by burning oil & petrol in lorries, ships, abattoirs,
dairies, factories etc. associated with meat & dairy production
Emissions from large chemical plants which produce fertilizer, weedkiller
& other agricultural chemicals are also poisoning our air
WATER
25 gallons of water to produce 1lb of wheat & 2500 gallons to produce
1lb of meat
UK farm animals produce 200,000,000 tonnes of slurry (liquid excrement)
every year, the majority of which ends up in our rivers
Bloody waste water from abattoirs ends up in our rivers
In the USA every second humans produce 12,000 lbs of effluent while farmed
animals produce 250,000 lbs
Nitrates & pesticides used on crops grown to feed livestock end up in
our rivers
Meat & dairy farming uses 70 litres of water per day per animal in the
UK or 159,250,000,000 litres per year in total
The water used to produce 10 lbs of steak is equivalent to the average
consumption of water for an entire household for an entire year
Depletion of groundwater reserves to grow crops for animals & to
supply abattoirs will lead to greater water shortages
Aquafers (stores of underground water) in the San Joaquin valley in the
USA are being drained at the rate of 500,000,000,000 gallons/year to produce
meat
18% of all agricultural land in the world is irrigated & as global
warming increases (partly due to animal farming) it will cost $200,000,000 to
keep these systems going
The water used to produce a 1000 lb beef steer is enough to float a
Destroyer battleship
The liquid waste from the various parts of the meat & dairy industry
flow into the rivers & from there into the seas polluting them &
encouraging huge algal blooms to grow
EFFICIENCY
To produce 1calorie of energy from meat takes 60 calories of petrol,
whereas growing grains & legumes to directly feed people produces 20
calories for each calorie of fuel used ( thats 1200 times more efficient)
Meat & dairy farming uses billions of gallons of oil to run tractors,
fuel ships & lorries (to move animal feed & animals), pump billions of
gallons of water to irrigate fields & run slaughterhouses, power
refrigeration units to prevent the corpses from decomposing & to power
sewage plants to clean up some of the pollution produced
Cattle convert only 6% of their energy intake (mainly grains & soya)
into flesh, the remaining 94% is wasted as heat, movement (which is why they
keep many animals in very close confinement), hair, bones, faeces etc
1lb of beef takes 1 gallon of petrol to produce
A family of four eating beef for a year uses enough petrol to run a car
for 6 months (obviously depending on how far you drive!)
If the full ecological cost of meat was passed onto the consumer - the
price would be quadrupled (at least)
The EC spends ?100,000,000's to subsidise animal production resulting in
lakes of unwanted milk & mountains of unwanted meat & butter. This
money could be better spent encouraging organic fruit, vegetable & grain
production
In the USA in 1979 145,000,000 tons of crops were fed to cattle resulting
in only 21million tons of animal bodies - the cost of the wasted crops was
$20,000,000,000
Between 1950 & 1985 grain production in Europe & the USA increased
massively but 2/3 was fed to animals
70% of all grain is fed to animals
Eating vast quantities of animal flesh, eggs, milk & butter is a
luxury that most of the planet can not afford
ANIMALS
Fishing with drift (and other modern) nets weakens & destroys
ecosystems by indiscriminately killing billions of sea creatures &
disrupting the sea bed
Fishermen's nets kill 10 times as many other animals as the fish they are
hoping to catch
Fish caught in nets die an agonising slow death of suffocation
Each year 15,000,000,000 land animals are slaughtered for food & an
unknown but much larger number of sea creatures (including 1000's of dolphins
caught accidentally)
Chickens are crammed into battery cages with upto 3 other birds, they are
unable to even spread their wings & many can not even stand up
Unwanted male chicks (because they can't lay eggs) are gassed or pulped
while their sisters go to the battery sheds
Chicks are debeaked without anaesthetic to prevent them injuring each
other in the unnaturally confined conditions they are kept in - this is
equivalent to having your fingernails pulled out without anaesthetic
Modern farming methods using growth hormones & artificial lighting
mean that many chickens out grow their bones, resulting in fractured &
broken legs
Sows are kept tethered in stalls 1.3 x 1 metre on concrete or slatted
floors - they can not even turn around
Poultry raised for meat are kept in windowless broiler sheds, with around
20-30,000 in each shed, they live in an area of 10-20 cm square - fighting due
to overcrowding is common & like battery hens they commonly suffer from
supperating bed sores
Broilersheds are artificially lit 23 hours a day to produce rapid growth
Animals travel between farms & to slaughter in overcrowded
transporters with no food or water - resulting in stress, injuries &
deaths - legal requirements are widely ignored
95% of poultry suffer injuries before being killed & 30% suffer broken
bones
Problems with stunning practices mean that many animals have their throats
slit while still conscious (around 6% of cattle or 200,000 per year) & are
then dipped in tanks of scalding water (to loosen feathers, bristles etc.)
again while fully conscious
4000 animals die spurting their blood out every minute in a British
slaughterhouse
Calf leather comes from animals killed at just 2 weeks old
Cows were fed on the ground up remains of other cows & sheep - the
result is thought to be BSE (mad cow disease) in the USA cattle are fed partly
on recycled plastic pellets
Cows only give milk for 10 months after they have a calf - so they are
routinely artificially inseminated (ie. mechanically raped) to keep them
pregnant & milking - their calves are taken away (usually at 12 hours old)
for meat or export to veal crates
Cows would naturally live upto 20 years but are slaughtered after 5-7
years when their milk production begins to fall
In the UK animals are killed by first being stunned with electricity or a
captive bolt gun (ie. a bolt is fired into their heads) before having their
throats slit & being plunged into boiling water - all this happens on a
production line with the animals being hung upside down from a moving conveyor
belt - this is factory farming
"Animals are those unfortunate slaves & victims of the most brutal
part of mankind" - John Stewart Mill (philosopher)
Veal calves are confined in stalls in the dark, unable to move & are
fed on pigs blood , chocolate & dried milk (we are drinking the rich fresh
milk of their mothers)
Cows naturally produce 5 litres of milk per day for their calves - under
the intensified systems of modern farming they produce 25-40 litres per day -
resulting in swollen & inflamed udders - at this rate they are soon worn
out
Large areas of land are under monoculture to grow crops to feed to animals
- these areas are wildlife deserts supporting fewer & fewer species.
HEALTH
Vegetarians have a 20% lower rate of mortality from all causes (ie. they
live longer & don't get sick as often)
Meat is full of traces of antibiotics, hormones, toxins produced by stress
& pesticide residues that become concentrated from all the crops they have
eaten
Fish contain heavy metals & other pollutants -many of which originated
on farms
The world health organisation recommends a diet low in saturated fat,
sugar, salt & with plenty of fibre - exactly what you get on a
vegan/vegetarian diet
Farmed animals contain upto 50% saturated fat in their bodies
Vegetarians have 24% reduced risk of getting heart disease & Vegans a
57% reduction (heart disease is the biggest killer in the UK accounting for
50% of deaths)
Obesity is rare in vegetarians, obesity is related to many diseases
Vegans & vegetarians have lower blood pressure & cholesterol
levels - high levels are associated with heart disease, strokes & kidney
failure
Vegetarians have a 50% reduced risk of dying of diabetes
Vegetarians have a 40% reduced level of cancer than the general population
thought to be because they have a higher intake of vitamins A, C & E
Vegetarians have a reduced risk of developing gall & kidney stones
80% of food poisoning is due to infected meat (faeces, bacteria etc.)
after all meat is decomposing flesh - most of the rest is due to salmonella in
eggs
Osteoporosis due to calcium loss from bones is mainly due to the sulfur
content in meat & casein protein in milk that cause calcium to be lost in
the urine - the countries with the highest meat & dairy consumption are
those with the highest levels of brittle bones
50% of people do not have the enzyme to digest milk properly & milk
allergy is related to asthma & eczema
Meat eaters have double the rate of Alzheimer's disease as Vegans &
Vegetarians - some people also think that Parkinson's disease is also linked to
meat eating
Egg yolk is a dense concentration of saturated fat & the white is high
in albumin protein associated with leaching calcium into your urine. Butter is
80% saturated fat, cream is 40% saturated fat & cheese is 25-40% saturated
fat
Meat eaters are two and a half times more likely to get bowel cancer than
Vegetarians
The cling film used to wrap meat in supermarkets & butchers contains
chemicals linked to falling sperm counts in men
Chinese people (living mainly on a vegetarian diet) consume 20% more
calories than Americans but Americans are 20% fatter
Of 2,100,000 deaths in the USA in 1987, 1,500,000 were related to diet
(ie. meat & dairy)
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