Opinion about Veganism

Many people refer to veganism as not eating or using animal products. Although this covers the foundation of veganism, it is simply much more than that. One might say that veganism runs on one core value: betterment. Vegans show betterment to self, nature, society, and so much more! The other alternatives are all very cruel and harsh. Our environment is steadily deteriorating. We are not helping ourselves or mankind as a whole, in fact, we are endangering many lives. The way animals are treated is inhumane and frankly, unacceptable. Veganism is the best and most moral option, because you can help save humans, animals, and the environment.

The amount of ways veganism can save humanity are endless. According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and the American Dietetic Association, vegetarians have a reduced risk of, “heart disease, cancer, obesity, hypertension, diabetes, high blood pressure, colon cancer, adult-onset diabetes, osteoporosis, gout, gallstones, kidney stones, lung cancer, and breast cancer,” in comparison to meat-eaters. In addition to these diseases and more, animal products contain many harmful toxins including bacteria, arsenic, dioxins, and mercury. These contaminants can affect our health in the short-term and in the long-term. These are detrimental to our health, and in many cases they are proven to be fatal. Vegans can easily consume all of the nutrients that their bodies need to be healthy without everything in animal products that can slow you down and make you sick, such as cholesterol and saturated animal fat. Animals are often infected by feces, blood, and many other bodily fluids— these result in animal-derived foods being the top reason for food poisoning in the United States. Meat production being a leading cause of greenhouse gas emissions and other atmospheric pollution results in respiratory diseases like asthma, bronchitis, and COPD, as well as increased chances of acquiring pneumonia from bacterial infections. Researchers at the University of Minnesota’s Institute on the Environment discovered that 36 percent of calories in crops are used to livestock, a measly 12 percent of these calories become part of our human diet through meat. Looking at this study, we lost close to two-thirds of the calories that would have been available to us if we ate the grains directly from the beginning. About 13 pounds of grain are used to bring about one pound of meat, and this abundance of grain could help feed hundreds of millions of people all around the world. It was also concluded that growing crops directly for human consumption results in newly freed-up crops that would be enough to feed an extra 4 billion people, and to cover the food for the estimated 2 to 3 billion people by 2050.

Each individual vegan saves an average of 200 or more animals per year. These animals who feel emotions such as fear and pain just like the animals who share our homes do are placed in overcrowded stalls, cages, etc… where they are often unable to turn around. They are deprived of everything they need such as breathing fresh air, seeing the sun, veterinary care, exercise, the feel of grass beneath their feet, and much more. In some farms, these animals are fed 'renders,' dead and grounded up cows. The feedlots are crowded, filthy, and horrendously smelling places with stifling air.If not for the large amount of anti-infection agents they were fed, the creatures would not endure. These animals are often injected with stimulants and hormones to make them grow larger and quicker. Numerous dairy farmers utilize a development hormone: rBGH to boost their milk production, disregarding that this chemical which causes cancer and different sicknesses appears in the milk. Animal losses not related to slaughterhouses include the many species-rich habitats, such as large amounts of the Amazon region, which are being converted to agricultural land for meat production, resulting in countless animals losing their homes and dying. Each year in the United States only, over 3 million animals, including endangered species and domesticated cats and dogs, are barbarically killed by a federal agency called Wildlife Services in an effort to get rid of wildlife that could possibly attack the livestock. These living, breathing, thinking, feeling beings, whose senses are much like our own, suffer and die at the rate of millions per day just so we can have burgers, patties, nuggets, and so much more. Choosing what we will eat means picking between the repulsions of factory farming and respect for animals.  

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