what the world (& you) need to know
a guide to
Veganism
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Contents
Photo by Matthew Gerrard
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WHAT IS VEGANISM?
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DISCLAIMER ANIMAL RIGHTS ENVIRONMENT HEALTH WORLD HUNGER BEYOND DIET COUNTERARGUMENTS MY EXPERIENCE VEGANISM RESOURCES
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According to The Vegan Society, veganism is “a way of living which seeks to exclude, as far as is possible and practicable, all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose.” 1
DISCLAIMER
Veganism is one of the most misunderstood topics ever. There is just so much information the average person doesn’t know about. Ignorance is bliss, if you are not the victim, isn’t that so? It's really hard, though, to feel tempted to actually research this topic, and if you don't research, chances are you will never know much of the other side of the story. The victim’s side of the story. My goal is NOT to try to force you to do anything (because that’s impossible). I am just trying to inform you as best as I can, exposing you to the effects your actions have so you can make better informed choices in your daily life. We are so accustomed to a lifestyle dependent on the exploitation of non-human animals that it is hard to get away from its temptations. Please understand that my goal with A Guide to Veganism: What the World (& You) Need to Know is not to judge you for your food choices. I have been there too. I don't want to attack you or make you feel like the worst person on earth. Just keep in mind that good people can do bad things, and that they should make an effort to consider new information and change their actions accordingly. Reading and researching will only benefit you and everyone else, even if at this point you have no intentions whatsoever of going vegan. .
“Vegans are the idiots who think animals shouldn’t suffer unnecessarily.”
animal rights
You can't discuss veganism without discussing animal rights. Cruel acts vary from species to species and from producer to producer, but they are ruthless, unacceptable, and unnecessary. The next pages describe the factory farm system that raises 99% of all farmed animals in the United States (and in most other countries). If you are very sensitive to cruelty and feel like it's too overwhelming for you, skip this part and go directly to the Environment section. However, remember that "When something is so horrible that we can't stand to look at it, perhaps we shouldn't be tolerating it."
POULTRY
Did you know that over 98% of land animals slaughtered are poultry? This makes chickens, turkeys, ducks, and geese the most abused land animals on earth. They are bred into existence and raised in long windowless warehouse-like buildings that can 'shelter' tens of thousands of animals with the average space per individual being around an A4 paper.2 Chickens are extremely social and smart animals; they have complex social structures and communication methods, rare empathy, and are able to plan ahead, outsmarting dogs and cats on behavioral and cognitive sophistication tests and tying with 4-year-old humans on their self-control abilities. Yet, they are unable to find their social roles among thousands of other animals and become easily frustrated and stressed out, often causing injuries to one another. To avoid this, their beaks are cut off after they are born, without anesthetic, causing a huge amount of pain.3 Chickens raised for meat are given tons of hormones and antibiotics to get fat as quickly as possible, a process called accelerated market growth. Their thin legs can't support the weight of their breasts and many die from simply being unable to walk far enough to reach the food. Others die from common health issues like heart failure and stress, a result of accelerated market growth, or respiratory issues, due to the ammonia released by their excrement. (No, factory farm workers do not clean the floors of the warehouses until the chickens have been sent to slaughter, so it quickly becomes full of poop.) . On average, chickens reach the ideal size for slaughter at 42 days, while their natural life in the wild would last about 8 years (which means they are killed at about 1.4% of their natural lifespan; for humans, it would be like dying a little after your first birthday).4 It's on the way to the slaughterhouse that most chickens breathe fresh air for the first time. During slaughter itself, most die painful and slow deaths as they are hung upside down by their feet, electrified in baths (which many avoid simply by lifting their necks) and then having their throats slit open (if you lifted your neck before, you are still fully conscious at this point). Yeah, that's how the majority of chickens live (and die) before they reach our plate as dinner.5,6,7,8 EGG-LAYING HENS In the egg industry, the conditions are even worse. Since only females can produce eggs, males and females are separated at the hatcheries, where the “useless” males (plus unhealthy females) are immediately killed (usually by being macerated alive, or suffocated). That happens with 250 million male chicks every year, just in the US.9 The living females are then painfully debeaked, just like broiler chickens, and sent to a factory farm, where they will live for the rest of their lives in tiny wire cages packed on top of one another. Those cages are often full of their own excrement and their companions’ dead bodies. The presumed ancestor of today’s domestic chicken is the red jungle fowl, which naturally laid 10 to 15 eggs in a year. (Remember, eggs are chicken periods.) However, industrial farmed egg-laying hens have been selectively bred to produce more than 300 eggs per year.10 The large quantities of calcium they need to produce so many egg shells leaves their bones brittle and extremely prone to breaking. Many chickens grow unable to spread their wings even once in their lifetime, besides being obviously deprived of any kind of ‘natural’ behavior, like running, scratching, reproducing, or nursing. On average, it takes 34 hours in these conditions to produce a single egg.11 After the egg production starts to decline, the birds are seen as no longer profitable to the industries (since they can easily be replaced by younger animals). As a result, the so-called “spent” hens are sent to slaughter. By the time they reach the slaughterhouse, 90% of them are hemorrhaging or have broken bones.12 These chickens live about 18 months, which is still short compared to their 8 year lifespan (it would be equivalent to dying before turning 15 for humans).13 How this longer life of continuous exploitation can somehow be better than the lives of broiler chickens, I will never understand. Ethically speaking, consuming eggs is as bad or even worse than consuming chicken. CATTLE In the beef industry, cows are not given a long, happy, peaceful life as demonstrated by the cartoons glued to meat packages. For means of identification, they are often branded (pressed with hot fire irons into their flesh), which can cause 3rd degree burns. The males usually have their testicles cut off and the cows’ horns are usually chopped off as well (everything without painkillers, of course).14,15,16,17 A while later, cows are sent to massive, filthy feedlots, where they are crammed together and fattened for slaughter. To move them, workers use painful electric prods that force the animals to move in a certain direction. Raised in horrifying conditions, many cows die from injuries, infections, and disease, which often go untreated since their meat can still be legally considered ‘pure’ by institutions like the USDA. In the feedlots, they live on top of their own excrement, which releases toxic chemicals such as ammonia and methane, causing chronic (and painful) respiratory problems in many animals. Their diet consists of grains (mostly corn and soy) - which their digestive system is not designed to digest - as well as lots of antibiotics that either encourage the fattening process or enable them to survive the unsanitary conditions described above. Cows have been proven to form strong relationships with one another and to suffer from grief after the death of their “best friends.”18 However, once they reach the slaughterhouse, usually after 18 months (their natural lifespan is of 15-20 years),19 they are oftentimes forced to watch as their fellow companions are murdered with a shot in the head and then hung upside down to have their throats slit, before being finally skinned, gutted, and cut in pieces. Many cows remain conscious through most of the process, since it’s actually hard to shoot them in the exact place that would kill them instantaneously. DAIRY COWS Dairy cows are treated as milk machines as they get forcibly impregnated every single year so they can keep getting pregnant and keep producing milk. Just like humans and all other mammals, cows only produce milk when having a baby. However, that milk is not for their babies but for humans, so every single time they deliver a calf, it gets taken away from them. Imagine the psychological pain and profound distress they have to endure, being forcibly impregnated year after year, witnessing their calves growing inside of them for 9 months, and knowing they will be taken away every single time. Both the mom and the calf usually cry and call for one another for days or even weeks following the separation. More than 97% of dairy calves are separated from their moms in the first 24 hours of life.20 Dairy cows get hooked up to machines around 3 times a day, and it is not unusual for them to get hurt. Because their bodies are not biologically prepared to produce the huge amounts of milk (10 times more than normal) they were forced by selective breeding and chemicals to produce, they usually develop serious health issues. At least one third of dairy cows develop a painful disease called mastitis, which is also common in humans.21 When their bodies finally break down and the animals stop being profitable for the large companies, they usually get sent to the meat industry and end up getting killed in the same way as “meat cows.” Because they are from a different breed than “meat cows,” their flesh is often used as feed (to pets or other farm animals). This happens usually at around 4 years of age; they can live from 15-20 years.22 Nearly half of them are lame by the time they get killed.23 (And millions of animals die in the feedlots or during the transportation process.) In the dairy industry, less than half of the calves birthed by the dairy cows are healthy females who can continue in the industry. The sick females and the males are either sent to the meat industry, where they will become veal, or, if it is cheaper, mercilessly discarded. If you consume milk, you are financially supporting the veal industry (veal = baby cow’s meat). That’s why I personally think consuming dairy is even worse than meat: you are not contributing for a short life of suffering that ends with slaughter but a longer life of continuous exploitation and deep psychological and physical pain that ends in the exact same way: a shot in the head or a knife at the throat. PIGS Piglets have their tails, teeth, and part of their ears mutilated as soon as they are born, as means of identification and to avoid fights and cannibalism (without any painkillers; that would be unprofitable to the industry). Then they are confined to a miserable life in massive, overcrowded sheds. Artificially inseminated mother pigs are put in farrowing crates (a metal frame or cage only centimeters larger than the sow's body) where they can't even turn around for the 5 weeks or so they spend there. Since they spend weeks in the same spot, pigs become lame, often with calluses, swellings and abscesses. Like chickens, they also grow so fast that their legs can’t support their body weight. The pigs who are not growing fast enough, often called the fall-behinds, are often killed by being slammed head-first against the concrete floor. After 5-6 months (they can live 10-12 years), it’s time for pigs to be loaded into the transportation trucks and, for many, to breath fresh air for the first time.24 In the trucks, they are packed so tightly that their limbs collapse under the weight of other terrified animals. If traveling through a cold or hot region, the animals suffer from the weather extremes for hours and some die from dehydration or cold. Just like chickens or cattle, millions arrive already dead at the slaughterhouses. Shortly after, those who remain alive enter the gas chambers and get asphyxiated to death. This is considered the most “humane” way to kill.* A while later, they get all chopped up and ready to be sent to a supermarket for tomorrow’s dinner. Quick reminder: pigs are extremely intelligent animals, ranked #4 for intelligence in the animal kingdom. They are not only smarter than any domestic animal, but also as gentle, playful, and kind. In cognitive tests, they outsmart 3-year-old humans.25 As most animals, they are capable of feeling a wide range of emotions, including happiness, sadness, desire, fear, despair, and empathy. They are also part of the few species of animals who are reportedly self-conscious. *Note: The word humane is defined in the dictionary as compassionate or benevolent. However, is there a compassionate or benevolent way to kill an innocent, sentient animal who does not want and does not need to die? I don’t think there is. Therefore, the expression humane slaughter is an oxymoron: it can’t possibly exist. (Credits to Ed Winters for this clarification.) FISH Humans currently kill more fish every year than the number of people who have ever walked on Earth.26 “Fish are more intelligent than they appear. In many areas, such as memory, their cognitive powers match or exceed those of ‘higher’ vertebrates including non-human primates,” said Dr. Culum Brown, a Macquarie University biologist who specializes in the evolution of cognitive fish.27 Fish are able to form complex social structures that help them to catch prey or spot predators. Some even use tools, such as shells, to impress their mates, or leaves to carry their eggs safely. Fish do feel pain. Countless scientific studies have already demonstrated that. Biologist Victoria Braithwaite puts it well when, in her book Do Fish Feel Pain?, she writes: “There is as much evidence that fish feel pain and suffer as there is for birds and mammals - and more than there is for human neonates and preterm babies.”28 To feed our current demand for fish, they are caught in the ocean by multihook longlines dozens of miles long or huge nets that sweep up tons of fish at once. They die painful deaths: as they are pulled up towards the surface, decompression often causes their eyes to pop out and their internal organs to come out their mouths. They die impaled, crushed, suffocated, or cut open. Others are raised in crowded aqua-farms, where they suffer from parasitic infections and contagious diseases. The fish are then starved for days before they are killed, to reduce waste contamination of the water throughout the transportation process. Salmon, for example, starve for 7-10 days.29 The species of fish humans consume are not the only victims in the industrial fishing process. In fact, fishermen discard up to 40% of what they catch worldwide.30 The victims are not only fish either: hundreds of thousands of whales, dolphins, seals, sea turtles, sharks, and other sea animals are also killed as a byproduct of the fishing industry every year. According to the World Wide Fund for Nature, “over 300,000 small whales, dolphins, and porpoises die from entanglement in fishing nets each year, making this the single largest cause of mortality for small cetaceans.”31
“The top beak should be cut back 1/2 to 2/3 for [egg] layers and 1/3 for meat chickens while the bottom beak should be cut 1/4 to 1/3 for layers.” - from Practical Poultry Raising, Peace Corps Manual M11
Photo by Carol McCormick
Photo by Lucy Hewett
Photo by Anita Krajnc, from Toronto Pig Save
Photo from We Animals Media
Photo from Animal Equality UK
Photo from Blue Planet Society
Keep in mind that every time you consume or use an animal product or byproduct you are directly supporting and funding the industries responsible for these atrocities.
“Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.” - Albert Einstein
According to the most comprehensive analysis to date of the damage farming does to the planet, conducted by researchers at the University of Oxford, going vegan is the “single biggest way” to reduce your impact on Earth.32 The 2014 documentary Cowspiracy, co-produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, explains in detail why animal agriculture is the leading cause of environmental destruction (and how environmental organizations often fail to acknowledge it). In the film, their negligence is compared to a lung cancer organization ignoring the effect of cigarettes on lung cancer. Let’s explore why.
environment
CLIMATE CHANGE After analyzing data from tens of thousands of participants of the EPIC-Oxford cohort study, researchers concluded that going vegan could cut one’s dietary greenhouse gas emissions in half.33 Wait, what!? How is that possible? What does food have to do with GHG emissions? Livestock’s Long Shadow, a famous 2006 report published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, asserted that 18% of greenhouse gas emissions were caused by animal agriculture.34 This statistic shocked the world, since 18% was more than what the whole transportation system (cars, buses, ships, planes, etc.) was responsible for (13%). However, a few years later, the Worldwatch Institute released another report called Livestock and Climate Change: what if the key actors in climate change are… cows, pigs, and chickens? that argued animal agriculture was responsible, in fact, for 51% of greenhouse gas emissions.35 What?! Well, the Worldwatch Institute figure included crucial environmental factors not taken into consideration in the FAO report, such as the Earth’s diminishing photosynthetic capacity due to deforestation caused by animal agriculture. An important factor that contributes to both statistics is methane emissions - a greenhouse gas 84 times as powerful as CO2 on the short term36 - released by livestock’s digestive tract (aka farts, burps, and poop). According to Professor Kirk Smith from the University of California Berkeley, cutting down on our meat consumption could be a great immediate solution for climate change. Reducing methane, which is much more powerful than CO2 but lasts for a shorter period of time, could bring results in a few decades. However, the reduction of CO2 could take more than a century to bring results.37 LAND USE Animal agriculture occupies around 45% of the planet’s habitable land,38,39 and is responsible for 80-91% of the Amazon rainforest destruction.40,41 Because the global population is growing and we are in constant need for extra farmable land, 1-2 acres of rainforest is cleared every second.42,43,44 This makes animal agriculture the leading cause of both habitat destruction and species extinction. While we can grow 16,783 kg of vegetables (37,000 pounds) in 1.5 acres, we can only produce 170 kg (375 pounds) of meat in the same amount of land.45,46 In fact, a meat-eater needs almost 20 times the amount of land to grow their food than a vegan does.47 Free-range meat is even worse, since besides demanding more space, the animals live for some extra months (or years, depending on the animal and facility) and therefore use a huge extra amount of water and food. It is impossible, environmentally speaking, to feed the growing human population with free-range meat, dairy, or eggs because there is simply not enough land on Earth to please that wish, and its effect on the environment, even if it were possible, would be catastrophic. As shown in the graph above, animal agriculture occupies 77% of agricultural land available, but only produces 37% of the protein supply and 18% of the calorie supply. In practice, this means that animal agriculture is very unsustainable. Every day, an estimated 137 species of plants, animals, and insects go extinct due to rainforest destruction.48 According to the United Nations Environment Programme, "our global food system is the primary driver of biodiversity loss, with agriculture alone being the identified threat to 24,000 of the 28,000 (86%) species at risk of extinction."49 Hundreds of large predators (wolves, coyotes, bears, pumas, etc.) as well as other animals (such as wild horses) are killed every day to protect the herds of the farmed animals that are still raised in outdoors systems. Predators are often keystone species in their ecosystems, so this mass killing has a large impact on the environment. If you consume animal products, you are also indirectly contributing to the slaughter of these species. POLLUTION Every second, around 52,600 kg (116,000 pounds) of excrements are produced by farmed animals, just in the U.S.. In fact, cattle produce 130 times the waste of the entire human population in the same amount of time, which is far more poop than is geographically possible to spread as fertilizer or wash down a drain.50 But all that waste needs to go somewhere, right? Yeah, it’s usually stored in huge poop lagoons where it sits, releasing toxic gases that have already killed multiple workers.51,52 These lagoons often overflow (especially with storms or hurricanes that pass by), causing devastation in water supplies and polluting entire river courses. In fact, tens of thousands of miles of rivers across the globe get polluted with slurry (“manure in liquid form”53) every year. Those rivers then flow into oceans, making animal agriculture the leading cause of ocean dead zones - it has created more than 500 of them.54 DYING OCEANS Every year, up to 2.7 trillion fish get pulled from the seas and killed.55 If you have any sense of quantity, you probably recognize that there is no way our marine ecosystems can be healthy with that big of a constant interference. Indeed, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, ¾ of the world’s fishing spots are overexploited, fully exploited, or depleted due to overfishing.56 This is a huge problem that practically no one talks about: our marine ecosystems are suffering just as much or even more than our terrestrial ones as a consequence of both animal agriculture and climate change. In case you were wondering, fish farming doesn’t solve this issue since farmed fish are usually fed with wild caught fish, and therefore indirectly contribute to the exploitation of the ecosystems anyway. The situation is so bad that a study published by Science Magazine, one of the world's top academic journals, has pointed towards a total collapse in seafood (meaning pretty much fishless oceans) by 2048, if nothing is done.57 However, some scientists are afraid there might be no possible recovery, at least in the next decades, for what we have already done. As discussed in the Animal Rights section, the fish we directly eat are not the only victims in fishing ships. Due to the use of enormous industrial fishing nets to feed the huge demand for seafood, massive numbers of untargeted species (many threatened with extinction) get hurt and killed as bycatch in the industrial fishing industry.58 WATER SHORTAGES In the U.S., while less than 1% of water is destined to human drinking, 50% of it is given to the animals we eat.59 Why? Well, we need a lot of water for farmed animals to drink and to grow the crops they eat. The largest pig farms consume an amount of water that could supply an entire city.60 A single cow drinks around 150 liters of water per day, which is more than 100 times what the average human drinks.61 That’s why you need the equivalent to 2 months of showering (3,000 liters of water) to produce a single burger,62 and why a family of 4 can save the equivalent to 17 bathtubs full of water just by preparing 1 meal with beans instead of beef.63 When talking about dairy, for every liter of milk, up to 1,000 liters of water are used.64 If you go vegan, though, estimates suggest you are only consuming about one third of the water the average meat-eater consumes.65 MINDFUL EATING Considering this data, is there any doubt that a meat-based diet has a terrible impact on the environment when compared to a plant-based diet? If you care about the climate change crisis, you should logically also significantly reduce your animal product consumption, just like you should reduce your plastic waste or your carbon footprint. Even though estimates vary, some suggest that being vegan saves, every single day:66,67 4 thousand liters (1,100 gallons) of water 20 kilograms (40 pounds) of grains 3 square meters (30 square feet) of forested land 9 kilograms (20 pounds) of CO2 equivalent and, of course, innocent animal lives. While completely switching to renewable energy will take decades and trillions of dollars, a plant-based diet can be done at any moment and it is certainly much cheaper. If the world gradually went plant-based, the forests would regrow (as we wouldn’t need the land for animal agriculture anymore), wildlife would repopulate much faster, our current 6th mass extinction would significantly slow down, the ocean ecosystems would be healthier again, our air and water would be cleaner, and our health would improve. I'll finish this section just like I started it: reminding you that, according to Oxford researchers, going vegan is the “single biggest way” to reduce your environmental impact.68,69 If you consider yourself an environmentalist or if you simply care about the environment, please consider ditching animal products.
Photo from Wikipedia Commons
health
“Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food.” - Hippocrates
Photo by Bianca Zapatka
Adopting a whole foods plant-based diet can be extremely healthy for you when compared to the standard western diet. Dr. Michael Greger’s book How Not to Die70 details in accessible terms the benefits of a diet rich in non-processed plant foods and its power on preventing and even reversing the major killers of the western world. The book also describes the healthiest foods and the respective quantities an ideal diet plan includes. I highly recommend it! Researcher T. Colin Campbell and his son, the physician Thomas M. Campbell, take a similar approach in their book The China Study, which covers the most comprehensive study of nutrition ever conducted. Let's take Dr. Greger and the Campbells' lead and explore the health side of veganism.
The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics' (the largest organization of nutrition experts in the United States) position on plant-based diets is the following: “It is the position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics that appropriately planned vegetarian, including vegan, diets are healthful, nutritionally adequate and may provide health benefits for the prevention and treatment of certain diseases. These diets are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, adolescence, older adulthood and for athletes. [...] Vegetarians and vegans are at reduced risk of certain health conditions, including ischemic heart disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, certain types of cancer, and obesity.”71 But aren't most animal products crucial to our health? Red and processed meats are already viewed as unhealthy by the average person because of their high concentration of cholesterol, sodium, and saturated fat. However, chicken, fish, dairy and eggs can damage your health too, for similar reasons. Let’s quickly look through a few facts about each of them. Chicken Chicken is the largest source of sodium for adults between 20 and 50 years old.72 Since salt draws in water, by adding salt to chicken, the meat industry can increase the weight of the product by up to 20%. As a result, some chicken breasts contain more than a full day’s worth of sodium.73 Chicken is the most common cause of Salmonella poisoning.74 The European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study followed 477,000 people for about a decade and found a 72% increased risk of pancreatic cancer for every 50g (about a quarter of a chicken breast) of chicken consumed daily.75 Fish The main source of mercury in the western diet is seafood,76 and the main source of arsenic (for adults) is tuna.77 (For preschoolers is poultry.) Other common and dangerous pollutants found in large concentrations in fish include hexachlorobenzene,78 PFCs,79 and dioxins.80 More than 3-4 servings per month of such fish as tuna or snapper elevates mercury levels to a point where it causes a drop of about 5% in cognitive performance.81 PCBs are toxic, man made compounds that pose serious health risks, especially for fetuses and children. A study in 18 different countries involving more than 12,000 food samples found that fish and fish oil contained the highests levels of PCB contamination (followed by eggs, dairy, and other meats).82 Fish is, gram by gram, worse than other kinds of meat in terms of risk for the development of kidney stones.83 It is also the most acid-producing food in the LAKE (Load of Acid to Kidney Evaluation) score.84 Dairy Note: your body does not need cows’ milk any more than it needs kangaroo milk, fox milk, or rat milk. The only milk we need is from our moms, and when we are babies! Milk’s main protein, casein, is highly addictive. It breaks down to form casomorphins, which are morphine-like compounds that attack the same receptors of the brain as heroin does.85 According to the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, each glass of milk increases the risk of dying from all causes by 15%.86 Eggs The US-government-appointed promotional marketing board - the American Egg Board - can’t legally label eggs as “nutritious, low fat, part of a balanced diet, low calorie, healthful, healthy, good for you, or even safe.” 87,88 Egg consumption in children has been linked to asthma attacks, along with other respiratory symptoms.89 The removal of eggs and dairy from their diet was then shown to improve, in just 8 weeks, asthmatic children’s lung function.90 Arachidonic acid is an inflammatory acid found in large quantities in animal products and known to increase depression risk. The quantity of arachidonic acid found in a single egg a day can significantly raise its levels in the blood, cause a neuroinflammatory cascade and impact one’s mental health.91,92 Harvard University researchers found that “compared with men who rarely ate eggs, men who ate even less than a single egg a day appeared to have twice the risk of prostate cancer progression, such as metastasizing into the bones.”93 WHY PEOPLE DON'T KNOW ABOUT THIS Doctors are not well trained at all in nutrition. They learn from fact sheets (available at institutions such as the American Dietetics Association) partly written by the animal agriculture industries themselves, which pay around $20,000 per fact sheet.94 This means they learn about eggs from the egg industry, about beef from the beef industry, and so on. And, to make it worse, the research done by these companies is often private. Additionally, the associations responsible for preventing certain diseases (such as heart disease, cancer, or diabetes) receive sponsorships from powerful animal products companies. For example, the American Diabetes Association has sponsorships from Dannon (yogurt) and Kraft (processed cheese); the American Heart Association from the Texas Beef Council, Subway (fast food), and Nestlé (dairy); and the American Cancer Society from Tyson (meat). The USDA also receives money from companies such as McDonald's and the National Dairy Council. Suspicious? You decide. For these and other reasons, doctors often prescribe antibiotics and pills instead of spending time advising their patients on lifestyle choices, even though they might have a larger impact on the patients' health than the pills, and without the danger of side effects. Most people greatly overestimate the power of their medication. For example, when asked about the efficiency of common cholesterol-lowering statin drugs in preventing heart attacks, patients overestimated their benefits by twenty times.95 In his book How Not to Die, Dr. Michael Greger writes: “The best they may be able to offer in terms of absolute risk reduction for a subsequent heart attack or death is about 3 percent over six years. Meanwhile, a whole-food, plant-based diet may work twenty times better, potentially offering an absolute risk reduction of 60 percent after fewer than four years.”96 That is the power of a healthy lifestyle. If you are interested in learning more about the darker side of food science and institutional nutritional guidelines, check out T. Colin Campbell's book The China Study, mentioned earlier, which describes the most comprehensive study of nutrition ever conducted (that analyzed rural Chinese populations, hence the name), led by himself. Campbell dedicates around one-fourth of the book to a section called "Why Haven't You Heard This Before?" DISEASE Hypertension The leading cause of high blood pressure is the cholesterol plaque building up inside our blood vessels. But how do we lower our LDL (bad) cholesterol? Well, by reducing our trans fat, saturated fat, and dietary cholesterol intake - all of which are present in high quantities in animal and processed foods and in low or nonexistent concentrations in unprocessed plant-based foods.97 When people eat meat, they invite bacteria that eat carnitine into their digestive tract. These bacteria will then turn the carnitine into a molecule called trimethylamine, which the liver turns into trimethylamine oxide, a compound that drives cholesterol into the artery walls.98 A lot of scientific terms to explain a simple concept: eating meat encourages hypertension and, as a consequence, heart disease. But was this relationship between a plant-based diet and lower blood pressure actually reported in real people? Yep, and multiple times. An impressive study compared a group of long-distance endurance athletes who ran an average of almost two marathons (48 miles) a week for 21 years and ate a standard American diet with sedentary vegans and found that the vegan group had significantly lower blood pressure (122/72 for the meat-eating athletes and 104/62 for the sedentary vegans)!99 It appears that the more plants, or the less animals, you eat, the least likely you are to have high blood pressure. Another study found that, compared with those who eat meat at least once a week, flexitarians had 23% less risk of developing high blood pressure, pescatarians a 38% reduced risk, vegetarians a drop of 55%, and vegans an astonishing 75% less chance of having the disease.100 Ischemic heart disease A plant-based diet has been shown, over and over again, to be effective in stopping and even reversing heart disease.101 In Dr. Esselstyn's study, 99.4% of cardiovascular disease patients were able to avoid major cardiac events by going plant-based.102 In Dr. Ornish's study, angina attacks were reduced by a spectacular 91% in just a few weeks for patients placed on a plant-based diet (both with or without exercise).103 Other studies, such as one involving more than 76,000 participants, showed that vegetarians had a 23% reduced chance of dying from heart disease. For vegans, the chances might go down by 42%.104 Pretty stunning statistic for the world’s #1 killer. Brain Disease Stroke and Alzheimer’s disease kill 215,000 Americans every year. As previously seen with heart disease, the cholesterol found concentrated in animal products increases blood pressure, thus increasing the risk for both heart attacks and strokes. A study reported by Harvard Medical School reported that vegetarians had about half the risk of experiencing a stroke, even after adjusting for known risk factors such as high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol and triglyceride levels, and diabetes.105 This means that if you compare two people with similar high blood pressure, or similar cholesterol and triglyceride levels, or even two diabetics, the vegetarian will still have significantly less stroke risk when compared to the meat eater. But what about Alzheimer’s disease? Unlike you might think, diet may play a larger role in Alzheimer development than genetics. Studies have shown that when Nigerians and Japanese people migrate to the US and adopt the American standard diet, their Alzheimer disease risk increases significantly.106,107 You might also be surprised to find out that Alzheimer’s disease is increasingly being described by experts as a vascular disorder,108 meaning it has a direct relationship with the health of the brain’s blood vessels. Atherosclerotic arteries, it seems, reduce the blood - and therefore oxygen - supply to the brain and lead to cognitive decline.109,110 Plus, as Dr. Greger explained in How Not to Die, “Cholesterol doesn’t just help generate atherosclerotic plaques within your brain arteries; it may help seed the amyloid plaques that riddle the brain tissue of Alzheimer’s victims.”111 In the United States, studies have supported these results: the Harvard Women’s Health Study found a 60-70% higher risk of cognitive deterioration for women with the highest saturated fat intake112 and, in California, those who cut meat off their plate seem to have cut their dementia risk by half. 113 Type 2 Diabetes At this point, the correlation between animal product consumption and diabetes is undeniable: saturated fat found in high concentrations in meat, dairy and eggs accumulates in our muscle tissues and inhibits insulin’s role of letting glucose into our cells, becoming the primary cause for insulin resistance.114 A report which analysed multiple prospective studies found that 50g of processed meat per day alone - less than two slices of bacon - increased the risk of developing diabetes by 51%.115 It was further demonstrated that a low-fat, plant-based diet is more powerful (some dare say almost twice as powerful) when reducing or even reversing diabetes than the diet proposed by the American Diabetes Association, which includes meat and dairy.116 Overall, a study with 89 thousand Californians found that vegans have a 78% lower risk of contracting type 2 diabetes.117 Obesity There is clear evidence of the benefits of a vegan diet for weight loss. Vegans tend to be thinner and have lower body mass indexes (BMI), even after adjusting for calorie consumption.118 "This means that if you had two people eating the same number of calories, it appears the person eating more meat would, on average, gain significantly more weight," explains Dr. Michael Greger in How Not to Die.119 Plant-based diets have also shown to be more effective for weight loss than many control or calorie-restricting diets.120,121,122 The largest study ever comparing the BMI of those eating plant-based diets123 was made in North America and found a gradual fall in obesity rates as animal product consumption fell. In fact, vegans were the only dietary group of ideal weight, marking an BMI of 23.6. Even vegetarians were marginally overweight! Cancer Overall, the chances of a vegan getting cancer are 15% lower, and for some cancers the risk reduction is way larger.124 Why? Well, for starters, processed meat has been classified as a Group 1 Carcinogen by the World Health Organization (WHO), meaning it causes cancer (it’s in the same group as cigarettes). (Processed meat includes ham, pepperoni, bacon, sausages, deli slices, hotdogs, salami, and cold cuts.) “Each 50g portion of processed meat eaten daily increases the risk of colorectal cancer by 18%,” according to the WHO.125 Red meat, which includes all mammalian muscle meat (beef, veal, pork, lamb, mutton, horse, and goat) found its place in the Group 2a Carcinogen (probably causes cancer), along with glyphosate (also called “Roundup,” that controversial herbicide). How do animal products increase the chances of developing tumors? Let’s look at a few facts: Heterocyclic amines are powerful carcinogens found in all meats (especially chicken) as they are cooked and heated. They are not only able to initiate tumors and promote their growth but also facilitate cancer spread to nearby tissues and the to the rest of the body (metastasis).126 Dioxin is one of the most toxic, man-made chemicals known and causes cancer, among other diseases.127 Around 95% of dioxin exposure comes from the consumption of animal products (it climbs up the food chain through a process called biomagnification).128 Animal protein boosts the levels of IGF-1, an insulin-like and cancer-promoting growth hormone. Animal products are very poor in antioxidants, the substances found in large quantities in plants that help fight cancer. Growth factors in dairy products designed to grow a baby calf by a few hundred pounds in a few months also encourage the growth of hormone-sensitive cancers (such as prostate and breast cancer). As Dr. Greger explains in his book, researchers “found that cow’s milk stimulated the growth of human prostate cancer cells in each of fourteen separate experiments, producing an average increase in cancer growth rate of more than 30 percent. In contrast, almond milk suppressed the growth of the cancer cells by more than 30 percent.”129 "Consuming as little as 1/4 to 1/3 cup of dairy milk per day was associated with an increased risk of breast cancer of 30%. [...] By drinking up to one cup per day, the associated risk went up to 50%, and for those drinking two to three cups per day, the risk increased further to 70% to 80%."130 Thanks to choline, a compound found concentrated in eggs, men who consume at least one egg every three days have a 81% higher chance of dying from prostate cancer.131 Bacteria contamination In the U.S., around 3,000 people die every year from foodborne illnesses.132 It’s not hard to understand why: at factory farms, animals live in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions, often in constant contact with their own waste and the decomposing bodies of their dead companions. This means bacteria can easily spread among the animals, and then on to humans. Fecal bacteria, for example, can be found in 80% of pork chops, 88% of ground beef, and 90% of chicken parts.133,134 Farmed animals are also fed with tons of different antibiotics and drugs to fatten them up and to allow them to survive the unsanitary and miserable conditions they are forced to endure. In fact, 80% of antibiotics sold by the pharmaceutical industry are destined to animal agriculture.135 It’s no secret, then, that experts consider animal agriculture as a leading cause for the development of antibiotic resistant bacteria, one of the greatest health threats of the next decades. Pandemic risk According to the UN report “Preventing the Next Pandemic,” the increasing demand for animal protein is the #1 driver for emergence of a new pandemic.136 What?! Now even pandemics are related to veganism? What’s not related to veganism? Good question, but think about it. The 2009 swine flu pandemic most likely came from a pig farm in North Carolina and the 1918 bird flu pandemic from a chicken farm in Kansas. MERS originated at camel farms, bovine TB at dairy farms, and bird flu strains like H5N1 and H7N9 at poultry farms and live bird markets. And let’s not forget, both SARS and COVID-19 had their origins traced back to wet markets. COVID-19 then went on to mutate at mink farms all around the world.137 It’s not hard to understand, then, why the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that “3 out of every 4 new or emerging infectious diseases in people come from animals.”138 Abusing and killing animals is killing us too. VEGAN VS. WHOLE FOODS PLANT-BASED Even though, as you read above, a whole foods plant-based diet can bring multiple health benefits, that's not the same thing as a vegan diet. Not to say that a vegan diet is unhealthy - it is way healthier than the standard western diet - but there are many different types of vegan diets. Some vegans think that if they base their meals on refined grains, sugars, and meat alternatives at the supermarket, they will still be at their optimum health. Unfortunately, that’s just not how it works. To ensure a healthy diet, base your meals around integral grains and lots of fruits, vegetables, legumes, beans, nuts and seeds. Eat as few processed foods as possible. Make sure you are getting enough vitamin B12 (read below), vitamin D (especially if you don't get a lot of exposure to the sun and/or live at higher latitudes), iron (particularly for women), and omega-3 fatty acids. With the exception of vitamin B12, they can all be taken from plants (and, if needed, from supplements or fortified foods). In recent research, the average consumption of these nutrients by vegans who do not take supplements were above the minimum requirements, but it is always good to make sure your body is getting everything it needs.139 Vitamin B12 Vitamin B12 is the only nutrient not present in plants because it is not produced by them. However, it is not produced by animals either: B12 actually comes from bacteria. Throughout history, humans have gotten it from being in constant contact with the dirt and drinking contaminated water from rivers or springs. However, now that our water supplies are disinfected and treated, we don’t ingest that bacteria anymore. Since then, our source of it has been farmed animals, who are injected or supplemented with it. But, of course, vegans don’t eat farmed animals. Instead, they often rely on supplements or fortified foods (often plant-based milks or cereal) to get the adequate amount of B12 in their diet. Basically, instead of giving the supplements to animals who are then killed and eaten by humans, you just give the supplements directly to humans! It’s relevant to point out, though, that researchers looked at a day in the life of thirteen thousand people in the United States and found that, calorie for calorie, those eating plant-based diets were getting higher intakes of nearly every nutrient: more fiber, more vitamins A, C, E, and more of the B vitamins thiamin, riboflavin, and folate, as well as more calcium, magnesium, iron, and potassium. At the same time, they also ingested fewer harmful substances, such as sodium, saturated fat, and cholesterol.140 Considering that an astonishing 93% of Americans don’t get enough vitamin E, 97% of American adults don’t get enough fiber and 98% of American diets are deficient in potassium, that’s a very significant accomplishment.141
Photo by Joss McKinley
Photo from Diabetes.co.uk
world hunger
There are more than 820 million hungry* people worldwide.142 However, the world has all the resources it needs to feed everyone - without causing even more environmental destruction. How? Well, by choosing efficient farming methods and products. As it turns out, animal farming is the least efficient of them all. “When livestock are raised in intensive systems, they convert carbohydrate and protein that might otherwise be eaten directly by humans and use them to produce a smaller quantity of energy and protein.”143 Basically, the animals we consume do not convert the food we give them into calories effectively. They eat much more calories and protein than they can ever give us back. As discussed earlier on, more than 80% of farmland is used for animal agriculture, although it produces just 18% of food calories and 37% of protein.144 This means that we can produce on average 15 times more protein from plants than from meat in any area of the world.145 “Cows eat a lot!,” you might be thinking. Yep, they do. Roughly 40% of the world’s grain is in fact fed to farmed animals.146 And check this out: the entire human population (7.8 billion people) eat 10 billion kg (21 billion pounds) of food a day, while the world’s 1,5 billion cows manage to eat 61 billion kg (135 billion pounds) in the same amount of time. That’s more than 6 times as much food, for about ⅕ of the individuals!147 Researchers from the Institute on the Environment (IonE) and the University of Minnesota found that “given the current mix of crop uses, growing food exclusively for direct human consumption could, in principle, increase available food calories by as much as 70%, which could feed an additional 4 billion people.”148 This means that if a plant-based diet was adopted on a global scale and no food was wasted, additional 4 billion people could be fed. The data is there: a vegan diet has the power to end world hunger. *The FAO defines “hunger” as “an uncomfortable or painful physical sensation caused by insufficient consumption of dietary energy,” or simply “undernourishment.”149
“Every morsel of meat we eat is slapping the tear-stained face of a starving child." - Philip Wollen
beyond diet
Veganism is not a diet. Food is not the only reason why animals are exploited and vegans, as you know, share the crazy and radical opinion that animals shouldn’t suffer unnecessarily. "If we could live a happy and healthy lives without harming others, why wouldn't we?" Pam Ahern. COSMETICS Many cosmetics are still animal-tested. These tests include dropping toxic substances into the animals' eyes and onto their skin, forcefully feeding them to look for signs of illnesses or diseases, and forcing chemicals down their throats to determine what dose of a certain compound kills them (“lethal dose” tests). The most common animals used in cosmetic tests are mice, rats, rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, monkeys, cats, and dogs. There is no pain relief applied, and the animals are often blinded, chemically burned, severely injured, or killed. Either way, they always end up being killed at the end of the experiments, usually by asphyxiation, neck-breaking or decapitation.150 The thing is, these tests are not necessary, nor the safest option. They are only needed when there is a new ingredient being tested with no existing safety data (which nowadays is rare since there are millions of compounds already on the market). Hundreds of cruelty-free companies such as The Body Shop, Dove, and Anastasia Beverly Hills have already chosen to use either the thousands of products for which there is already safety data available, or the other 40+ testing methods available that do not involve animal abuse. These alternative methods are faster, cost-effective when compared to animal tests, and more reliable, since animal testing can rarely guarantee human safety.151 However, testing on animals might guarantee trade with countries like China, which still require animal tests on all of their cosmetics. On the other hand, plenty of countries have already banned animal testing, including Israel (2007), the European Union countries (2009), India (2013), and New Zealand (2015).152 CLOTHING Millions of animals are sacrificed for our leather shoes, fur coats, or wool jackets, while there are plenty of alternatives for each. Foxes, coyotes, rabbits, wolves, chinchillas, and otters spend their lives in filthy wire cages and die by the cheapest and most cruel methods. More than half of the fur in the U.S. comes from China, where cats and dogs go through the same fate, and have their skins mislabeled when exported to America.153 In the leather industry, animals have their throats slit open and their skin ripped off often while still conscious. In India, undercover investigations showed how some leather industry workers break cows’ tails and rub chilli peppers and tobacco in their eyes so that they keep walking towards the slaughterhouses and don’t collapse from exhaustion.154 In Australia, the world’s largest producer of wool, male sheep are castrated and have their testicles cut off without any painkillers. Young australian lambs go through “mulesing,” a common industrial practice that cuts large chunks of skin and flesh from their backs, and are then deported to the Middle East in long voyages to be slaughtered. Additionally, snakes are skinned alive to make purses, birds have their feathers extracted for Carnival, baby goats are boiled alive to produce warm gloves, and 3,000 silkworms (who produce endorphin and have physical responses to pain) are boiled alive inside their cocoons to produce every pound (0.45 kg) of silk.155 ENTERTAINMENT If something isn't missing in the entertainment industry, it’s animal abuse: Circuses cage wild animals and force them into starvation so they perform dangerous tricks in exchange for food. (Yes, why else would a lion jump through a fire ring?) Zoos take animals from their natural habitats around the world and isolate them in tiny “habitats” far away from home and with different climate zones. If you want to contribute to the conservation of endangered species, visit natural parks or sanctuaries, where animals can live free in their natural habitats, not zoos where they are trapped for the rest of their lives. Aquariums imprison dolphins and whales, ridiculously intelligent animals, in small tanks where they are destined to swim in circles for the rest of their lives. Rodeos and bullfights inject cattle with drugs so they become susceptible to fighting and then provoke and often torture and kill them (in Spain, around 7,000 bulls are killed every year).156 The racing industry deprives horses and dogs of their freedom, subjects them to dangerous situations, and often slaughters them at the end of their career (a practice known as wastage).157 In Australia alone, over 250,000 horses are slaughtered every year.158 Hunting/fishing trips unnecessarily injure and/or kill millions or even billions of innocent mammals, birds and fish every year simply because it is “fun” and culture labels it as “acceptable.” I understand some of those practices are deeply intertwined with local traditions, but that doesn’t make them ethical. Causing pain on innocent beings with no need to do so will never be ethical. PETS For every dog and cat who is lucky enough to have a home where they are loved and well taken care of, countless other animals are living on the streets or at underfunded animal shelters. In the US, 3.2 million shelter animals are adopted each year, but 1.5 million are euthanized.159 Around 70% of all cats in shelters are euthanized.160 However, some people still prefer to buy purebred dogs and encourage the breeding and suffering of more and more animals, instead of rescuing a friend and perhaps saving their life. For every pet purchased from a breeder, one more stray or shelter animal will be denied a home. Please, if you want to have an animal companion, consider adopting instead of buying! There are so many animals out there in need of love!
"Veganism is not some mundane diet choice. It is the difference between enslavement and freedom, between torture and peace, between life and death." - James Aspey
Photo from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
Photo from PETA
Photo from Blackfish, Netflix
“How can you morally justify abusing and/or taking the life of an innocent sentient being who doesn't want and doesn't need to die?”
counterarguments
Unfortunately, there is a lot of natural resistance to veganism. Fortunately, though, people tend to use the same arguments (or, as some activists call them, excuses) to justify not going vegan. I don't personally think excuses is the right term because I recognize most people are well-intentioned when they use them. Whether you are a vegan looking into effective responses to common counterarguments or a non-vegan who thought about one of them and would like to know how a vegan would likely respond, I highly recommend taking a look. “But lions eat meat! It’s the food chain!” Yes, lions do eat meat, but they need to do so to survive. If we needed to eat meat too, the act would be morally justifiable. Remember the plane crash back in 1972 in the Andes when humans were forced to eat other dead humans in order to survive?161 It was cannibalism, but it was also morally justifiable since the survivors had no other option but to starve to death. Humans don’t need any animal products to survive or to be healthy (read the Health section for more on that) so eating them becomes a choice. Another important point is that we can not base our ethics on what other animals do, or it would be ethical to kill other humans, for example, just like animals sometimes kill members of their own species. We have a moral agency (ability to distinguish right from wrong), they do not. “Eating meat is normal, natural and healthy.” Just because something is considered normal doesn’t mean that it’s moral or the right thing to do. That kind of reasoning is flawed - it’s called the Bandwagon fallacy. You can argue that most people eat meat, but that still doesn’t justify the act. Most people in the past were in favor of slavery, for example, or sexism. That doesn’t mean those things were ever right or moral. Look around. Humans don’t rule themselves by what is “natural”. We do “unnatural things” all the time, to find comfort and minimize pain. If humans didn’t do the “unnatural”, we would be sleeping in the jungle instead of at brightly illuminated cities and wouldn’t care about serious offenses like rape or murder. We would also be dying of “natural” diseases, instead of doing our best to find cures for them. (Look at the “Humans are omnivores” counterargument to find more information on whether it even is natural for humans to eat meat.) Others will say that a non-vegan diet can also be healthy, but vegans don’t automatically say it can’t be (although a whole foods plant-based diet is healthier). However, if you can be healthy without meat, and avoid the environmental damage and the ethical issues of eating it, why not? “Our ancestors ate meat.” Just because our ancestors did something (when they didn’t really have other options, I should add), doesn’t make it anywhere near “ethical” to imitate them. Our society has improved, just as our knowledge of the world around us did, and our actions should improve as well. We are not our ancestors. Nowadays, eating meat is a choice, not a need. “The most dangerous phrase in our language is ‘we’ve always done it this way,’” Grace Hopper. “Humans evolved thanks to meat.” Just because something helped us evolve doesn’t automatically make it acceptable today. Human beings most likely used rape as a way to promote their genes when they couldn’t have access to consensual sex.162 Can we justify rape just because it might have helped us evolve? No, of course not. (I am not arguing that eating meat is morally equivalent to rape, just that regardless of the magnitude of the act, basing our morality on evolution is pointless.) Besides, many scientists would agree that it wasn’t actually eating meat that helped us evolve but cooking food,163 since it allowed us to extract more energy from the same amount of food and use that extra energy for brain development. If that’s the case, eating meat today won’t have any positive impact on our future genetic evolution. Considering the data from the Environment and Health sections, it might even kill us faster - and therefore have a negative impact on our evolution. “Humans are omnivores.” You are right in saying that humans are omnivores, because our current attitudes suggest so. In addition, our bodies do have the ability to digest meat. However, just because you have the ability to do something doesn’t mean you should, just like having a foot doesn’t justify you kicking a dog. Experts such as Mark Teaford have discovered that human ancestors were actually frugivores that adapted to eat meat in times when food was lacking.164 While most people would imagine an omnivorous diet as one composed of around 50% plants and 50% meat, that’s not what our ancestors used to eat. In fact, our digestive system is much more similar to that of a frugivore, like most primates, than that of an omnivore, such as pigs and bears.165 Chimps, our closest living relatives, get 97% of their calories from plants (as you can see, not at all the 50/50 deal).166,167 As the last piece of evidence, humans can develop atherosclerosis, a disease that only shows up in herbivores.168 “But plants feel pain too!” Would you rather run over a dog on a road or swerve and run over a bush? Most people would swerve because they already understand what I'm going to argue now, in more technical terms: scientifically speaking, we can’t say that plants feel pain because they lack nerve cells (and a brain). Although there is some scientific research that suggests they have cellular input/output reactions with the surrounding environment, none prove that they have sentience or a capacity to feel emotions or pain as we understand it. Still, we can justify killing plants because we have to do so in order to survive (you wouldn’t get all the vitamins and nutrients necessary by eating just meat). Furthermore, by going vegan you are actually sparing plants, since the plants you eat in place of meat are little compared to what the animal had to eat throughout its life until reaching the slaughterhouse. According to Our World in Data, an initiative of the Oxford Martin Programme on Global Development, up to 25kg of feed is needed to produce a single kg of beef.169 So if you are a plant rights activist or something, you should still go vegan, since you would actually be saving a lot of plant lives. (Estimates suggest around 20kg of grain. A day. Plus 3 square meters of forested land.) “The meat industry supports a lot of jobs and plays an important role in the economy.” True, but as consumers, we choose what to buy and what industries to fund. We don’t just buy a little bit of everything to make sure no one loses their jobs. If someone stops doing drugs you won’t complain, saying that they are hurting the drug dealer’s job. If someone goes sugar-free you won’t complain either, arguing that they are hurting the factory workers who produce candy. Besides, the shift towards a plant-based diet will happen gradually. Jobs in the meat and dairy industries can and will be shifted towards other agricultural activities that will be increasingly needed as meat and dairy consumption falls. In fact, there are already some fantastic projects that help farmers switch from animal to plant agriculture, such as the Transfarmation project.170 Despite all of this, it’s relevant to note that unnecessary violence is never morally justified because someone profits from it. “What will happen to all the cows if everyone goes vegan?” Nowadays, cows, pigs, chickens, and other farmed animals are bred into existence at factory farms so they can later be killed at slaughterhouses and be turned into sandwiches. If meat consumption falls, there will be less and less animals being bred into existence, and therefore less of them being killed at slaughterhouses. So, no, cows won’t overpopulate, eat all the grass and take over the world, because they won’t be born in the first place. Nor will they go extinct, since animal sanctuaries will take care of some animals, while others will be free to live their lives as they please in protected areas. Remember, the shift towards a plant-based diet will happen gradually, so there will be plenty of time to properly adjust to a more ethical way to treat animals. “God gave us animals to eat.” No religion forces you to eat meat. Therefore, you can be vegan and be religious, just like you can avoid plastic and be religious, or eat rice and be religious. You can even go further down the line and say that God would actually appreciate our efforts to cause the least amount of pain possible to animals, and the least harm possible to planet Earth, both God’s creations. Think about slaughterhouse footage, or what happens to animals - described in the Animal Rights section. Does that seem like something that God would approve of? Something you can use God’s name to justify? Some will argue that He wouldn’t approve of torture, but rather just to kill animals for food. But what if that killing is unnecessary? Are you sure He would still approve? Don’t you think that, in modern times, He would rather have humans minimize suffering on Earth by only killing when it’s absolutely necessary to do so? “We are superior to animals.” You don't have to believe animals deserve the same moral consideration as humans in order to be vegan. You don't have to believe they deserve the same rights either. No one is trying to give chickens the right to vote, after all. The only thing you have to admit is that the animal’s entire life and their suffering is “superior” to the 10 seconds their flesh is going to be in your mouth. That's it. You don't need to value an animal over a human. You have to value an animal's life and their own appreciation for it over a sandwich or a shoe. “Farmed animals are bred to be killed.” Just because someone brought animals into existence for the purpose of abusing and slaughtering them doesn’t morally justify the fact that they are being abused and slaughtered. Is it really moral to breed someone into existence just to kill them with no need to do so? Some dogs are bred specifically for dogfighting. Does that justify the fact that they are constantly abused (and killed) in that industry? Or, if possible, would you rather have them rescued and given the opportunity of a better life? “Vegan food is so expensive!” Veganism can indeed be expensive, just like any other diet can. Yes, it is obviously easier to be vegan if you have more money, because you can spend it on vegan alternatives (vegan cheeses and meats) that will make your transition to veganism easier (although not as healthy). The more expensive your alternative is, the most likely it is to be very similar from what you used to eat before. However, veganism doesn’t necessarily have to be more expensive. The basis for a plant-based diet are beans, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, all of which are pretty cheap when found in their natural state (unprocessed). Cheaper than meat, I should add. Meat has historically been a food for rich people, with common folks only having access to it sporadically. Nowadays, the vegan lifestyle is also being embraced by the lower social classes, with two brothers from a Brazilian favela who decided to embrace a vegan lifestyle making headlines and attracting hundreds of thousands of people to their Instagram account (@veganoperiferico) and later to a documentary they decided to produce.171 In fact, African Americans are almost 3 times more likely to be vegan and vegetarian than other Americans, with a Pew Research survey findings revealing that 8% of African Americans identify as vegans, compared to just 3% of the general population.172 Healthy whole food plant based diets can be cheaper than omnivorous diets, so it’s not true that a vegan diet is only accessible to rich and privileged people (and saying so discredits and ignores lower-income or minority vegans).173,174,175 “Veganism is too radical. We need balance in our lives.” Veganism is a movement for justice, against violence and unnecessary suffering. Does that sound very extreme? For a moment, try to put yourself in the victims' position. A baby cow who is being separated from her mother so we can take her milk or baby male chicks being macerated alive because they will never lay eggs. All that suffering is needless. Is it extreme not to contribute to it? When people shoot or kick cats to death on the street, they are viewed as villains, while if people save a dog from a car crash, they will be thought of as heroes. However, if someone pays for hundreds of animals to be tortured and killed every year, unnecessarily, they are just “normal people.” And, if someone does their best not to pay for the torture and killing, they become extremists. What is the logic in that? Pro-justice activists have been systematically viewed as radicals. For example, after peacefully protesting against racism, Martin Luther King, Jr., was arrested in the city of Birmingham, Alabama. While he was in prison, eight clergymen issued a public statement criticizing the civil rights movement and accusing MLK of being, among other things, an extremist. In his response, now famously known as the "Letter from Birmingham Jail", written on the margins of a newspaper (the only paper available) and published by his lawyers, MLK writes: "[T]hough I was initially disappointed at being categorized as an extremist, as I continued to think about the matter I gradually gained a measure of satisfaction from the label. Was not Jesus an extremist for love: 'Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you'? [...] So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice?"176 “But what about vegetarianism? That’s certainly enough!” Let’s look at a simple metaphor: if someone is constantly abusing 100 dogs, and suddenly they decide to decrease that number by half, abusing only 50, is there still a problem? Most people would say yes: the person is still abusing 50 dogs. Is telling them to stop abusing dogs at all too extreme? By eating animal products you are funding unnecessary animal abuse. (Check the Animal Rights section on Egg-laying hens and Dairy cows.) Reducing your animal products consumption by half is for sure better than doing nothing, but it shouldn’t be the ultimate goal, since half the animals are still getting abused and killed. In order words, vegetarianism is still contributing to animal abuse. Like any other injustice that we currently face (sexism, racism, religious intolerance, etc), we are not trying to reduce the abuse. We are trying to end it. “You can’t be 100% vegan!” Veganism is about doing whatever you can to end unnecessary animal suffering. Doing whatever you can. If there is nothing you can do, then there is nothing you can do. Some vaccines and other animal tested medicines are still used by vegans, not because they are hypocrites, but because they have no other option. They have to take the vaccines and the medicines in order to stay safe. Some complain that vegans also walk around in the streets killing ants beneath their feet, but the only other option would be not walking at all. Remember that it is impossible to cause zero harm, and the great majority of vegans agree with that statement. They are just trying to reduce that harm as far as practicable and possible (read the definition of veganism at the beginning of this ebook). Summarizing, does the fact that you can’t do something perfectly, or at 100%, mean that you shouldn’t try your best? “It’s a personal choice!” It is a personal choice. Of course it is. But why would that change or justify anything? Drinking water in a cup instead of in a bottle, wearing a shirt instead of a dress, writing in pen, engaging in sexual intercourse with a horse, raping a young girl… Pretty much everything you do is a personal choice, but you can’t morally justify your actions just by saying you chose to take them. “It won’t make any difference if I go vegan anyway.” Since I went vegan, I have influenced many other people to go vegan, vegetarian, or to reduce their animal product consumption. Many others are now at least aware of the animal suffering that occurs in the meat, dairy, and egg industries. If everyone thinks they can’t make a difference, then no one will make any difference at all, and the problem will remain indefinitely. This applies not only to veganism but to every other social justice or environmental movement. We live in a supply and demand system. The industries only have power and money if consumers financially support them. If people stop funding animal cruelty, the companies will eventually collapse. We literally have the power in our hands. We vote with our money. Plus, we do have proof that going vegan has a significant positive impact in the world. In terms of environmental activism, it is actually the single best thing you can do to protect the environment (read our section on Environment for specific information on how much CO2 equivalent, grain, land, and water you can save!). Veganism is also getting increasingly popular as the years pass by, which demonstrates the increasing impact vegans have around the world. In the US, people who identify as vegans increased an astonishing 600% in just 3 years!177 Veganism-related campaigns such as Veganuary (a challenge to go plant-based for the month of January) have also been hitting records year after year, with the number of signatures less than a week into January 2021 more than halving the collective signatures of every year since the campaign launch in 2014.178 However, even if you going vegan had no impact whatsoever on the world at large, that would still not morally justify the act of you demanding animal abuse to be committed, in the same way that you could not morally justify the unnecessary abuse of the 100 dogs in the previous example (see “But what about vegetarianism? That’s certainly enough!”), even if your choice had no impact on the world at large. The morality of an action does not depend on its global impact. “Where would you get your protein?” This is a very common question asked to vegans and vegetarians, but the answer is pretty obvious: from plants. There are plenty of vegan sources for protein such as beans, lentils, seeds, peanut butter, nuts, oats, tofu, peas, spinach, and much more. It is actually incredibly easy to get the daily recommended amount of protein from plants, as long as you are eating the right amount of calories. Let’s take white rice, for example, a low-protein food. If a sedentary woman eats only rice in one day, and therefore gets her daily recommended 2,000 calories a day exclusively from the white rice, she is already consuming 42g of protein,179 which meets the daily recommended protein intake. Let’s look at one of the largest studies of vegan nutrient profiles ever conducted, which shows that the average daily intake of protein by a vegan (without supplements) meets and exceeds the daily recommended value of 40-60g a day, getting almost the same amount of protein as non-vegans.180 (Quick note: most Americans get twice as much protein as they need.181) “Free-range exists, you know?” Even at free-range farms, animals go through most of the cruel standard practices other animals in the animal agriculture industry go through. The USDA’s definition for “free-range” chicken, for example, is “poultry has been allowed access to the outside.”182 This means that you can legally say a chicken is “free-range” in the US if you only let them out a few minutes a day, to a place where they can see the sky. (Check the myth vs. reality picture from One Green Planet below.) For egg-laying hens or any other livestock, the USDA didn’t even define the term “free-range.” In the UK, there is no legal definition for free-range pigs, which also means retailers can legally label their products as free-range without having to meet any standards.183 But even if the “free-range” conditions were actually good, the animals would still have to be slaughtered at the end of a ridiculously short life, a mere fraction of their natural lifespan, in order for it to be economically viable to the business. There is no right way to do the wrong thing. Besides, it is impossible to feed the current population with ‘free-range’ anything - there is simply not enough space on planet Earth. “It tastes so good!” The fact that animal products taste good, or sensory pleasure, can not by itself morally justify unnecessarily inflicting pain and death on an animal. If we could justify violent actions with the sensory pleasure of the perpetrator, then we could justify crimes such as stealing, rape, or murder. (Notice that the variable being compared in this moral exercise is not nor does it depend on the victim's species. If the victim was an animal - say, a dog being sexually abused - most of us would still not morally justify the abuse by utilizing the sensory pleasure of the human perpetrator.) Therefore, there would still be a moral imperative to be vegan, even if vegan food tasted horrible. However, it simply doesn't. Your taste buds will gradually adapt to different and delicious flavors, and you will learn how to enjoy healthy plant-based foods. Plus, plant-based and ethical alternatives for pretty much every animal product out there are popping up in the market and becoming more accessible to the general public with every day that passes. And don't forget that many of the foods you already eat are vegan, ranging from fruits to chips or sodas! The exceptions to the rule As with everything, special circumstances exist. Some people can morally justify not being vegan, but only because of necessity. They have no other choice but to consume animal products. This mainly happens for two reasons: lack of access to beans, fruits, vegetables and legumes, or health conditions that greatly limit the intake of plant-based foods. The lack of access to plant-based foods can be due to limited food options in the area where you live or someone (maybe your parents) forcing you to eat animal products. However, the first situation is rare, at least in the western world, and it is too often used as an excuse by people who don’t fit the description and use other people’s misery to justify their own actions. And the second situation is temporary: the child will eventually grow up and hopefully be able to buy and cook their own food.
Photo from National Geographic
Photo from One Green Planet
Photo from CNN
Photo from Sammantha Margaret
my experience
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” - Edmund Burke
The goal of this book is to inspire others to switch to a more compassionate way of living that respects all earthlings and the world they share. Although this section is not necessary in any way for your understanding of veganism, maybe it can provide you with some useful first-hand insights and tips. Please note that everyone has a different experience and that the choices and paths I chose might not be the best ones for you. Still, I hope that reading a little about my perspective can help you develop your own.
I decided to go vegan after reading a book by the Brazilian animal rights activist Luisa Mell and watching the 12-minute video Meet Your Meat on Youtube. When I realized the magnitude of the issue, I grasped that there was no way I could continue living with my conscience if I didn’t immediately stop contributing to all the animal abuse I had seen. I had the pleasure to announce that I'd been wrong, all those years, when I talked about vegetarianism or veganism and told everyone that I loved meat and cheese too much. And I guarantee you that I never missed meat again (although many vegans do), since I began looking at it differently: it went from delicious food to the rotting corpse of a tortured dead animal (not the most appetizing thought, I know). I admit that I missed some desserts and cookies at the beginning, but nothing I couldn't handle by thinking about the suffering they had caused. And now I get to enjoy my own delicious vegan sweets! Since I went vegan, my perspective on a variety of issues shifted. I learned how to value ethics, people and happiness over mundane and materialistic ideals like expensive clothing or physical appearance. Whenever I feel tempted to buy something that is not adding anything meaningful to anyone’s life, I think of the animals’ suffering and wonder if that money can’t be used more efficiently and benevolently. (That doesn’t mean I don’t buy anything, but that I try to limit myself to things that have a meaningful purpose, like books that will deepen my knowledge or objects that I need to live a practical life.) I also learned how easily one can be manipulated. I learned how to discuss issues respectfully with those who disagree with me. I learned that people are not good or bad, heroes or villains, but complex beings who can have both a positive and a negative impact on the world. I learned that what really matters is that you do your best and not that you are the best. I learned the importance of being an example. I learned the meaning of being the change you want to see in the world. In essence, I learned a lot about how to connect myself to the world around me, and went from someone who loved nature to someone who felt a part of it. I am lucky enough to have a family that heard what I had to say and patiently watched some documentaries I told them to watch. They not only respected my choice but helped the cause and went vegetarian (yes, I'm still hoping they will go vegan soon). I know it isn't like that for everyone, though. If you want to go vegan but you still live with your parents, have patience. Talk to them, show them what you have to show, and if after you've tried everything they still won't let you, don't let your will fade away. That's really important. Wait until you live by yourself and buy your own food, and then go vegan. (Tip: follow vegan accounts on social media; that can be a great motivator.) The transition can be very different for different people. I am someone who likes to commit to goals, and for me it was kind of a day-to-night change. But if you are someone who needs a little more time, that is okay too. The only thing we can ask ourselves is for the best we can do, nothing more than that. Start with a few days a week, or substitute one product at a time. It's okay to start over again as many times as you need, as long as you are trying your best. To help you through the process, it's important that you do some research not only on the nutrients I've mentioned above, but also on other aspects of veganism, so that when people like family and friends ask you questions about it you can answer them correctly. If you want to keep yourself motivated, I suggest you watch some documentaries or read a few articles or books. I listed a few resources that might help you at the end of this book. If for some reason you can't or don't want to go fully vegan, you can always cut your consumption of animal products, stop using leather, or choose cruelty-free cosmetics. You are still helping, and doing something is always better than doing nothing. And if you do want to go vegan, remember: veganism is a non-action. This means you are not actually helping the animals, you are just not paying someone to harm them. The next step is to speak out for them, and, in essence, do some activism. For me, the hardest part of being vegan isn't to find tasty food or to eat out. It's tolerating humanity's cruelty. It's feeling the pain of all those innocent animals and knowing the environmental destruction that the meat on my friend's plate is causing. After you've made the so-called connection, you start looking at the world and our relationship with Earth and its creatures in a whole other way. Aligning my actions with my values provided me with one of the most fulfilling, satisfying, exuberant feelings I have ever felt. After all, like Mahatma Gandhi once said, “Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” At the end, you’ll always have to make the decision: do you choose to keep living as you always have, knowing the truth hidden behind what you pay for every single day, or are you willing to change your habits, aligning them with your inner values of compassion and justice?
veganism resources
“If not me, who? If not now, when?” - Emma Watson
My instagram accounts: @vegan_activism (in English, main account) @ativista.vegana (in Portuguese, complementary account) Documentaries: Earthlings (2005, animal right) Dominion (2018, animal rights) Land of Hope and Glory (2017, UK’s version of Earthlings) Cowspiracy (2014, environment) - available on Netflix What the Health (2017, health) - available on Netflix The Game Changers (2018, health with focus on athletes) - available on Netflix Eating You Alive (2016, health) H.O.P.E. What You Eat Matters (2018, everything) Vegucated (2011, vegan daily life) Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home (2009, farmers) Short Youtube videos: Meet Your Meat (11 min) Paul McCartney’s Glass Walls (12 min) Erin Janus’ “DAIRY IS SCARY! The industry explained in 5 minutes” (5 min) Erin Janus’ “What’s Wrong With Eggs? The Truth About The Egg Industry” (21 min) Motivational and life-changing speeches: Alex O’Connor’s “It’s Time To Go Vegan” (28 min) James Aspey’s “This Speech Is your WAKE UP CALL!” (42 min) Ed Winters’ “You Will Never Look at Your Life in the Same Way Again” (32 min) Dr. Michael Greger’s “Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death” (55 min) James Wildman’s “101 Reasons to Go Vegan” (68 min) Gary Yourofsky’s “Best Speech You Will Ever Hear” (70 min) Books: Animal Liberation, by Peter Singer Why Vegan, by Peter Singer Eating Animals, by Jonathan Safran Foer We Are the Weather: Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast, by Jonathan Safran Foer How Not to Die, by Dr. Michael Greger The China Study, The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted, by T. Colin Campbell, PhD, and Thomas M. Campbell II, MD Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease, by Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn 30 Non Vegan Excuses and How to Respond to Them, by Ed Winters (free ebook) Useful websites (animal rights organizations, nutritional resources, plant-based movements, etc.): Surge People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) Mercy for Animals Million Dollar Vegan Vegan Outreach NutritionFacts.org Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine Veganuary Challenge 22 Plant Based News Inspiring activists (look for their Youtube channels and social media accounts): EarthlingEd (Ed Winters) Cosmic Skeptic (Alex O'Connor) James Aspey Joey Carbstrong Tabitha Brown Cassie King Cooking resources: ForksOverKnives.com (free) StraightUpFood.com (free) Plant Based on a Budget, by Toni Okamoto (recipes of under $30 a week and less than 30 minutes per meal) Fast Easy Cheap Vegan, by Sam Turnbull (recipes with 10 ingredients or less, for $10 or less, and 30 minutes per meal or less) How Not to Die Cookbook, by Dr. Michael Greger Vegan starter kits/vegan beginner assistance programs (for free) Veganuary Challenge 22 Million Dollar Vegan 21-Day Vegan Kickstart (by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine) Apps HappyCow (find vegan restaurants wherever you go!) abillionveg (post short reviews of your food/cosmetics and raise $1 to animal rights organizations or animal sanctuaries of your choice!) Daily Dozen (for optimal health) My contact (don't hesitate to write!) officialveganactivism@gmail.com
ENDNOTES 1.https://www.vegansociety.com/go-vegan/definition-veganism 2.https://www.ciwf.org.uk/farm-animals/chickens/meat-chickens/ 3.https://animallawconference.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/FINAL-AS-PUBLISHED_stamped.pdf 4.https://www.aussiefarms.org.au/kb/48-age-animals-slaughtered 5.http://www.fao.org/3/al175e/al175e.pdf 6.https://www.ciwf.org.uk/media/5235306/The-life-of-Broiler-chickens.pdf 7.http://www.nationearth.com/ 8.https://www.dominionmovement.com/facts 9.https://animalequality.org/issues/eggs/ 10.https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0032579119417999 11.https://animalequality.org/issues/eggs/ 12.https://animallawconference.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/FINAL-AS-PUBLISHED_stamped.pdf 13.https://www.aussiefarms.org.au/kb/48-age-animals-slaughtered 14.https://www.animalsaustralia.org/issues/cattle-painful-procedures.php 15.https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1325&context=rangebeefcowsymp 16.http://www.nationearth.com/ 17.https://www.dominionmovement.com/facts 18.https://digitalcommons.pace.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1139&=&context=honorscollege_theses&=&sei-redir=1&referer=https%253A% 252F%252Fscholar.google.com.br%252Fscholar%253Fhl%253Dpt-BR%2526as_sdt%253D0%25252C5%2526q%253D%252BKrista%252BMcLen nan%252B%252B%252522best%252Bfriends%252522%2526btnG%253D#search=%22Krista%20McLennan%20best%20friends%22 19.https://www.aussiefarms.org.au/kb/48-age-animals-slaughtered 20.https://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/nahms/dairy/downloads/dairy07/Dairy07_is_Colostrum.pdf 21.https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320368960_Incidence_of_Clinical_Mastitis_and_its_Influence_on_Reproductive_Performance_ of_Dairy_Cows 22.https://www.aussiefarms.org.au/kb/48-age-animals-slaughtered 23.https://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-food/factory-farming/cows/dairy-industry/ 24.https://www.aussiefarms.org.au/kb/48-age-animals-slaughtered 25.https://www.peta.org/features/dog-pig/ 26.https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/fish-feel-pain-180967764/ 27.https://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-food/factory-farming/fish/hidden-lives-fish/ 28.https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/food/wp/2018/05/24/scientists-say-fish-feel-pain-it-could-lead-to-major-changes-in-the-fishing-indu stry/ 29.https://www.google.com.br/books/edition/Eating_Animals/BQ1ARgAACAAJ?hl=en 30.https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0308597X09000050 31.https://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/bycatch 32.https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/may/31/avoiding-meat-and-dairy-is-single-biggest-way-to-reduce-your-impact-on-earth 33.https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10584-014-1169-1 34.http://www.fao.org/3/a0701e/a0701e00.htm 35.https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/6704/c7a0777c82357704d82b9ae8007c1197cb07.pdf?_ga=2.152040057.1978722948.1576615206-4399980 02.1576615206 36.https://unece.org/challenge 37.https://www.cowspiracy.com/facts 38.https://cgspace.cgiar.org/bitstream/handle/10568/10601/IssueBrief3.pdf 39.https://books.google.com.br/books/about/Food_Choice_and_Sustainability.html?id=nZYRAgAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y 40.http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/758171468768828889/pdf/277150PAPER0wbwp0no1022.pdf 41.https://www.paulsmiths.edu/theapollos/environmental-impact-of-animal-agriculture/ 42.https://books.google.com.br/books/about/Food_Choice_and_Sustainability.html?id=nZYRAgAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y 43.http://www.rain-tree.com/facts.htm 44.https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2018/jun/27/one-football-pitch-of-forest-lost-every-second-in-2017-data-reveals 45.https://www.movinganimals.org/ban-beef 46.https://books.google.com.br/books/about/Food_Choice_and_Sustainability.html?id=nZYRAgAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y 47.http://www.earthsave.org/pdf/ofof2006.pdf 48.http://www.savetheamazon.org/rainforeststats.htm 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