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Veggie Pride Parade, NYC, 2008

101 Reasons Why I’m a Vegetarian


By Pamela Rice • EIGHTH EDITION • 2009
Full-length book version (Lantern Books) available: www.vivavegie.org/101

Veggie Pride Parade, NYC, 2009

© 2009 by Pamela Rice

Index and Table of Contents at www.vivavegie.org/itoc • Photographs by Santos Lopez, top, and Claudia Rose Emmerson, bottom. Insets by Gina Green.
101 REASONS WHY I’M A VEGETARIAN

Extinct Is Forever: Commercial fish stocks gone, 2048


1 Nearly all of the approximately 10 more likely. Dietary fiber could be help- employed. In the end, the Humane law
billion animals slaughtered for food ful in repairing the damage. But, re- does not even apply to 99 percent of
in the U.S. every year are the end result member, only plant foods contain fiber. animals slaughtered, because poultry
of a behemothic, swift-moving, assem-
bly-line system, incorporating danger- 4 The U.N. Food and Agriculture Or- birds and fish are not covered by it.
ganization estimates that 70 per-
ous, unprecedented, and unsustainable cent of the world’s commercial fish 6 A meat diet dramatically raises your
risk for heart attack, but in recent
methods of production. Cheap meat stocks are fully exploited, overfished, years you’re less likely to die from it.
could never exist if the meat industry or collapsed. To supply surging world Technology will probably save your
were required by law to give the animals demand, fishers use rapacious tech- life, leaving you to live with the con-
humane living conditions, including niques, such as sonar, driftnets, long- sequences. In the case of congestive
spacious quarters, clean surroundings, lines, dredgers, and leviathan fish- heart failure—an increasingly com-
fresh air, sunlight, and opportunities packing vessels. In the case of longlin- mon outcome—your heart, now dam-
for social interaction, nor if it were sim- ing, 4.5 million hooks are launched aged, is unable to adequately circulate
ply illegal to drug the animals who daily. Now, 90 percent of the coveted blood to the rest of your body, result-
would otherwise die from the condi- top predator fish are gone. Conse- ing in fluid build-up and organ dam-
tions in which they live. Time and quently, fishers have moved down the age. In the U.S., nearly 5 million peo-
again the industry balks at even low- food web to species once considered ple live with heart failure, and about
cost measures designed to improve 550,000 new cases are diagnosed
the animals’ plight. And now, prices every year. The disease is the lead-
have been driven to unnaturally low ing cause of hospitalization among
levels for the final end products, the elderly, and hospital bills attrib-
making these cruel, unsustainable uted to it total $29 billion annually.
foods staples of the American diet.

2 America’s farmed animals pro-


duce 1.3 billion tons of waste per
7 Pigs are naturally anything but
dirty and brutish and, if given
half a chance, display high intelli-
year, or 5 tons for every U.S. citizen. gence. Ask Professor Stanley Curtis
(Just one cow produces 100 pounds of Pennsylvania State University. He
in a day.) And the pollution taught several pigs to understand
strength of it all can reach levels GETTY IMAGES complex relationships between ob-
Picturesque, perhaps, but collective damage is immense.
160 times greater than that of raw jects and actions in order to play
municipal sewage. This vast accumula- “trash.” These species, of course, are video games. Curtis, along with his
tion is not neatly contained; manure the food source of the fish that were colleagues, found these creatures to be
is the most common pollutant today initially overfished. Amazingly, a third focused, creative, and innovative—
in America’s waters. Land sprayed of the world’s harvested fish go to feed equal in intelligence to chimpanzees.
with pig excrement is particularly livestock or farmed fish. The ocean’s Other researchers have found chickens
toxic, since pigs contract and transmit interconnected ecosystem simply can- to be good at solving problems, cows
many human diseases—namely, not keep pace. In 2006, a report pub- to respond to music, and fish to be as
meningitis, salmonella, chlamydia, gi- lished in the journal Science estimated individualistic as dogs.
ardia, cryptosporidiosis, worms, and that by 2048 all wild commercial fish
influenza. Manure is laden with phos- stocks would be wiped out. 8 Approximately 800 million people
today live with chronic hunger,
phorous, nitrates, and heavy metals
and emits ammonia, methane, hydro- 5 The Humane Slaughter Act requires and 16,000 children die from hunger-
that mammals be rendered insensi- related causes every day. Yet the world
gen sulfide, carbon monoxide, and ble to pain before being slaughtered. A cycles nearly 43 percent of all the
cyanide. Manure has always been seen Washington Post series some years ago, grain that is harvested through ani-
as fertilizer. But in today’s quantities, it however, exposed a packing industry mals to produce meat. No matter the
is a menacing under-regulated indus- hard pressed to follow this law. Ani- species, feed-to-flesh ratios are ineffi-
trial pollutant. mals were found regularly butchered cient—7, 3.5, 2, and 3 pounds to 1 for

3 When people follow a diet rich in alive on speeded-up conveyor lines. A beef, pork, chicken, and farmed fish,
animal fat and protein and get little $5 million appropriation was conse- respectively. Biofuel production with-
exercise, cancer risk is increased. Beef quently enacted to hire more humane in one recent year gobbled up 110 mil-
consumption raises the level of toxic inspectors for kill floors across the na- lion additional tons of grain, raising
substances called N-nitroso com- tion, but the funds ended up being di- food prices and putting pressure on
pounds, which are formed in the large verted to food-safety inspectors already the world’s fragile food security. Com-
intestines. The substances are believed SPECIAL THANKS TO ALAN RICE, pare this to the 840 million tons
to adhere to DNA, making mutations BERNIE G., AND LISA LINDBLOM within the same year that was
101 REASONS WHY I’M A VEGETARIAN

Global Warming Cause: Livestock: 18%, vehicles: 13%


snatched from the mouths of the poor chemicals are seeping into our nitrous oxide, the great majority from
to feed livestock. Those who care about aquifers. Some towns in the Midwest manure. Methane and nitrous oxide are
world hunger need to eat less meat. have consequently come to rely on exceedingly more potent greenhouse

9 A 2005 report by Environmental De- their neighbors for fresher, though ex- gases than carbon dioxide. Livestock are
fense estimated that 70 percent of pensive, supplies of water. But a recent also behind almost two-thirds of all hu-
the antibiotics used in the U.S. go to boom in cattle and pig operations has man-induced ammonia emissions,
chickens, hogs, and beef cattle, “...not poisoned these stores as well, prompt- which contribute significantly to acidi-
to treat disease, but rather to promote ing plans for government-subsidized fication of ecosystems.
growth and to compensate for pipelines to link towns with major
crowded, stressful, and often unhy- rivers. With the demand for meat con- 15 Governments try to regulate fish-
ing gear, catch size, species
gienic conditions on industrial-scale tinuing unabated, such plans of action caught, and fishing season, but usually
farms.” Also, according to the report, become strangely logical. without success. Perhaps the greatest
antibiotics deemed important to hu-
man medicine “comprise nearly half of 13 Eating a plant-based diet guards single threat to global fish stocks is il-
against disease—first, in an ac- legal, unreported, or unregulated (IUU)
the overall quantity of antibiotics used tive way with complex carbohydrates, fishing, which, it is estimated,
as feed additives,” a particularly amounts to about a quarter of
troubling fact in light of growing the world’s catch. In some loca-
worldwide antibiotic resistance. tions, IUU fishing has been doc-

10 Every year, Americans suf-


fer from approximately 76
million illnesses, 325,000 hospi-
umented to amount to four
times the legal catch. Efforts to
combat piracy are fraught with
talizations, and 5,000 deaths be- obstacles, not the least being
cause of something they ate. feverish world demand for fish.
That something was probably of For the pirates, the return on in-
animal origin. The main culprits vestment is well worth the min-
are E. coli, salmonella, listeria, imal risks, as they side-step fish-
and campylobacter. The annual ing conventions, skirt surveil-
cost to the U.S. for the top five lance, off-load fish to other
© WWW.WEGMANSCRUELTY.COM
food borne pathogens, all origi- Everything about caged life for a battery hen spells unmitigated boats that “launder” the catch,
nating in animal-derived food cruelty. There’s no way out for these and hundreds of millions of and dock at complicit ports.
production, is $6.9 billion.

11 Bypass surgery requires that ridden. This image was taken as part of an activist investigation. 16
hens like them as every urge is thwarted and every instinct over-

your rib cage be opened, your phytochemicals, antioxidants, vita- cages, each with 4 to 8 other birds,
Egg-laying hens in the U.S.
are crammed into battery

heart stopped, and your body hooked mins, minerals, and fiber. Then by de- stacked in rows by the tens of thou-
up to an external pumping machine fault—the more plant foods you eat, sands. Manure and rotting carcass
so a vein from some other part of your the less room you have for animal fumes billow up from below. Beetles
body can be removed and grafted as a foods that clog arteries with choles- form a layer over the waste. Some
replacement blood vessel to your terol, strain kidneys with excess pro- birds get loose and drown in the pit.
heart. Memory, language ability, and tein, and burden the heart with satu- Others get tangled in the wire and die
spatial orientation remain impaired in rated fat. Clinical studies have shown of dehydration, then decompose, cov-
up to half of bypass patients six that high-fiber, meat-free diets reverse ered in bugs, while cage mates have no
months afterward. Side effects for diabetic symptoms and reduce choles- escape. Intense stress causes birds to
some people never go away. Gloom terol levels by about as much as the attack one another. After 17 months of
and depression affect up to 75 percent use of cholesterol-lowering drugs. confinement, necks are covered with
of patients. Many will require a second
bypass operation. A vegan diet and 14 Livestock production is responsi- blisters, wings are bare, combs bloody,
ble for 18 percent of greenhouse and feet torn. By now, the birds are
regular exercise, along with spiritual gas emissions measured in CO2 equiva- considered an expense and will be dis-
and social fulfillment have proven to lent, a share 38 percent higher than that posed of expediently—read: cruelly.
reverse heart disease—the biggest emitted by all the world’s vehicles, com-
killer in Western countries. bined. Domesticated animals world- 17 Early in 2007, Consumer Reports
tested 525 supermarket chickens

12 Supplying the corn and soybeans wide are the source of 37 percent of all from all across the U.S. and found
that feed the livestock that bring human-induced methane, with most of only 17 percent free of both salmo-
the daily meat to America’s dinner that coming from the intestinal fermen- nella and campylobacter. Premium
plates has meant that large concentra- tation of ruminants. They are also the brands labeled “organic” or “raised
tions of pesticides, fertilizers, and farm source of 65 percent of human-induced free of antibiotics” actually harbored
101 REASONS WHY I’M A VEGETARIAN

Cheap Oil=Cheap Meat: Green Revolution, really brown


Sponsors more salmonella than conventional
ones. Most of the bacteria were resistant
to at least one type of antibiotic—and
21 In the mid-1970s, chicken proces-
sors argued that in order to keep up
with skyrocketing demand they should
American Vegan Society some samples showed resistance to be allowed to merely rinse off fecal mat-
multiple strains. ter from bird carcasses rather than cut
Compassionate living • Since 1960
856-694-2887 • www.americanvegan.org
18 Two major studies have emerged
in recent years that show the ve-
away affected parts. The government
gave in to the processors’ request, and
Animal Rights Conference gan lifestyle to be conducive to lower
body weight. A Swedish study of 55,000
the rule stands to this day. A number of
studies have since proved that rinsing
Every Summer
women and a British study of 65,000 carcasses, even up to 40 times, is ineffec-
www.ARConference.ORG men and women both found vegans to tive at dislodging the filth. It’s some-
www.FARMUSA.org have lower BMIs (body mass index) thing to know since the violent motion

Janet Bloor and to suffer less often from obesity.


Vegan food tends often to be lower
of defeathering machinery not only
works to squirt feces out from the car-
Costume designer of in calories by volume. And since casses, it can push filth deep into
Penelo Pea Pod plant-based fare is likely to the crevices of the birds’ skin.

Brighter Green
contain dietary fiber, it sa-
tiates quicker. 22 Several of the world’s
mightiest rivers no

AN ACTION TANK
www.brightergreen.org
19 Half of every butch-
ered cow and a third
of every butchered pig be-
longer reach the sea, and
aquifer levels around the
world are dropping by
comes either byproduct dozens, and even hundreds,
“Whenever people say ‘We mustn’t be material or waste. And “mortali- of feet. Largely responsible is the
sentimental,’ you can take it they ties” are integral to every feedlot fivefold increase in worldwide (wa-
are about to do something cruel. and stockyard. What’s an industry ter-guzzling) meat production that’s
And if they add, ‘We must be realistic,’ to do with all this death and gore? taken place over the last half-cen-
they mean they are going to make Call the renderer straightaway! Recy- tury. Producing a pound of animal
money out of it.”—Brigid Brophy cling, they call it. Lips are exported protein requires about 100 times
to Mexico for taco filling; horns are the water needed to produce a
LISA LINDBLOM, sponsor made into gelatin; other parts are fash- pound of vegetable protein. It takes
ioned into drugs, aphrodisiacs, and in- about 1,300 gallons of water to produce
ORGANIC VEGAN CUISINE dustrial ingredients. Much is dried to a a single hamburger. Seventy percent of

Candle 79 tacky brown powder to be mixed into


chicken and pig feed. The rest is
the fresh water that is taken from the
world’s rivers, lakes, and underground
154 East 79th St., NYC minced, pulverized, and boiled down wells goes to agriculture, and 43 per-
212-537-7179 for cosmetics and household products. cent of the world’s grain goes to feed

Candle Cafe Essentially, assume slaughterhouse animals for meat.

1307 Third Ave., NYC


212-472-0970
byproduct is all around you.

20 Of all the animals in America who


suffer cruelty, 95 percent of them
23 Feedlot meat is a product of the
oil age. When cheap oil is gone,
cheap meat “will be history.” A pound
are farmed animals. Designated as eco- of beef takes three-quarters of a gallon
nomic units, they have conveniently of oil to produce, according to National
been stripped of nearly all protections Geographic. A 1,250-pound steer essen-
against abuse. At the federal level, the tially embodies 283 gallons of oil.
Animal Welfare Act simply does not ap- Thirty-five calories of fossil fuel are
ply to farmed animals. At the state level, needed to produce a single calorie of
where laws might pick up the slack, beef protein. By comparison, only 2
anti-cruelty statutes are either not en- calories of fossil fuel are required to pro-
forced or have, in recent decades, been duce 1 calorie of tofu.

Christian Vegetarian
re-written to exclude farmed animals.
Re-wording has been key. If a farming 24 Today’s confined cattle live in
their own excrement, which is the
Association practice is established as “accepted,” carrier of the deadly E. coli strain
P.O. Box 201791, Cleveland, OH 44120 “common,” “customary,” or “nor- O157:H7. Caked-on manure will mi-
www.Christianveg.com mal”—no matter how inhumane—anti- grate to edible portions during de-hid-
cruelty protections are overridden. ing, thanks to line speeds of 390 ani-
101 REASONS WHY I’M A VEGETARIAN

Bestiality: Integral to turkey, pig, and dairy operations


mals per hour and laborers who are dominated with factory-farming oper- nearly full-grown animal with flesh as
not always properly skilled. Ground ations half owned by Smithfield, the tender and white as a newborn’s.
beef today contains the flesh of hun-
dreds or even thousands of animals.
The grinding process brings surface
largest pork producer in the world.
Whether or not this region can be pin-
pointed does not take away from the
31 The so-called “Green Revolu-
tion”—a shorthand description
for the era in recent decades of amaz-
pathogens to patty interiors that may, fact that all influenza in humans is the ing, super-efficient grain production,
down the line, not be cooked ade- result of the ongoing domestication of which facilitated a rapid explosion in
quately. A university study found that animals for meat consumption, and human population—has clearly stalled
O157:H7 may even be harbored in the influenza’s many strains kill about out. Per capita worldwide cereal avail-
interior of a solid piece of meat. 500,000 people worldwide each year. ability has been declining since 1984,

25 Wild salmon stocks in 20 Norwe-


gian rivers have in recent years
been wiped out by a parasite that first
29 Every spring, neighbors of
chicken feedlots in North Car-
olina desperately complain about the
and the “promise” of biotech is far
from certain or free of risk. Today, 70
percent of grain in the U.S. and 43 per-
took hold in local aquaculture feed- stench. It is then that ammonia-laden cent of grain worldwide lavishly go to
lots. Scottish river managers warned in fumes from adjacent manure lagoons feed livestock. And just as the world
2007 that one careless angler spread- begin to permeate everything porous clamors for more grain to feed to ani-
ing the parasite could decimate Scot- that they own: clothes, mals—so people can eat
land’s wild salmon stocks as well. rugs, drapes, and hair— them—per-capita world
Pharmaceuticals and pesticides are haunting them for weeks. cropland declined by 20
typically added to all aquaculture pens But unlike the state’s infa- percent in the 1990s
to forestall disease and infection, mous pork industry of 10 alone. The WHO says
sometimes doing neither, and conse- million hogs, poultry 800 million people in
quently causing environmental havoc. growing is virtually ex- the world live with

26 Birds are cheap and cages are ex-


pensive, so battery hens live out
their dreary days in space just about
empt from environmen-
tal regulation. For North
Carolina’s 165 million
chronic hunger. More
meat production is defi-
nitely not the answer.
the size of their own bodies. No hen
gets to run, build a nest, enjoy a
cleansing dust bath, protect a chick,
tightly confined birds,
there are no rules, because
their waste is considered
32 A USDA inspector,
part of an ABC
Primetime investiga-
forage in the sun, perch, fly, or even less noxious. But over a tion, clandestinely
lift a wing. Instead, this creature will year’s time, the droppings filmed a plant that pro-
crouch and suffer and fend off the and mortalities accumu- cesses a million pounds
feather pulling of cage mates. And late in pits below to about a foot deep of chicken for schools each year. The
every egg that is laid will roll away and, to some, smell even worse than investigator found carcasses laden
down the slope of a wire floor, which lagoons of pig excrement. Nearby with yellow sores and fecal matter and
will also cripple her legs and feet. wells become tainted from runoff, but machines caked with harmful

27 The senseless waste of the


world’s growing meat-centered
it’s nearly impossible to trace this kind
of pollution back to the polluter.
residues. The plant had repeatedly
failed salmonella tests. Some of the
diet is illustrated by a hypothetical
statement put forth by the Population 30 A male calf born to a dairy cow—
what’s a farmer to do with this
cheapest, most unsanitary meat tends
to be sold to schools.
Reference Bureau: “If everyone
adopted a vegetarian diet and no food
were wasted, current [food] produc-
by-product of the milk industry? If he
is not kept for breeding stock or im-
mediately slaughtered or factory-pro-
33 Numerous Web sites instruct in
the craft of artificial insemina-
tion of pigs, turkeys, and cows. In
tion would theoretically feed 10 bil- duced for meat, the calf will be raised other words, bestiality is integral to to-
lion people [47.5 percent more people for fancy veal. To this end, he will be day’s farming operations. Sample ex-
than alive today], more than the pro- locked up in a stall (see image above, cerpts follow: “As he sniffs around, put
jected population for the year 2050.” human outreach activist inside) and on disposable gloves. If he has

28 It’s official. Dateline: June 11,


2009. Swine flu is a pandemic—
the first in 41 years. Such damage! Yet
chained by his neck to prevent him
from turning around for 16 weeks un-
til slaughter. He’ll be fed a special diet
mounted the stool, he will begin
thrusting movements. With a gloved
hand, rub his sheath. Now reach for
scant mainstream news regarding the without iron or roughage. He’ll be in- the cup. The penis will erect and start
cause of this global outbreak. The jected with antibiotics and hormones to enter your clenched hand. Continue
blogs, though, are revealing that the to keep him alive and to make him to hold the penis until the boar with-
first cases of this strain (H1N1) oc- grow. And he’ll be kept in darkness ex- draws. The end of ejaculation is deter-
curred in a region of Mexico heavily cept for feeding time. The result: a mined by a bouncing of the penis.”
Photographs, this spread, by Pamela Rice
101 REASONS WHY I’M A VEGETARIAN

Cutting Carbs? Risk dehydration, loss of brain function


Sponsors With the sow, “a stockperson must
mimic some of the stimulation nor-
pollution, climate change, overfishing,
sedimentation of coastal areas, and fa-
mally provided by a boar, that is, back cilitation of invasions by alien species.”

37
“Those who still eat flesh when they could
pressure and flank and udder rubbing. Adopting a high-protein fad diet
do otherwise have no claim to be
serious moralists.”—Stephen R. L. Clark When the lips of the vulva are gently may help you lose weight in the
parted, insert the catheter.” short run, but so might chemotherapy,

34
LISA LINDBLOM, sponsor The late parent advisor Dr. Ben- food poisoning, or serious illness. If
The root word of Humane is Human. jamin Spock maintained that health is what you desire, you’re even-
Please be a Humane Human. cows’ milk “causes internal blood loss, tually going to have to learn how to eat.
Craig & Cherie Cline allergies, and indigestion and con- Resoundingly, the American Heart As-
tributes to some cases of childhood dia- sociation and other major health orga-
Salem, Oregon
betes.” In the last edition of his famous nizations warn people against the
baby book he recommended, essen- Atkins and other low-carb diets, be-
Duane Cornella tially, that children adhere to a vegan cause they can cause fatigue or dizzi-

azuritepress.com diet after the age of two. But he did not


recommend dairy milk for babies ei-
ness and strain the kidneys. Often un-
beknownst to the dieter, these meal
ther. According to renowned nutrition plans induce dehydration. Also, upping

cowch.com researcher T. Colin Campbell, “Cows’-


milk protein may be the single most
significant chemical carcinogen to
fat and lowering carbohydrate intake
has been found to impair brain func-
tion over time.

38
LIFE-SIZE COW PILLOWS
which humans are exposed.” Genetics through single-trait se-

With 101 to choose from,


what’s your reason?
35 University research has deter-
mined that the feeding of approx-
imately 10 million tons of poultry litter
lection has become as important a
component of today’s intensive farm-
ing as drugs and confinement hard-
—LAURA DAUPHINE to U.S. cattle and other livestock every ware. The animals themselves, right
year is safe. But the mere presence of down to their DNA, must stand up to
A compassionate world wasted feed in the mix, which other- the rigors of the industrial process, both
begins with you. Visit wise includes excreta, carcass parts, in life and in carcass form. They must

Farm bedding, and feathers, could include


the stray remains of cattle. This would
produce at breakneck speeds and do so
on as little feed as possible. And ulti-

Sanctuary seem to violate the 1997 USDA rule


that no cow is to eat the flesh of an-
other cow, instituted to thwart the
mately, the particular output each
farmed animal unwillingly supplies
must please our final end user, the con-
to see how you can help.
FarmSanctuary.org spread of mad cow disease. Also, poul- sumer, in texture, taste, uniformity,
RESCUE • EDUCATION • ADVOCACY try litter needs to be properly com- convenience, and price. Mutant genes
posted to neutralize microbial toxins— that would never survive in the wild are
Franchia in practice not always accomplished. cultivated to monstrous ends.

T ea House and Restaurant


12 Park Avenue, NYC • 212-213-1001
Furthermore, livestock so fed need suf-
ficient time to flush out veterinary
medications that might have tainted
39 Officially, Wildlife Services, a pro-
gram of the USDA, prevents
“damage to agriculture.” Never mind
the litter. Finally, feeding poultry litter that agriculture is hugely damaging to
“The greatness of a nation and its moral to livestock provides one more vector wildlife. This multi-million-dollar perk
progress can be judged by the way its for the spread of bird flu. for cattle ranchers exists primarily to
animals are treated”—Mahatma Gandhi
36 Beef cattle are best suited to moist
climates, such as those in Europe
where their ancestors evolved. But
eradicate predators and to cull species
thought to spread disease. Non-target
wildlife is often caught in the cross-
Leigh & Helayne ranchers in America’s West continue the hairs. Wildlife Services agents shoot,

Gaither destructive tradition of grazing their an-


imals on the nation’s most arid land.
poison, gas, electrocute, and lethally
trap millions of mammals and birds on
Grazing destroys ecologically regenera- public land where only 3.8 percent of
Emanuel Goldman tive riparian zones. According to a 2006 the nation’s beef is even derived. The
the Vegetarian Cinephile U.N. report, “the livestock sector may methods are cruel and excessive and
well be the leading player in the reduc- even ineffective. The program has deci-
and Naomi Weinshenker tion of biodiversity…as well as one of mated populations of grizzly bears,
the leading drivers of land degradation, mountain lions, moose, elk, buffaloes,
101 REASONS WHY I’M A VEGETARIAN

No Debate Now: Animals reason, communicate, suffer


and coyotes. An intriguing global
study in 2005 actually found that 44 In America today, only four com- can we humans use our known capac-
panies slaughter 59 percent of all ity for logic, communication, and em-
predators inflict negligible damage to the hogs, only four companies slaugh- pathy to take animals off our plates?
ranching operations.

40
ter over 83 percent of all the cattle,
Many Americans are not getting and only two companies slaughter 46 Arsenic has been a common ad-
ditive in factory chicken feed for
enough magnesium. Deficiencies nearly 47 percent of all the chickens. nearly 50 years. It is used to kill para-
can cause irritability, seizures, delirium, At the farm level, the trend over recent sites, reduce stress, and promote
depression, abnormal heart rhythms, decades has been for many fewer oper- growth in the birds. The practice has
spasms of the coronary arteries, ane- ations to produce many more animals. long been deemed safe. Recently, how-
mia, blood clots, abnormal blood pres- In 1967, for example, there were over ever, scientists have found that the
sure, and even death. Where is this nu- a million hog farms. By 1998, the substance turns carcinogenic rather
trient found? Whole grains, fruits, number had fallen to 114,000. This quickly after application. Arsenic-im-
dark-green leafy vegetables, nuts, and, trend has funneled many of America’s bued manure becomes toxic to the en-
best of all, raw cacao. vironment when spread as

41 Results from two major


studies involving tens
of thousands of subjects—
fertilizer. The risk for those
who ingest the meat of
treated birds is, in fact, worse
one in the UK (University of than once thought, particu-
Leads, 2007), the other in the larly since exposure to ar-
U.S. (Nurses’ Health Study, senic is cumulative and peo-
2006)—suggest that the ple are eating three times the
more red meat a woman eats amount of chicken they once
the more she is at risk for did in the 1960s.
breast cancer, regardless of
her age. Suspected culprits
include saturated fat, growth
47 If you like the idea of
being welcome at the
places where your food is
hormones fed to cattle, heme produced, don’t count on
iron (only in red meat), and poultry growers allowing
heterocyclic amines (carcino- PHOTO BY PAMELA RICE you, the consumer, access to
gens produced during the Everyone loves Penelo Pea Pod. Even these West Point cadets get taken their massive sheds of mono-
cooking process). in by “her” charms. Here at the Union Square kiosk in New York City, cultured birds any time soon.

42 When faced with a each of the guys took a copy of this pamphlet. Hey, it’s all we ask! Without natural immunities
Thanks, Geoff Watland, for donning the costume this time.
flock of spent hens, an that could otherwise be ac-
egg producer may choose to induce farmers into contract, or franchise- quired by outdoor life, today’s flocks
production again by way of a forced like, arrangements that take choices need to be protected from the slightest
molt—accomplished with starvation about herd densities, feed, and veteri- infection. When operators are lax in
and water deprivation for periods of nary care away from them. The applying rigorous measures of “biose-
up to two weeks. No U.S. law prevents changes have ushered in a polluted curity,” a case of the sniffles in one
this heinous practice. Some major U.S. landscape, a host of new pathogens, bird can potentially escalate to a mass
producers have phased it out but then and a hell on Earth for the animals. outbreak, forcing a giant cull involv-
need to bring twice the number of
hens into production for the same
number of eggs.
45 The 18th century philosopher Je- ing millions of birds.
remy Bentham challenged the
world about animals with his famous 48 Smithfield Foods, the largest
pork producer in the world,

43 Fish make vibratory sounds with quandary: “The question is not, Can slaughtered 27 million pigs in 2005.
various “calls” that researchers they reason? nor, Can they talk? but, Pound for pound this number repre-
have identified as communicating Can they suffer?” Curiously, science is sents, in equivalent human weight,
alarm and aggravation. They possess every day discovering that in fact ani- the combined population of the 32
fully formed nervous systems as well mals do all three: reason, communi- largest U.S. cities, yet only 26 percent
as complex social behaviors. They are cate, and suffer. The differences be- of all the pigs that are slaughtered in
also capable of learning complicated tween animals and humans are being the country as a whole. North Car-
tasks. A 2009 Purdue University study blurred with every revelation. Man’s olina’s pigs alone emit the waste-
found that fish not only feel pain—a closest relatives share over 98 percent equivalent of 40 million people, and
finding that corroborates a number of of our DNA, and all animals, including essentially none of it is treated.
other studies—but react to pain in man, are related by a common ances-
much the same way as humans. tor. Today’s question must now be— 49 A study of 49 island countries
found 55 percent of their coral
101 REASONS WHY I’M A VEGETARIAN

Debeaking, Castration, Branding: Cruelty on your plate


Sponsors reefs overfished. To sustainably harvest
the million metric tons of fish taken an-
erinarians, perform the surgeries, em-
ploying restraint, not anesthesia.

Lewis Goldstein —Member, exec. committee,


NY State Democratic Committee. Proud of animal-rights
nually from the islands, 30,000 square
miles more reef—or the equivalent of
nearly four Great Barrier Reefs—would
53 Male chicks are a bothersome ex-
pense to the egg producer. Sexers
must be hired to pick them out for di-
resolution passed by State Committee and the Humane be needed. Demand for reef fish is version to expedient deaths. No law pro-
Education Resolution voted on June 1, 2009.
largely coming from Hong Kong traders, tects the baby birds as they are dumped

Hangawi who are now supplying a burgeoning


market in Mainland China. Reef fish
in trash bins to die by crushing, suffoca-
tion, starvation, and exposure.

54
“A vegetarian shrine in take 5 to 10 years to reach breeding age Fish and shellfish farming, or
another space and time.” and so are particularly vulnerable. Fish- aquaculture, is no less disruptive
12 East 32nd St., NYC • 212-213-0077
ers capture the fish live using cyanide, to the environment than taking fish
destroying coral in the process; three from the wild. Shoreline pens replace
www.harimandir.com quarters of the fish die even before get- mangroves, the habitats where wild fish
ting to their market destinations. would otherwise regenerate. Some
murals & fine art

The Mary T. and Frank L.


50 According to one study, when dia-
betics eat copious amounts of di-
etary fiber they are able to control their
farmed species will not breed in captiv-
ity, so fish farmers must steal juveniles,
who never get a chance to reproduce,
Hoffman Family Foundation blood-sugar levels significantly. Such from the wild. There are numerous
fiber, which is only found in plants, cases where farmed fish have escaped
www.all-creatures.org
also helps people lose weight because of into the wild, corrupting the genetic
its ability to satiate. According to a Eu- purity of native species and spreading
Meat kills. It kills the animals, it
ropean study of 400,000 people, a high- disease. Large-scale biomass fishing for
kills you, it kills everyone else on
fiber diet can slash the risk for deadly fishmeal threatens vast ecosystems.
the planet, and it kills the planet. cancers by up to 40 percent. Feed-to-flesh ratios soar in some farmed

51
—Nick Kyriazi
About a decade ago, the U.S. gov- species to 25 to 1. Nitrogenous waste
ernment began formulating up- poisons the seabed floor below cages
Lantern Books dated rules for manure management on that hold fish in unnatural densities.

55
www.LanternBooks.com the nation’s confined animal feeding op- Between 1980 and 2004, meat
800-856-8664 erations. The rules, which now regulate production in the developing
only 40 percent of the nation’s largest world tripled, amounting to well over
Tom Lyons & Joan Zacharias feedlots, have not only been ridiculously half of the world’s output. Dense con-
overdue in their implementation but centrations of corralled industrial live-
“Animals are not edibles.” have amounted to nothing more than stock, which create vast quantities of
—Henry Spira permits to pollute as usual. And the vast manure, now skirt the edges of major
majority of the nation’s mostly moder- cities in Asia and Latin America, caus-
FREE Recipes—VegKit.org ate-sized livestock operations are simply ing severe environmental damage.

56
Get your free Veg Starter Kit urged to follow recommended guide- People who eat a lot of fish are in-
& Meatout Mondays lines voluntarily. In 2004, the EPA creasingly falling victim to the de-
colorful eNewsletter!! granted a sweetheart deal to 130 compa- bilitating effects of mercury poisoning.
nies representing thousands of mega- Women, in particular, are putting their
feedlots when it allowed them amnesty babies at risk for irreparable brain dam-
from the Clean Air Act in exchange for age when they eat seafood high in mer-
scientific monitoring. In 2009, the cury while pregnant, and even before-
Obama administration declared that the hand. According to the EPA, about
For your health, the planet, so-called cow tax, which would regulate 630,000 newborns in the United States
methane, was off the table. every year—roughly 15 percent of all—
and our animal friends.
Go Vegan! —Frank Mediate 52 Animal agriculture routinely muti-
lates farmed animals for its own
may be exposed to dangerous levels of
mercury in the womb.

Micah Publishing
The source for Jewish vegetarian
convenience and often simply out of tra-
dition. Debeaking, branding, castration,
ear notching, wing and comb removal,
57 Hoof-and-mouth disease is rarely
fatal for livestock, but it remains a
death sentence just the same. When blis-
and animal rights books dehorning, teeth clipping, and tail and ters form on hooves and lips, and
www.micahbooks.com toe docking are ever-present tasks on to- growth slows because of fever, econom-
day’s farm and ranch. Laborers, not vet- ics prescribe execution and incineration.
101 REASONS WHY I’M A VEGETARIAN

Slumgullion Stew: 52 billion lbs. of inedible byproduct


In 2001, Great Britain responded to an
outbreak by destroying nearly 6 million
mostly healthy cattle, sheep, and pigs
61 From the animal-feed breadbas-
ket and feedlots of the nation’s
Midwest, massive amounts of fertilizer,
burned—usually the case when mor-
talities are catastrophic due to weather
events or disease outbreaks—pyres will
at a cost of [U.S.]$9 billion—to save its pesticides, and manure-runoff travel poison the air with dioxin. If com-
export trade. There were actually only down the Mississippi River. This high- posted, the process is often poorly
2,030 known cases of the disease. The nutrient mix causes an eco-chain reac- managed, failing to adequately pro-
rest were exterminated to provide tion that ends with microscopic organ- mote full decomposition.
buffers to contain the outbreak.

58 Some years ago a New York Times


story featured an Ohio school-
isms robbing oxygen from the waters
of the Gulf of Mexico. Marine life
must relocate or suffocate. The phe-
64 Want the omega-3s in fish but
would rather skip the mercury,
PCBs, and dioxins? Well, push aside
teacher who discovered that a nomenon is known as hypoxia. Scien- that fish altogether, and rediscover
“swirling poison” invaded his home tists have dubbed affected areas “dead flax. Two tablespoons of ground flax
from a nearby hog farm and “robbed zones.” Each summer the Gulf’s dead daily give you all of the essential fatty
him of his memory, his balance, and zone grows to an area the size of New acids you need with several bonuses:
his ability to work. It left him with Jersey. A U.N. report in 2006 showed a Flax seeds contain iron, zinc, and
mood swings, a stutter, and fistfuls of 34 percent jump in the number of high-quality protein, plus almost all of
pills.” His diagnosis: irreversible brain dead zones over 2 years—now 200 the vitamins. They’re loaded with sol-
damage from hydrogen sulfide gas. worldwide. Today, red tides (harmful uble fiber and are the best source any-
But the source of the H2S was half a algae blooms) line some coastlines of where for phytonutrient lignans. They
mile away. Only after visits to 14 dif- entire nations nearly without break. ease symptoms of diabetes and even
ferent doctors was the cause of his
symptoms determined. Surprisingly 62 In what is still the most compre-
hensive study of diet and life-
promote healthy brain growth in
utero and in infancy.
low levels of the gas will eat the brain
over time. Neighbors of industrial
hog farms will also experience di-
style ever made, The China Study
found that the consumption of rela-
tively small amounts of animal pro-
65 By some assessments, the H5N1
strain of bird flu, which origi-
nated in Asia and is still spreading
arrhea, nosebleeds, earaches, lung tein is linked to chronic disease. around the world, has the potential to
burns, chronic sinusitis, asthma, The findings from this grand disrupt life on planet Earth second
and corroded lungs. epidemiological study are es- only to global nuclear war. Others pre-

59 Genetic manipula-
tion has created mon-
sters as well as monstrous
pecially compelling because
they allowed meaningful
comparisons between pop-
dict that if the strain mutates, perhaps
just slightly, a bird-flu pandemic could
kill more than 140 million people and
suffering for farmed ani- ulations with similar ge- put a halt to [U.S.]$4.4 trillion in
mals. Cloning threatens to netic backgrounds yet with world economic activity.
jack up the misery yet an-
other notch. Its general use is prob-
ably a ways off, provided it becomes
nonhomogeneous diets. All to-
gether, The China Study provides
the ultimate vegan vindication.
66 The meat industry doesn’t treat
the causes of its problems, only
the symptoms. When it imprisons
commercially viable at all. Mean-
while, as the scientists tinker, their
cloned creations will suffer from pre-
63 Fifty-two billion pounds of
inedible byproduct (bones,
fats, unusable hides, and cartilage)
massive numbers of animals in
cramped stress-inducing cages, it pro-
vides the perfect breeding ground for
mature deaths and deformities, and from America’s meat and poultry deadly bacteria, which later infect the
the resultant meat and milk are sure slaughterhouses is each year trans- meat. Technologies to kill meat patho-
to enter the human food supply. mogrified by “renderers” into gens are now very big business. We

60 Before 1981, E. coli O157:H7 poi-


soning didn’t exist. Today, the
deadly strain infects 80 percent of cat-
saleable adhesives, lubricants, chemi-
cals, cosmetics, and processed-food in-
gredients—a grisly but profitable side
have acidic-solution carcass misting,
alkaline-solution sprays, steam/va-
cuum technology, high-temperature
tle on America’s feedlots. You can business of the meat trade. This carcass washes, steam pasteurization,
blame a change in feed for this. To amount, however, does not include and chlorine applications, etc., ad nau-
make the animals grow five times the the 6 billion pounds of deadstock that seum. Some bug-fighting methods,
rate they would on hay, feedlot opera- accumulate on U.S. feedlots, which such as food irradiation and sprays of
tors foisted a corn-based diet onto the must also be dealt with. Unfortu- antidotal viruses and probiotic bacte-
cattle and provided the perfect envi- nately, only half of it is rendered and ria, pose risks in themselves. And in
ronment for O157:H7 to emerge. Now therefore processed safely. If buried, the end, the meat still isn’t safe.
this terrible strain is regularly poison-
ing our raw vegetables and fruits via
cross contamination. (See #70.)
deadstock attracts vermin, leaches ni-
trogen and methane into the environ-
ment, and poisons the groundwater. If
67 Most of America’s cows are not
“Happy Cows,” despite what the
California Milk Advisory Board might
Photograph by Pamela Rice
101 REASONS WHY I’M A VEGETARIAN

Feedlot Manure: Now it’s contaminating our veggies!


Sponsors say in its nationally televised commer-
cials. Many cows in the Western state
spend their lives negotiating bogs of
70 Researchers in 2008 found that
fresh produce surprisingly causes
over 29 percent of all food borne illness.
Mid-Hudson their own feces. Elsewhere, they may be But before you blame the veggies, it’s
Vegetarian Society, Inc. tethered at stanchions. All are insemi- important to know that the contami-
SOCIAL EVENTS / SOCIAL ACTION nated annually to keep them lactating, nating pathogens are almost invariably
www.mhvs.org • 845.876.2626 and many regularly suffer painful udder those that hitch a ride on fecal matter.
infections. Thanks to calcium And we know plants don’t defecate. So
Millennium depletion and foot infections, what’s the story? It all gets down to one
Gourmet Vegan Cuisine
slaughter occurs after only simple fact. Feedlot operators cannot af-
580 Geary St., San Francisco
three or four lactation peri- ford to properly treat all the waste that
415-345-3900 • www.MillenniumRestaurant.com
ods. The CMAB is a govern- their mammoth-size facilities
ment agency and so is generate, so they often divert
not subject to false-ad- the muck to the nearest water-
vertising laws. way. Down stream, salad and

68 To choose indus-
trial meat is to sup-
produce processors use the wa-
ter as a rinse.

Joe Passaretti
port a system that long
ago put family farmers
out of business. Essentially, it is
71 Today’s turkeys are un-
able to copulate on their
own, thanks to selectively bred,
only the big players—those who freakishly huge breasts in the
bought into factory systems— “toms.” The birds must be artifi-
Peace begins in the kitchen. who are feeding America. Yes, we cially inseminated. The job is
do have lower prices at the retail nearly as dehumanizing for the
Go vegetarian! level. But ultimately, what is the workers—who must work rapidly for
real cost of cheap meat? You need to long hours and low wages—as it is de-
factor in the $20 billion per year in gov- plorable for the tortured breeder birds,
Norma Ramos, Esq. ernment subsidies to commodity farm-
ers, higher medical costs attributable to
who are essentially raped every week
for 12 to 16 months until they are most
Ecofeminist excessive diets, antibiotic resistance in unceremoniously sent to slaughter.

ROAR! vegan radio and tv


emerging bacterial strains, a dead zone
in the Gulf of Mexico, the inordinate
amount of oil needed for petrochemical
72 In most large commercial chicken
slaughter plants the inverted
heads of doomed birds are first plunged
Listen/watch: www.goroar.org/ fertilizers, dwindling aquifers, zoonotic into an electrified brine bath. The cur-
Comment: animal.rts@gmail.com diseases, and the list goes on. rent is set at voltages just high enough

Richard H. Schwartz
Author of Judaism and
69 To bring 10 billion animals each
year to the dinner tables of today’s
everyday Americans requires a well-oiled
to immobilize the birds and to promote
bleedout without hemorrhage. It serves
to minimize inconvenient flailing that
Vegetarianism and Judaism and
Global Survival machine of streamlined efficiency. Sen- would otherwise interfere with the
President @ JewishVeg.com • jewishveg.com/schwartz tient life is conveyed and processed us- slaughter process. The birds are not
ing the batch method—tight confine- only sentient during slaughter but must
Be Veg! Go Green! ment of the “raw ingredients,” by the also suffer the excruciating shock,
SAVE THE PLANET tens of thousands and even millions. But sometimes twice.
www.SupremeMasterTV.com things can, and do, suddenly go horribly
wrong and more often than one would 73 Grass-fed beef is more eco-friendly
than corn-fed, but supplies of it
I’m 84, going on 100! imagine—think hurricane, snowstorm, could never sustainably meet current
flood, tornado, heatwave, mechanical consumer demand. Several guides are
Thank you, “101 Reasons...”. breakdown, electrical failure, disease, or available to help seafood consumers “eat
—Ted Teisler fire. At press time, for example, within with a conscience.” But the species that
a span of five weeks, fires burned to are recommended would quickly run
Jean Thaler death 11,000 pigs in Littleton, Illinois,
and 180,000 chickens in the Seattle
out if everyone ate them. Legally, “free-
range” and “cage-free” designations are
in honor of Bobby area. News accounts were typically dubious to downright meaningless. At
on his 20th bird day short and local, concentrating on the least one humane certification program
economic losses to the farmers. was officially debunked. “Organic” has
101 REASONS WHY I’M A VEGETARIAN

Dems/GOP: Both rigorously push for meat exports


gone strangely industrial and is rightly mitigate trade bans because of mad cow of oxygen.) In North America and Eu-
tagged “ethically challenged.” Ulti- disease and hormones in beef. rope, lakes and rivers contain 20 times
mately, to “eat green” and to “be kind,”
one needs to go vegan. 77 The population explosion should
not be thought of exclusively in
the nitrogen they did before the In-
dustrial Revolution.

74 New York State’s Depart-


ment of Environmental
Conservation and its Depart-
terms of people—not when one consid-
ers the ecological footprint represented
by the world’s 3.2 billion cattle,
81 Worldwide meat consumption
quadrupled over the last half cen-
tury. The average American consumes
ment of Health have posted sheep, and goats across the about 110 grams of protein per day—
an Internet factsheet globe. About 20 percent of the about twice what the government rec-
called “Eating Sport world’s pastures and range- ommends. Over two-thirds of this
Fish.” The advice speaks land—and 73 percent of amount comes from animal-based
for itself: No one should rangeland in dry areas—have sources. Most would be better off con-
eat more than one meal been degraded to some ex- suming 30 grams of protein per day
of fish per week from tent, mostly through over- and all of it derived from plant sources.
any of the state’s fresh waters;
chemical contaminants may be a
grazing, compaction, and erosion
caused by livestock. 82 When meat, fish, or poultry is
barbecued, fat drips over the
problem; trim all fat; don’t con-
sume cooking liquids. On the
other hand, if you still want to en-
78 It is estimated that 40 to 50
percent of U.S. dairy cows are
infected with mastitis at any one
open flames and sends up plumes of
carcinogenic smoke, coating the food.
Other unhealthful chemicals are cre-
joy the “fun” of sport fishing but time. The painful udder infection ated just by extended cooking periods.
don’t want to poison yourself, is considered a man-made So, chemists advise that grill times be
the factsheet recommends catch and affliction. Cows get it by im- kept short. Separately, even environ-
release. But don’t tear out the hook— proper care, poor milking proce- mentalists are saying that restaurant
cut its leader, goes the “compassionate” dures, overmilking, and mal- grilling is an important source of soot
advice. Also, avoid playing fish to ex- functioning milking and smog. But you still need to
haustion. Nearly every state in the machines. The ge- cook your meat thoroughly.
union has a mercury-in-rivers advisory. netically engineered How else are you going to kill

75 Okinawa has the healthiest and


longest-lived people in the world,
boasting the highest percentage of
growth hormone
Bovine Somatotropin
(bST), which is widely
all those nasty bacteria?

83 Forests cleanse the envi-


ronment, regulate climate,
people who live to be a hundred years used by producers to and provide habitat for wildlife
old. The super-seniors who inhabit the boost milk yields, is and crop pollinators. Many mod-
island tend to retain their mental keen- plainly linked to mastitis. ern medicines derive from forests. Our
ness, and few need to live in nursing
homes. Not surprisingly, they eat very
little food of animal origin, according
79 To satisfy people’s raven-
ous appetite for frogs’
legs, a billion frogs are taken
very survival on planet Earth depends
upon them. According to a 390-page
U.N. report in 2006, the expansion
to a 25-year study on the island. Oki- from the wild each year, ac- of livestock production is a key fac-
nawan genes could take some of the cording to a study in 2009. The tor in deforestation. Today, nearly all
credit, although today’s old folks are collective pillage is helping to make of it is taking place in the Amazon,
projected to outlive their children who amphibians as a whole the most thanks to grazing and the production
have adopted Western eating habits. threatened animal group on Earth. of feedcrops. Worldwide, livestock pro-

76 No discernible difference exists


between Democrats and Republi-
cans when it comes to public policy on
80 In the early twentieth century
man learned how to extract ni-
trogen (fertilizer) from the air, cheaply
duction uses 70 percent of all agricul-
tural land and 30 percent of the land
surface of the planet.
issues of animal-based foods—certainly
not in the area of trade. The Obama
and Bush administrations differ only
and in large quantities. This one dis-
covery has actually resulted in allow-
ing 2 billion more people to inhabit
84 Worldwide, 60 billion animals
are processed for human con-
sumption each year, not counting fish.
on tactics in their mutual dedication to planet Earth and has given humans Most are transported at least once in
forcing trading partners to open mar- the luxury of feeding crops to live- their lives. Filthy, crowded, cramped,
kets to U.S. meat. U.S. trade representa- stock. Yet what gives the world abun- noisy, and terrifying conditions over
tive Ron Kirk told the U.S. Meat Export dance has, by way of nutrient runoff extended periods are the norm. Stress
Federation in mid-2009 that he was us- and acid rain, poisoned waterways and crowding facilitate the transmis-
ing every legal tool at his disposal to from the Chinese countryside to the sion of disease. Some animals are
keep pork markets open during the Ohio Valley. (Excess nitrogen pro- forced on numerous trips as owners re-
swine flu outbreak and to reverse or motes algae growth, robbing the water spond to favorable prices. Cull ani-
Photographs, three figures, above, by Pamela Rice
101 REASONS WHY I’M A VEGETARIAN

Seafood Oversight: 4 billion lbs., only 2% is inspected


Sponsors mals, by definition, are spent; their
transport experiences are particularly
amounts of such nutrients, today’s gluts
often kill them. Fallout can degrade en-
cruel. International commerce in live vironments as far away as 300 miles.

89
Isn’t it time to read animals—with shipping distances often Handling livestock these days is
The Sexual Politics of Meat over a thousand miles—is routine. Laws
are lax, nonexistent, and otherwise
risky business, not the least be-
cause humans are increasingly contract-
by Carol J. Adams? flouted. In the U.S., truckers must feed ing diseases from the animals—swine
and water mammals after 36 hours. No and bird flu, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease,
USA Devanand such “protections” apply to poultry. Nipah virus, and SARS are a few exam-
Yoga Center
Queens, New York • 718-426-4643 85 Clog up your arteries on a diet
loaded with saturated animal fat
and cholesterol year after year and you
ples. “Exotic” and often endangered an-
imal cuisine could provide the catalyst
for a global pandemic. In China, wet
Vegan Environmental Solutions risk having a heart attack or stroke. You markets display caged and invariably
can opt to avert these afflictions with sickly creatures, such as cobras, civet
Podcast an expensive, though now routine, op- cats, and anteaters, for consumers who
h2opodcast.com/vsse.html eration known as angioplasty. Per- want that “taste of the wild.” In Africa,
formed with a balloon-tipped catheter, the bushmeat trade is blamed for the
it works to flatten plaque against artery spread of Ebola and AIDS.

VeganEssentials.com
walls, thus opening up passageways for
blood to flow. A whole-foods vegan
diet, along with regular exercise and 2
90 Even if meat eaters are spared the
big killers that their lifestyle is as-
sociated with (heart disease, stroke, dia-
Over 1500 all-vegan products. tablespoons of ground flax seed every betes, and cancer), their diet may still be
day, can have the same effect. robbing them of everyday good health.
Fast shipping, low prices
Unbeatable service! 86 More than half of the nation’s
seafood companies do not follow
federal food-safety guidelines. Govern-
A standard American diet will often lead
to nagging conditions and ailments. A
whole-foods, high-fiber vegan diet, full
ment inspectors visit processors only of grains, fruits, vegetables, and
The Vegetarian Resource Group once per year to oversee essentially vol- legumes, is just the ticket to reduce
P.O. Box 1463 untary measures and to view company arthritis pain, ease irritable-bowel disor-
Baltimore, MD 21203
410-366-8343 • www.vrg.org paperwork using the honor system. ders, mitigate common back pain, re-
Three-quarters of all fish consumed in lieve cold and allergy symptoms, and

Whiskers the U.S. is imported, representing 4 bil-


lion pounds, but less than two percent
lower risk for gallstones, kidney stones,
and heartburn. Perhaps best of all, the
Another heaven and earth of it is government inspected. vegan life is one free of constipation!

87 91
must pass before such
a one can be again. U.N. Environment Programme ex- When food-safety inspectors in
ecutive director Klaus Toepfer said New York City make their rounds,
Snowball in 2003, “The clock is standing at one they often come upon merchants sell-
You were such a snowball, minute to midnight for the great apes, ing just about anything: the meat of ar-
but you melted our hearts. animals that share more than 96 per- madillos, iquanas, primates, turtles,
We love you and we miss you.
cent of their DNA with humans. If we frogs, and rats. Some of the meat comes
lose any great ape species we will be de- from endangered animals. Other cuts, if
Whole Earth Bakery stroying a bridge to our own origins, not intrinsically illegal, fail to derive
130 St. Marks Pl. (8th St.), NYC and with it part of our own humanity.” from licensed inspected facilities. The
www.wholeearthbakery.com Humans stand behind all reasons for sellers of such contraband (most is im-
the die-off, including one of the most ported) tend to be ignorant of U.S. laws,
important: poaching for meat. sometimes conveniently so. They don’t

Wilson Wong 88 Just as smokestack emissions result


in acid rain, toxic fumes from de-
composing livestock waste in open-air
seem to comprehend the dangers to
which they expose their customers and
even the city as they raise the risk for
lagoons on factory farms become poiso- disease and bacterial outbreak. Over
Youth Buddhism nous to fish when returned to water- one recent 21-month period, a single
Communications ways via rainfall. The errant nutrients inspector shuttered 138 city stores.
11 E. Broadway, Suite 8B, NYC
212-406-5109
(ammonia, primarily) also ravage terres-
trial ecosystems. Since Earth’s plant
species evolved to efficiently use scarce
92 It is estimated that 30 percent of
the world’s fish catch is non-tar-
get species, or “bycatch.” Fishers—
101 REASONS WHY I’M A VEGETARIAN

Ogallala Aquifer: Natural wonder, 80% gone by 2020


typically in the cruelest most expedi- America’s High Plains states and is es-
ent ways—separate out the discards, sentially being drained to oblivion in 98 Every year, 24,000 fishers die on
the job, making fishing the most
only to dump them overboard, dead order to supply an infrastructure of dangerous occupation in the world,
and mutilated. Bycatch from driftnet- feedlots and industrial slaughterhouses. according to the FAO/UN. Meatpack-
ting is estimated at 85 percent of Scientists say this natural wonder will ing has the highest serious injury rate
catch. Despite a U.N. moratorium, be diminished by 80 percent by 2020. by far of any occupation. Repetitive
Italy, France, and Morocco continue
this hugely destructive practice. 96 A 25-percent decline in heart dis- stress disorders and knife cuts are ram-
ease in Poland in the early 1990s pant in meat plants. Poultry process-
Shrimp fishing alone is responsible for coincided with the country’s transfor- ing workers earn wages that are below
over 27 percent of the world’s bycatch, mation to a market economy, which the poverty level. Full-time contract
despite producing less than 2 percent ended government subsidies to meat. poultry growers clear incomes of only
of global seafood. A switch primarily to vegetable fats about $21,000 annually.

93 In nature, pigs avoid filth and and the increased importation of fruit
will trek and root over 9 miles were also seen as factors in the decline, 99 Agriculture science tirelessly
works to eke out every last bit of
during a 24-hour period. Yet factory according to a report made by a team commodity wealth from farmed ani-
internment brings a breeding mals via genetic selection. Wild
sow cold, strawless floors, nox- jungle fowl lay 2 dozen eggs per
ious filth, deafening noise, and year; their maligned descen-
immobilizing space barely larger dants produce an egg nearly
than her own body. She will be every day. Wild sows give birth
pinned in place to expose her to 5 piglets; factory-borne litters
teats to her piglets. This highly yield 12 young. A century ago a
intelligent creature will be dri- steer took 4 to 5 years to grow to
ven insane as she endures re- market weight; today the
peated pregnancies via artificial process takes only 14 months.
insemination. When her pro- Just 50 years ago cows gave 645
ductive capacity eventually gallons of milk per year; dairies
wanes, her misery will end with today take over three times this
a blade to the throat. amount from the animals.

94 There are hundreds of


chemicals and veterinary GETTY IMAGES100 A chorus of research
shows that eating veg-
drugs used on today’s feedlots. For as far as the eye can see: pigs, industrially housed, indoors, etables keeps the brain young. A
These vaccines, parasiticides, in cramped quarters, confined to communal pens. Tidy by na- 6-year study in 2006 in Chicago
ture, pigs who are commercially raised are invariably forced to
hormones, insecticides, feed tested 2,000 seniors, their men-
live in and above their own waste.
medications, and antimicrobials tal acumen paired off with veg-
are making their way into our creeks, of multinational researchers. The au- etable intake. Subjects who ate more
rivers, and lakes via the feces and thors of the report noted that the de- than two servings of vegetables per
urine excreted by the animals. The cline was “apparently without prece- day appeared about five years younger
substances act as endocrine disrupters dent in peacetime.” by certain indicators than those who
in wild species down stream. One
study showed female fish acquiring 97 To produce foie gras, male ducks ate few or no vegetables. Green leafies
are force-fed a stomach-gorging (spinach, kale, and collards) appeared
male traits and male fish acquiring fe- cup of corn pellets three times a day most beneficial.
male traits. Other studies have simi- with a 15-inch feeder tube. This tor-
larly found disturbing anomalies. turous process goes on for 28 days un- 101 When you fork over that $2.99
for that 7.10 ounces of Banquet

95 Ninety-nine percent of the til the ducks’ livers, from which the Chicken Fingers Meal, it’s really quite a
world’s water comprises salty seas pâté is made, miasmatically bloat to bargain, or so you may think. But such
or is locked up in glacial icecaps. The 1 10 times normal size. Mortalities are purchases—collectively trillions of
percent left—no more—is suitable for high due to disease, intense stress, and them across the globe—are subject to a
human consumption. Yet the non-re- burst stomachs. Activist undercover steep ecological price. Future genera-
newable freshwater reserves found in video has shown rows and rows of tions will be the ones remitting its pay-
aquifers across the globe are being birds panting incessantly for air in the ments with global warming, aquifer
mined of trillions of gallons of water days just leading up to slaughter. So depletion, topsoil erosion, deforesta-
per year to support the worldwide meat cruel are all these practices that foie tion and lost ecosystem services. Isn’t
culture. One of the greatest aquifers gras production is now outlawed in at it time to start eating lower on the food
anywhere, the Ogallala, sits beneath least a dozen countries. chain? Get Hip. Go Veg!
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1. David Wolfson, Beyond the Memory,” New York Food borne Illness,” 31. David and Marcia Pi- 43. Peter Singer, Animal Liber-
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Attacks Wane, Heart Fail- est Guardians, 1996. Control Blood Sugar,
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7. “He’s Smarter Than You Hundreds of Products,” 27. “Diverse Diets with Meat Cancer Risk by 40 Per-
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20. Correspondence, David News, Mar. 8, 1997. Attacks,” New Scientist,
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Wolfson, author of Be- 28. Maria Cheng and Frank ling Stone, Dec. 14, 2006.
Lester R. Brown, Outgrowing yond the Law (see #1). 40. Jane E. Brody, “A Dietary
the Earth (chap. 3), W.W. Jordans, “WHO: Swine Philip Brasher, “EPA to
21. Elliot Jaspin and Mike Flu Pandemic Has Be- Mineral You Need (and
Norton & Co., 2005. Probably Didn’t Know Exempt Farms from Pollu-
Ward, “Chicken Once gun,” AP, Jun. 11, 2009. tion Reporting,” Des Moines
George Monbiot, “The Plea- Tainted by Feces Sal- It),” New York Times,
sures of the Flesh,” Mon- Dan Mitchell, “Don’t May 18, 2004. Register, Mar. 20, 2007.
vaged, Sold,” Austin Blame the Pigs,” Slate,
biot.com, Apr. 15, 2008. American-Statesman, 41. “Red Meat ‘Ups Breast Marla Cone, “Foul State...”
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tant Bugs and Antibiotic 29. Kristin Collins, “Fowl Mar. 4, 2007. Andrew Martin, “Livestock
Richard Behar and Smells Ruffling Feathers,”
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Defense, 2005. The News & Observer, EPA,” Chicago Tribune,
Epsy Scandal Is Minor Apr. 24, 2006. Breast Cancer,” BBC,
10. “Economics of Food Compared with the Way Nov. 14, 2006. May 16, 2004.
borne Disease: Overview,” the USDA Has Favored 30. John Robbins, Diet for a “Not High on the Hog
New America, Stillpoint 42. Marc Kaufman, “McDon-
ERS/USDA, Jul. 22, 2004. the Poultry Industry,” ald’s Taking Steps to Im- Stench,” AP, Jun. 20, 2005.
TIME, Oct. 17, 1994. Publishing, 1987,
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the Heart Can Some- Beatrice Trum Hunter, Washington Post, Aug. 23, Climate Topic,” AP,
times Mean Losing the “Overlooked Threats of 2000. Jun. 20, 2009.
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52. Richard A. Battaglia, AskDr.Sears.com, viewed icans,” The Boston Globe, tute of Nutrition Educa- Workshop, Calgary, Al-
Handbook of Livestock Apr. 13, 2007. May 21, 2001, p. A14. tion and Research, 1993. berta, Apr. 28, 1999.
Management Techniques, 65. Michael Perry, “Bird Flu 76. Jerry Hagstrom, “Kirk “An Abandoned Drug Marla Cone, “Feedlot Ef-
2nd Ed., Prentice Hall, Pandemic Would Spark Supports Forcing Coun- Offers Hope for Heart fluent Damaging Fish, Re-
1998. Global Downturn, Says tries to Comply with Patients, Study Finds,” port Claims,” Los Angeles
53. C. David Coats, Old Mac- Report,” Reuters, Feb. 16, Trade Agreements,” Ag- New York Times, Aug. 7, Times, Dec. 11, 2003.
Donald’s Factory Farm, 2006. week, Jun. 1, 2009. 1997, p. A19. Rebecca Renner, “Hor-
Continuum, 1989, p. 84. 66. All references too numerous 77. “Editorial: Meat and the 86. Melinda Fulmer, “Study: mones Pose an Environ-
54. Kieran Mulvaney, “A Sea to list. Contact the Viva- Planet,” New York Times, System for Seafood Safety mental Risk?” Environ-
of Trouble,” E/The Envi- Vegie Society. Dec. 27, 2006. Inspections Flawed,” Los mental Science & Technol-
ronmental Magazine, “FDA Says Viruses Safe for Livestock’s Long Shadow, Angeles Times, Feb. 14, ogy, May 1, 2002.
Jan./Feb. 1998. Treating Meat,” AP, Aug. FAO/UN, 2006. 2001. Janet Raloff, “Hormones:
Carl Safina, “The World’s 18, 2006. 78. Handbook of Livestock J.R. Pegg, “Consumers Here’s the Beef,” Science
Imperiled Fish” Scientific 67. “Happy Cows? You De- Management Techniques Wrestle with Mixed News, Jan. 5, 2002, p. 10.
American, Nov. 1995, cide,” unhappycows.com. (see #52), p. 196. Seafood Messages,” ENS, 95. “Water,” Modern Marvels,
pp. 49–50. Feb. 20, 2003. The History Channel,
Bob Egelko, “Dairy Farms 79. “A Billion Frogs on
55. Erwin Northoff, “Indus- Can Keep Milking Their World’s Plates,” BBC 87. “Humankind’s Closest 2006.
trial Livestock Production ‘Happy Cows’ Cam- News, Jan. 22, 2009. Living Relatives on the 96. “Diet Credited for Fall in
Near Cities Often Dam- paign,” San Francisco Brink of Extinction,” Polish Heart Deaths,”
ages the Environment,” 80. Tom Horton and Heather UNESCO, Rel. #97,
Chronicle, Jan. 12, 2005. Dewar, “Seeds of Solution to Reuters, Apr. 6, 1998.
FAO/UN, Feb. 2, 2006. Nov. 24, 2003.
68. Dan Barber, “Amber Nitrogen Glut” and “Feed- 97. Marshall Sella, “The Foie
56. Elizabeth Shogren, “Esti- Fields of the Bland,” ing the World, Poisoning 88. Robbin Marks, Gras Revolt,” New York,
mate of Fetuses Exposed New York Times, Jan. 14, the Planet,” Baltimore Cesspools of Shame, Jun. 27, 2005.
to High Mercury 2007. Sun, Sep 28 and 24, 2000. NRDC, Jul. 2002, p. 18.
Doubles,” Los Angeles Lawrence Downes, “Face
Michael Pollan, The Om- David Tilman, et al., Gert-Jan Monteny, to Face with the Foie Gras
Times, Feb. 6, 2004. “Quantify [sic] Ammonia
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57. “World Meat Demand to Press, pp. 82–83. ally Driven Global Envi- Emissions from Buildings, Times, Jun. 26, 2005.
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69. Phillip Lucas, “Stanwood tion,” Conference: Live- Factsheet, United Poultry
58. Jennifer 8. Lee, “Neigh- Farm Fire Kills about Science, April 13, 2001, Concerns, Machipongo, VA.
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180,000 Chickens,” The Environment, Germany, 98. “Fishing at Sea Claims
Say Foul Air Endangers Seattle Times, Jun. 4, 81. Mark Bittman, “Rethink-
Their Health,” New York Sep. 28–29, 2000. More Than 70 Lives a
2009. ing the Meat-Guzzler,” Day, FAO Says,” FAO/UN,
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KIII TV, Apr. 22, 2009. 82. “Smogburgers Would Be Jul. 7, 2003. Chain Never Stops,”
Swine Odor Task Force,” Out Under Air-Quality
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cess,” New York Times, Jun. 16, 2008. Healthier,” The Wall Street on Mystery Meats,” AP,
Dec. 11, 2001. Journal, Jun. 2, 1997, Dec. 2, 2006. Kamyar Enshayan, “Wa-
Jeff Teitz, “Boss Hog,” Rol- terloo’s Model of Local
Sharon Schmickle, “It’s ling Stone, Dec. 14, 2006. p. B1. 92. “Commercial Fishing,”
What’s for Dinner: Milk Modern Marvels, The His- Food,” Edible Iowa River
Michael Pollan, “The Veg- 83. Livestock’s Long Shadow, Valley,” Fall 2006, p. 13.
and Meat from Clones,” FAO/UN, 2006. tory Channel, Dec. 2004.
Minneapolis Star Tribune, etable-Industrial Com- 99. Factsheet, CIWF.
plex,” New York Times, “Cattle Ranching Is En- Factsheets, ejfoundation
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Oct. 15, 2006. croaching on Forests in “Fifty Years of Research
60. Gina Kolata, “Detective Latin America Causing 2007. for the Growing World,”
Work and Science Reveal 71. Jim Mason, “Inside a ARS/USDA, Nov. 10,
Turkey Breeding Factory: Severe Environmental 93. “Pigs in Hell,” Viva!LIFE,
a New Lethal Bacteria,” Degradation,” FAO/UN, Summer 2001, p. 2. 2003.
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Farm Sanctuary News, Jun. 8, 2005. Matthew Scully, “Don’t 100. Lindsey Tanner, “Vegeta-
1998.
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72. Prisoned Chickens 2006.
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Gong Lin II, “Tainted mals, CABI, 2008. 94. J.J. Miller, “Impact of 101. Lester R. Brown, “Time
Spinach Tied to Cattle Virgil Butler, “Clarifica- for Plan B,” New York
tion on Stunner Usage,” 85. Michael Klaper, A Diet for Feedlots on Water Qual-
Ranch,” Los Angeles All Reasons (video), Insti- ity,” 34th Annual West- Press, Sep. 10, 2003.
Times, Mar. 24, 2007. The Cyberactivist,
May 27, 2004, ern Canada Trace Organic
Nina Planck, “Leafy tinyurl.com/2qh6dc.
Green Sewage,” New York
Times, Sep. 21, 2006. 73. “Home, Home on Please buy and distribute this pamphlet.
the…Small Patch of Dirt,”
61. Tim Beardsley, “Death in Consumer Reports, All orders in U.S. dollars. The first copy is $3.
the Deep: ‘Dead Zone’ in
the Gulf of Mexico Chal-
Mar. 1998, pp. 14–15. Additional copies: 75¢ each. • 25 copies: $15.
lenges Regulators,” Scien- Samantha Storey, “Know
Your Meat,” Seattle
50 copies: $20. • 100 copies: $35. • 400 copies: $130.
tific American, Nov. 1997.
John Heilprin, “U.N.:
Weekly, Jan. 7, 2004. Delivered postage-paid. • Make checks payable to VivaVegie Society.
Diane Brady, “The Or-
Number of Ocean ‘Dead
Zones’ Rise,” AP, Oct. 19, ganic Myth,” Business Name:______________________________Date:______________
Week, Oct. 16, 2006.
2006.
74. “Eating Sport Fish,”
Address: ______________________________________________
62. Jane E. Brody, “Huge
Study of Diet Indicts Fat tinyurl.com/ysjsx8, 1999.
City: _____________________________________________________________State: ______ Zip: __________
and Meat,” New York Steve Grant, “Airborne
Times, May 8, 1990, p. A1. Mercury Poisons the FOREIGN ORDERS: Add 35% to cover s/h; maximum quantity:100 copies.
63. Don A. Franco, Address Waters,” Hartford Courant,
to the California Dept. of Nov. 9, 2005. ENCLOSED FIND (U.S.)$____________ . Herewith, also, is a tax-deductible
Food and Agriculture 75. Richard Saltus, “Oki- donation to support the work of the VivaVegie Society: (U.S.)$____________.
Symposium, Apr. 8, 2002. nawans, the World’s
64. “Family Nutrition: Flax Longest-Lived People, Order online wit h PayPal: www.vivavegie.org/
Seeds and Flax Oil,” Have a Lot to Teach Amer- VivaVegie Society, P.O. Box 1447, New York, NY 10276
VivaVegie Society is a 501(c)3, nonprofit organization.
P.O. Box 1447
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www.VivaVegie.org

101 Reasons Why I’m a Vegetarian


EIGHT EDITIONS • 225,000 COPIES IN CIRCULATION

T
his document is will discover that this way of life is in
all about ethical fact a wonderful one that actually opens
choices. Once doors on foods, rather than shuts them.
you are aware of these —PAMELA RICE
“reasons,” your con-
science will never be
Pamela Rice able to ignore them,
History of the
even if you never become a vegan. VivaVegie Society

T
My “101 Reasons Why I’m a Vegetar- he VivaVegie Society is a non-
ian” does not spare the reader. And as is profit, 501(c)3, organization,
often the case with the truth, what dedicated to public education Post-parade rally & expo, Veggie Pride Parade, 2009, Union
you’ll find here is not always pretty. If about vegetarianism. When the group Square Park. Photo by Claudia Rose Emmerson

you just take the time to read this docu- was formed in 1991, its objective was In 1992, VivaVegie began publishing
ment, you will forever know that eating vegetarian street advocacy—reaching its own magazine, The VivaVine. And in
meat is not without many ugly, though out to New York City pedestrians with 1999, the group opened a vegetarian
often unseen, consequences. the group’s hallmark publication, “101 center, which it continues to maintain.
The marketers behind animal- Reasons Why I’m a Vegetarian.” Then, VivaVegie regularly enjoys coverage of
derived foods are calculated in as now, founder Pamela Rice would its activities—in the past, most notably,
their quest to hide the things I re- wear a signboard—cre- from CNN, AP, The New York
veal here. It is their mission to ated by her sister, Julia Times, WNYC-Radio, The New
keep you disconnected from the Fauci—that reads “Ask Yorker, New York magazine, Time-
realities behind your food. They Me Why I’m a Vegetar- Out, and New York 1.
are particularly intent on having ian.” And people would!
you see animals as little more Author Pamela Rice gives talks
than abstractions.
If I’ve done my job, how-
ever, “101 Reasons...” will re-
V ivaVegie makes ap-
pearances at street
events in New York City
on government subsidies to the
meat industry, the environmen-
tal impact of society’s meat-cen-
connect you by making it clear where it knows it can find Just ask her! Photo taken by tered diet, overfishing, and the
Gina Green at the Veggie Pride
that in exchange for a mo- Penelo Pea Pod
great numbers of people. Parade, 2008. vegan argument in general. She’s
ment of perceived pleasure, (Jean Thaler) Thanks to a gift from cos- been running the Veggie Center
you not only bring misery to some cor- tume designer Janet Bloor, the group continuously since 1999. But ulti-
ner of the world, your survival has noth- has enjoyed the use of a giant “pea mately, she was the organizer of the
ing to do with it. There are, in fact, no pod” suit (see left) to draw interest from Veggie Pride Parade, NYC (2008 and
nutritional requirements to consume the crowds. One recent year at the 2009), which has turned out to be an
meat, and, on the contrary, animal Easter Parade, VivaVegie handed out— incredible success. The 2008 event, in
foods are likely to impede good health. to willing, inquisitive recipients—2,000 particular, gained widespread and ex-
If you find yourself “sold” by my copies of “101 Reasons Why I’m a Vege- tensive mainstream media. Call 212-
“mighty convincer,” I guarantee you tarian” in only three hours. 871-9304 for more information.

Veggie Pride Parade • NYC • www.veggieprideparade.org


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