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|But you don't only eat carrots. You eat rice and
|cereal grains and all kinds of thing whose production
|and distribution causes the death of animals. You
|simply don't eat the animals that are killed. They are
|just as dead, irrespective of if you eat them.

The processes that result in carrots and rice and so forth for us to
consume is not, by its nature, dependant upon the death of animals. The
consumption of meat requires that animals are killed. If one's goal is to
minimize harm (not eliminate, as that would be impossible), then there is
validity to abstaining from eating meat.

Is it then valid to abstain from other non-animal foods on the same basis?
Perhaps so, but we do need sustenance to survive. This is why I will eat
in full knowledge that there are deaths associated with my food; this is
unavoidable. If the two of us are on a desert island and I need to kill
you for food, I will. For me, it's a matter of what's necessary and meat
isn't.

(bradbeattie)at(alumni.uwaterloo.ca)