Why you should turn vegetarian (courtesy of
http://members.iinet.net.au/~rabbit/peacea.htm)

This is a summary of the 3 main reasons why you should turn vegetarian
or vegan...

*Health

Meat/Dairy centered diets are linked to many types of cancer, as
well as heart ailments, diabetes, obesity, gallbladder disease,
hypertension, and more deadly diseases and disorders.

The National Cancer Research Institute found that women who eat meat on a
daily basis are almost 4 times more likely to get breast cancer than those
women who eat little or no meat.

Meat contains approximately 14 times more pesticides than plant foods;
dairy products contain 5-1/2 times more pesticides than plant foods.
Million pounds of antibiotics are used in animal production every
year.These drugs end up in your milk and meat.

95-99 percent of toxic chemical residues in the American diet come from
animal sources.

By reducing your consumption of meat, dairy products, and eggs by 50%, you
reduce your risk of a heart attack by 45%.By following a pure vegetarian
diet (no animal products at all) you reduce your risk by 90%.

Meat and dairy products raise the acid level in human blood, causing
calcium to be excreted from the bones to restore the body's natural pH
balance. This calcium depletion results in osteoporosis. Contrary to the
common belief that dairy products are necessary to prevent osteoporosis,
dairy consumption actually increases the likeliness of this crippling
disease.

About 30% of all pork products are contaminated with toxoplasmosis, a
disease which is caused by parasites. It can be passed on to consumers.

The vegetarian diet is more likely to meet the government recommendations
for fat, carbohydrate, and protein than a nonvegetarian diet. The
government as well as many other organizations tell us to reduce our fat
intake (especially saturated fat) and also to eat more grains, fruits, and
vegetables. This is easy for a vegetarian!

On a meatless diet, you are less likely to get a bacterial infection such
as E. coli, Camphylobacter, and Salmonella.


*Animal Welfare

About 7 billion farm animals die or are slaughtered each year in the
U.S. for the production of flesh food.

There are virtually no laws against cruelty to animals raised for food in
the U.S. The Animal Welfare Act, which governs the humane treatment of
animals, excludes animals intended for food consumption.

Up to five hens are crowded into a cage with floor space hardly larger than
a half-sheet of newspaper, for their entire life-time.

Many factory-farmed animals never see a blade of grass in their lifetime.
In the egg industry, male chicks are considered useless so are often thrown
into a grinding machine - ALIVE!

Animals raised for food production are nearly always deprived of natural
sexual, social, hygienic, and parental behaviors.

Reason for veal's light color and tender textu Veal calves are force-fed
an iron-deficient, anemia-producing diet devoid of solid foods.

Bulls raised for meat-production are routinely castrated without any type
of anesthesia or pain-killers.

The slaughtering process is inhumane. When the animals are stunned before
they are slaughtered, it is not always reliable and the animals are in pain
as they move towards their death.


*Environmental/World Problems

Livestock production is a major cause of desertification (where the
land dries out and loses its precious topsoil so vegetation is unable to
grow on it anymore) as well as deforestation (loss of trees).

Two hundred years ago American cropland had topsoil that averaged 21 inches
in depth. Today, only about 6 inches remain. Every year in the U.S. an area
the size of Connecticut is lost to topsoil erosion - 85% of erosion is
associated with livestock production.

Spinach grown on an acre of land can yield 26 times more protein than beef
produced on the same acre.

Number of pure vegetarians who can be fed on the amount of land needed to
feed one person consuming a meat-based diet: 20

60 million people will starve to death this year - 60 million people could
be adequately fed by the grain saved if Americans reduced their intake of
meat by 10 percent.

Some beef comes from cattle raised on land that was formerly rainforest.
This land is not good for grazing and it lasts only for a few years, after
which more rainforest must be destroyed to raise the cattle on.

For each quarter-pound fast food hamburger sold that came from cattle
raised on former rainforest land, 55 square feet of rainforest was
destroyed.


--
"Many very intelligent men have, at different times in their lives,
abstained wholly from flesh, and this, too, with very considerable
advantage to their health. All these facts, taken collectively, point to a
period in the progress of civilization when men will cease to slay their
fellow-mortals in the animal world for food." -- T Forster

"Ord'nary Joe" wrote in message
...
Why you should turn vegetarian (courtesy of
http://members.iinet.net.au/~rabbit/peacea.htm)

This is a summary of the 3 main reasons why you should turn vegetarian
or vegan...

*Health

3 Main reasons not to become a vegetarian or vegan...

Pork Ribs (al 3 kinds)
Tri-Tip
Steak

Well 4 reasons add pulled pork!

Dimitri