Vegitarianism a hidden persp
Vegitarianism - a hidden perspVegetarianism- A Hidden Perspective
Americans eat more meat per person in the world, and the world is suffering because of this. The truth is that many global problems, like hunger, or rainforest destruction can easily be solved if Americans cut down their meat consumption.
If you eat meat, you have something in common with most of the cows you have eaten. They've eaten meat too. The meat industry has developed ways to boost its productivity and lower it's costs. This process is a form of recycling.
When a cow is slaughtered, about half of it by weight is not eaten by humans. These parts including the head, hooves, horns, bones, and blood are dumped into giant grinders at rendering plants, along with the entire bodies of cows and other farm animals known to be diseased. Rendering is a 2.4 billion-a-year industry, which processes forty billion pounds of dead animals a year.
There is no such thing as a dead animal too diseased, too cancerous, or too putrid to be welcomed by the rendering plant. Another staple of the renderer's diet, in addition to farm animals, is euthanized pets- the six or seven million dogs and cats that are killed in animal shelters every year. The city of Los Angeles alone sends some two hundred tons of euthanized cats and dogs to a rendering plant every month. Added to the blend are the euthanized catch of animal control agencies, and believe it or not, roadkill! When this gruesome mix is ground and steam-cooked, the lighter, fatty stuff floating to the top gets refined for use in cosmetics, candles, soaps, lubricants, and waxes. The heavier protein material is ground into a brown powder (about a quarter of it is fecal material). This powder is then mixed with artificial hormones, antibiotics, and large portions of grains. This is then fed to livestock. Farmers call it "protein concentrates."
The hormones and antibiotics that livestock eat are getting into the people that eat them. These hormones have only been around for a few years, so the effect on the human population is not yet known. No major studies are being done in this area anyway, so this ignorance could be killing people already, in the form of cancer or other illnesses.
For some reason, Meat eaters have five times the risk of cancer compared to Vegetarians. American meat eaters have the highest risk of cancer infection in the world. Countries that eat a less meat-centered diet have a much lower cancer risk than the U.S.
Animals that are raised for slaughter are kept in extremely unhealthy surroundings. Pigs, for example, are kept in pens so small that they are not able to even turn around. They are gorged on "protein concentrates" and huge amounts of grains so they are big and fat. The aim of this is to get...
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