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The question is not 'can they reason?' nor 'can they talk?' but, 'can they suffer?'
It takes in reality only one to make a quarrel. It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions in favour of vegetarianism while the wolf remains of a different opinion.
Ethical
* McDonalds tells us: 75 million sold
* McDonalds doesn't tell us: 65 million slaughtered and butchered
* McDonalds clown, Ronald McDonald, doesn't tell children: Hamburgers are ground up cows who've had their throats slit by machetes or their heads beaten in with sledgehammers
* Original actor to play Ronald McDonald: Jeff Juliano
* Diet now followed by Jeff Juliano: Vegetarian
* Number of animals killed for meat per second in U.S.: 300
* Number of animals killed for meat in U.S. each year: 10 billion — or more than the entire human population on Earth
Hunger
* Human population of United States: 270 million
* Human beings who could be fed the grain and soybeans eaten by U.S. livestock: 1.3 billion
* Percentage of food grown in United States eaten by human beings: 20
* Percentage of food grown in United States eaten by livestock: 80
* Percentage of U.S. agricultural land used to produce beef alone: 56
* Pounds of grain and soybeans needed to produce 1 pound of feedlot beef: 16
* Pounds of protein fed to chickens to produce 1 pound of protein as chicken flesh: 5 pounds
* Pounds of protein fed to hogs to produce 1 pound of protein as hog flesh: 7.5 pounds
* How frequently a child dies of starvation: Every 2 seconds
* Number of children who starve to death every day: 40,000
* Number of people who will starve to death this year: 60 million
* Number of pure vegetarians who can be fed on the amount of land needed to feed 1 person consuming meat-based diet: 20
* Number of people who could be adequately fed by the grain saved if Americans reduced their intake of meat by only 10%: 60 million
Survival
* Only man to win Ironman Triathlon more than twice: Dave Scott (6 time winner)
* Food choices of Dave Scott: vegetarian
* Largest meat eater that ever lived: Tyrannosaurus Rex
* Last sighting of Tyrannosaurus Rex: 100 million B.C.
Pesticides
* Leading source of pesticide residues in the U.S. diet: Meat—55%
* Second leading source of pesticide residues in the U.S. diet: Dairy products—23%
* Total pesticide residues in U.S. diet supplied by vegetables: 6%
* Total pesticide residues in U.S. diet supplied by fruits: 4%
* Total pesticide residues in U.S. diet supplied by grains: 1%
* Percentage of U.S. mother's milk containing dangerous levels of DDT: 99%
* Pesticide contamination in breast milk of meat-eating mothers compared to pesticide contamination in breast milk of vegetarian mothers: 35 times as high
* Main reason for sterility and sperm count reduction in U.S. males: Chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticides (including PCBs, dioxin, DDT, etc.); one ounce of dioxin can kill 1 million people
* The USDA claims: Your meat is inspected
* The USDA doesn't say: Less than 1 out of every quarter million slaughtered animals is tested for toxic chemical residues
* For years, the USDA reassured us by stamping meats "Choice" or "U.S. No. 1 USDA" with: Violet Dye No. 1
* Reason USDA no longer does this: Violet Dye No. 1 proven carcinogenic and banned
Human Health
* Number of U.S. medical schools: 125
* Number of U.S. medical schools with a required course in nutrition: 30
* Training in nutrition received during 4 years of medical school by average U.S. physician: 2.5 hours
* How frequently a heart attack strikes in U.S.: Every 25 seconds
* How frequently a heart attack kills in U.S.: Every 45 seconds
* Risk of death from heart attack by average American man: 50%
* Risk of death from heart attack by average American vegetarian man: 15%
* Amount you reduce your risk of heart attack by reducing your consumption of meat, dairy products, and eggs by 100%: 90%
* Rise in blood cholesterol from consuming 1 egg per day: 12%
* Rise in heart attack risk from 12% rise in blood cholesterol: 24%
* Your risk of dying of a disease caused by clogged arteries even if your blood cholesterol is "normal": over 50%
* Your risk of dying of a disease if you do not consume saturated fat and cholesterol: 5%
* Leading source of saturated fat and cholesterol in American diets: Meat, dairy products and eggs
* Hollywood celebrity paid by Meat Board to tout beef as "Real food for real people": James Garner
* Medical event experienced by James Garner in 1988: Quintuple coronary artery bypass surgery
Natural Resources
* Principal historic cause of demise of great civilizations: Topsoil depletion
* Percentage of U.S. cropland lost each year to soil erosion: 4 million acres (size of Connecticut)
* Percentage of U.S. topsoil loss directly associated with livestock raising: 85
* Length of time world's petroleum reserves would last if all human beings ate meat-centered diet: 13 years
* Length of time world's petroleum reserves would last if all human beings ate vegetarian diet: 260 years
* Principal reason for U.S. military intervention in Persian Gulf: Dependence on foreign oil
* Barrels of oil U.S. would have to import to meet present demand if 10% of population became fully vegetarian: None
Water
* Of all water used for all purposes in the United States, more than half goes to: livestock production
* Enough water goes into the production of the average cow to: float a U.S. Naval destroyer
* Water needed to produce a pound of wheat: 25 gallons
* Water needed to produce a pound of meat: 2,500 gallons
* Cost of common hamburger meat if water used by meat industry was not subsidized by U.S. taxpayers: $35 a pound
* Current cost for pound of protein from wheat: $1.50
* Current cost for pound of protein from beefsteak: $15.40
Waste
* Production of excrement by total U.S. human population: 12,000 pounds per second
* Production of excrement of U.S. livestock: 250,000 pounds per second
* Sewage systems in U.S. cities: Common
* Sewage systems in U.S. feedlots: Nil
Environmental Impacts
* Number of acres of U.S. forest which have been cleared to create cropland to produce a meat-centered diet: 260 million
* How often an acre of U.S. trees disappears: Every 5 seconds
* At present rate of deforestation, number of years before not a single tree will remain standing in the United States: 50
* Amount of trees spared per year by each individual who switches to a pure vegetarian diet: 1 acre
* Driving force behind the destruction of the tropical rainforests: American meat habit
* Amount of meat imported annually by U.S. from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras and Panama: 200 million pounds
* Amount of meat eaten by average person in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras and Panama: Less than the average American housecat consumes
* Current rate of species extinction due to destruction of tropical rainforests and related habitats: 1,000 species a year
How pitiful are sentient beings in Samsara ...
How foolish and sad it is to indulge in killing;
How sad to commit an act that in the end will hurt oneself;
How sad to build a sinful wall of meat, made of one's dying parents' flesh;
How sad to see meat eaten and blood flowing!
I take vitamins daily, but just the bare essentials not what you'd call supplements. I try to stick to a vegan diet heavy on fruit, vegetables, tofu, and other soy products.
I've been vegan for about 10 and a half years. It's been all good. I'm obviously much healthier
The person I love would never wear fur. Fur just makes me think of shallow women who have no conscience. The fur industry belongs to a time when people were selfish beyond belief. If you were some ancient tribal chieftain, and there was not a department store nearby 350 years ago, I'd understand. But now, we have synthetic fibers, and it's not necessary. The elitism of fur makes me wanna puke.
We don't live the lives of Eskimos. We don't need to kill animals for fashion.
I'm a big health food freak and a vegetarian devotee.
Nothing's changed my life more. I feel better about myself as a person, being conscious and responsible for my actions and I lost weight and my skin cleared up and I got bright eyes and I just became stronger and healthier and happier. Can't think of anything better in the world to be but be vegan.
Not that I say, “Oh, I'm not going to associate with certain people,” but I have my world, and I only want to be around people who I feel stimulated by. I have to be honest I do have a new quest: I want to meet more vegetarians, people who are more like minded. There's something real neat about that feeling. It makes you feel so settled to know there's somebody else sitting right there, being so passionate about what I'm passionate about. I don't want to be around selfish people. I try to keep myself surrounded by deep people who will move me.
I know what it feels like to be hurt, and I don't want to cause that pain to any other person or creature. But somehow, in society, we numb ourselves in order to make money or to feel better about ourselves, such as with cosmetics or food. We say to ourselves, I'm going to use this animal. I'm going to say it doesn't have much worth so that I can allow myself to do these cruel things. And that just isn't fair.
I don't have any understanding of a human being who doesn't respect the beauty of life and that goes for all creatures that have thoughts, feelings and needs.
When you see the golden arches you are probably on your way to the pearly gates.
An important fact to remember is that all natural diets, including purely vegetarian diets without a hint of dairy products, contain amounts of calcium that are above the threshold for meeting your nutritional needs….In fact, calcium deficiency caused by an insufficient amount of calcium in the diet is not known to occur in humans.
The standard four food groups are based on American agricultural lobbies. Why do we have a milk group? Because we have a National Dairy Council. Why do we have a meat group? Because we have an extremely powerful meat lobby.v
The person who is afraid to alter his living habits, and especially his eating and drinking habits, because he is afraid that other persons may regard him as queer, eccentric, or fanatic forgets that the ownership of his body, the responsibility for its well-being, belongs to him, not them.
Vegetarians always ask about getting enough protein. But I don't know any nutrition expert who can plan a diet of natural foods resulting in a protein deficiency, so long as you're not deficient in calories. You need only 5 or 6 percent of total calories in protein… and it is practically impossible to get below 9 percent in ordinary diets.
To be a vegetarian is to disagree—to disagree with the course of things today. Starvation, world hunger, cruelty, waste, wars—we must make a statement against these things. Vegetarianism is my statement. And I think it's a strong one.
If you look at the course of western history you'll see that we're slowly granting basic rights to everyone. A long time ago only kings had rights. Then rights were extended to property-owning white men. Then all men. Then women. Then children. Then the mentally retarded. Now we're agonizing over the extension of basic rights to homosexuals and animals. We need to finally accept that all sentient creatures are deserving of basic rights. I define basic rights as this –the ability to pursue life without having someone else's will involuntarily forced upon you. Or, as the framers of the constitution put it, the ability to have “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” By what criteria can you justify denying basic rights to any living thing? Realize that by whatever criteria you employ someone could deny basic rights to you if they objected to your species, sexual preferences, color, religion, ideology etc. Would you eat your housecat, or force a mentally retarded child to ingest oven cleaner? If not, then why is it ok to eat cows and test products on sentient animals? I believe that to knowingly commit actions that cause or condone suffering is reprehensible in the extreme. I call upon you to be compassionate and treat others as you want to be treated. If you don't want to be beaten, imprisoned, mutilated, killed or tortured then you shouldn't condone such behavior towards anyone, be they human or not.
