Not in anyway giving anyone permission to plagiarize or copy this and also not verifying the authenticity of any of the information. Also note that there are probably no sources listed and I am not one myself, so don't quote me. This is just some of my homework; thought it might be interesting to someone:
12/06/2011
12/06/2011
The
Consequences of Uninformed Dietary Decisions
Imagine
a society where the average person has little knowledge of where his or her food
comes from, how it is produced, or what is in it; this is an accurate depiction
of modern America. These questions, which have been easily answered throughout
most of humankind’s history, are shrouded in mystery, myths, and confusion
today. The meat-production industry, as well as the governmental organizations
that support it, have concealed, embellished, or ignored the consequences that
their actions have on the unsuspecting people who are affected by them. In
reality, the food that most people buy and use to feed their families has
detrimental effects to their health, to the environment, and to the humane
treatment of animals. Rather than being grown on a farm as many people like to
believe, food-animals now spend their entire short lives inside huge buildings
owned by a small number of corporations, often called factory farms. The
current system used to produce meat in America is cruel and wasteful, creating
food that is misleading and unhealthy. With the population of the world
expected to exceed seven billion in 2011 and obesity becoming a larger problem
in America every year, a vegetarian diet is the most healthy, efficient, and
humane way for people to eat.
The
adage “You are what you eat” has never been more true than it is today. By
simply not eating meat, many of the health problems that people are most concerned
with today, like obesity and heart disease, can be prevented or solved. Analysis
of studies conducted on adult vegetarians “estimated a reduced weight
difference of 7.6 kg [16.8 lbs.] in men and 3.3 kg [7.3 lbs] in women” (Sabate
and Wien). This difference was not only found in adults, but also in children. Among
some of the additional benefits that the study by Sabate and Wien identified
were that vegetarian kids were likely to be taller than non-vegetarians, less
likely to be obese, both as children and adults, and in girls, possibly less
likely to develop breast cancer. Making the choice to not eat animals will not
only improve your physique, but can also drastically improve your chances of
not developing a debilitating disease or disorder. It is becoming clear that
the health benefits of vegetarianism range from good, when considered modestly,
to extensive, considering potential. Numerous studies have concluded “vegetarians
seem to have a lower risk of obesity, coronary heart disease (which causes
heart attack), high blood pressure, diabetes mellitus and some forms of cancer”
(Vegetarian Diets). Given the rising costs of healthcare and the increasing
prevalence of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease, does it not seem as if any
person wishing to live a long and healthy life would consider removing meat
from his or her diet?
Better
health and a longer life are not the only potential benefits of vegetarianism.
There is also much evidence that our current system of producing food from
animals has an overwhelmingly negative effect on the environment. As the amount
of meat, especially beef, in people’s diets increases, as does the pollution
created from animals, the processing of meat, and the transportation to a
grocery store or restaurant. The United Nations Food and Agriculture
Organization reported in a 2006 study that “current production levels of meat
contribute between 14 and 22 percent of the 36 billion tons of “CO2-equivalent”
greenhouse gases the world produces every year” (Fiala). Because the
overwhelming majority of food animals are no longer grazing fields or living on
open farms, animal waste is no longer part of the natural cycle that fertilizes
the grass they eat. Each year the meat industry produces 130 times more waste
than people do, making it unsurprising that the Environmental Protection Agency
reported animal waste “has polluted 35,000 miles of rivers in 22 states and
contaminated groundwater in 17 states” (Disturbing Facts). Water polluted with
animal waste not only has drastic known consequences to the environment and to
public health, but has an equally unknown potential to harm America’s future
children and families. For the same reasons that environmentally-concerned people
would drive a hybrid car or convert to high-efficiency household items, they
should also consider how their diet and the food system that they support
contributes to the degradation of the environment and public health.
Not
only does producing meat using factory farms have a harmful effect on the
environment, it also costs taxpayers hidden fees and takes food from the mouths
of the hungry. In beef production, there is a 7:1 ratio of the amount of grain
required to produce beef and a 35:1 ratio in the number of kilocalories of
fossil fuels used to produce 1 kilocalorie of food energy (Horrigan, Lawrence
and Walker). This means that for each pound of beef produced, 7 pounds of
grains are consumed that could have been used to feed starving people.
Additionally, when including the amount of water that livestock drink and the
amount required to produce their food, the meat industry’s 7 billion animals
account for estimates of up to 87% of all fresh water consumed yearly
(Pimentel). What many consumers don’t realize is that the cost of cheap,
inefficiently-produced meat is not paid at the grocery store, but by the
federal government. Each year the U.S. government pays billions of dollars in
agricultural subsidies ($68.7 billion in 1996) that go to inspecting and
cleaning up after the meat industry, as well as purchasing surplus products,
which is essentially a continuously running bailout (Horrigan, Lawrence and
Walker). Were the actual costs of fuel, food, water, and subsidies included in
the costs of meat at a supermarket, many consumers might reconsider whether the
foods they purchase to feed their families are actually worth it.
Even
if the current systems of agricultural production were flawless, modern
consumers should consider how the cruel living conditions that animals are
subjected to can affect the food they put on their table. The traditional
concept of family-owned farms, where the animals live, graze, and reproduce
naturally, has been preserved in the minds of consumers, but replaced in
reality with factory-style farms. In response to increasing demands for food
and desire for profitability, the meat industry gradually converted its
business model over the 20th century to reach what it considered to
be maximum efficiency. The industry’s focus became, “How quickly can they be
made to grow, how tightly can they be packed, how much or little can they eat,
how sick can they get without dying” (Foer 93). Animals like pigs and chickens are confined to
cages too small for them to turn around, leading to conditions in which Consumer
Reports, after testing 382 chickens from different brands and supermarkets,
found “Campylobacter was in 62% of the chickens, salmonella was in 14%...Only
34% of the birds were clear of both.” To clean the disease and feces from the
animals, they will be soaked in chlorine and then pumped full of flavored water
(to equal as much as 10-30% of their final weight) to make the meat look,
smell, and taste like consumers imagine chicken (Foer 131). This is how almost
all meat in America, including the majority of the “organic” and “cage-free”
meat, is processed.
In
addition to creating unhealthy, diseased food, factory farming also creates
inhumane living conditions that no animal should be forced to endure. Many
animals are never allowed outdoors and extreme confinement causes behaviors
that are almost non-existent in traditional farming. It is common for farms to slice
off chickens’ beaks with a hot knife so that they don’t peck each other to
death. Pigs often have their tail cut off to prevent them from having it bit
off by the pig caged behind them. Many natural instincts like nesting,
perching, and bathing are completely inhibited. If a person were to eat a dog
or treat it in any of the ways which food-animals are treated, they would be
put in jail and socially shunned in America, but how different is the dog from
their food? To compare food-animals to household pets, consider that “Scientists
have documented a pig language…pigs will come when called…will play with toys
(and have favorites), and have been observed coming to the aid of other pigs in
distress” (Foer 64). In fact, many misconceptions and myths about the
intelligence and abilities of animals are used to justify eating them or
treating them horribly. Fish have been found to “build complex nests, form
monogamous relationships, hunt cooperatively…monitor social prestige…have
significant long-term memories…and can also pass on information generationally”
(Foer 65). Similar studies have found that other food-animals have similar and
surprising intellectual and social abilities, meaning that the idea of animals
as automatons, placed on this earth solely for us to eat and treat as we wish,
has been rendered archaic.
Regardless
of whether or not people believe that animals should be treated with respect or
are willing to concede that the current system of food-production is
destructive, the system that Americans rely on for food is not sustainable. The
integrity and biodiversity of the animals that people eat are being largely
compromised. Even fish, which have a reputation for being a more healthy and
humane meat choice than others, are caught and grown using unethical and
inefficient methods. Most people fail to realize that there is not a net that
catches only tuna, leading to estimates of 125,000 dolphins being caught
unintentionally by the tuna industry every year (Singer 226). While there will
probably always be fish in the sea, the biodiversity among them is being
drastically reduced. Consumers should assess the sustainability of their food
purchases in a market where “In the last decade, in the north Atlantic region,
commercial fish populations of cod, hake, haddock, and flounder have fallen by
as much as 95 percent” (Overfishing). Many major fish breeds are now being
grown in overcrowded, filthy tanks in a process similar to factory-farming that
is misleading to and less healthy for consumers. Biodiversity among farmed
animals is also declining, with artificial insemination and careful industry
selection of the most profitable breed of an animal leading to a marketplace
where different brands are available, but the product is actually identical.
The point when people are able to buy meat that came from something with little
resemblance to an animal is fast approaching.
The
true effects of eating manipulated, mass-produced animals, which represent the
majority of what is available to consumers, are still largely unknown. The
potential solutions to some of the greatest problems affecting America and the
world today are directly tied to the food industry and the choices that people
make. Many people believe the misconception that their individual decisions do
not affect a massive industry like the one which creates meat, but that simply
is not true; production is still based on supply and demand. In response to
consumer demands, organic and vegetarian food options are becoming more common
in grocery stores and restaurants, but the vast majority of meat is still
produced in factory farms. Without exaggeration, the meat industry threatens
the things that people consider most important; the environment, their health,
and their moral integrity. To eat animals that spend their entire lives
confined, miserable, and mutilated, only to die for the personal taste of an
individual, is inconsistent with any reasonable moral or ethical code. As the
world’s population and their demand for food continues to grow, vegetarianism
will increasingly become the only healthy and moral way to eat.
Works
Cited
Disturbing Facts on Factory Farming
& Food Safety. Organic Consumers Association, n.d. Web. 15
Nov. 2011.
Fiala,
Nathan. “How Meat Contributes to Global Warming.” Scientific American. Scientific American, 4 Feb. 2009. Web. 15 Nov.
2011.
Foer, Jonathan Safran. Eating
Animals. New York: Little, Brown and, 2009. Print.
Horrigan, L., Robert S.
Lawrence, and Polly Walker. “How Sustainable Agriculture Can Address the
Environmental and Human Health Harms of Industrial Agriculture.” Environmental Health Perspective 110
(2002):445-56. Web. 15 Nov. 2011.
“How Safe is
That Chicken?” Consumer Reports.
Consumer Reports, Jan. 2010. Web. 15 Nov. 2011.
Overfishing: A Threat to Marine Biodiversity. United Nations
Environment Program, n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2011.
Pimentel, David.
"Eight Meaty Facts About Animal Food." Cornell Science News. Cornell
University, 7 Aug. 1997. Web. 15 Nov. 2011.
Sabate,
Joan and Wien, Michelle. “Vegetarian Diets and Childhood Obesity Prevention.” The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
American Society for Nutrition, 2010. Web. 11 Oct. 2011.
Singer, Peter. Animal Liberation. New York:
Avon, 1991. Print.
Vegetarian Diets. United States
Department of Agriculture, n.d. Web. 11 Oct. 2011.
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