Not Eating Meat Carries Several Health Benefits, Protests Mistreatment

I am incensed that (columnist) Joseph Rauch would claim that not eating meat is against human nature.

As if to say that I am less of a human for not eating meat.

He asks how we have the will to get out of bed.

It's very simple actually -- not having to worry about heart disease, high cholesterol and blood pressure, colon cancer and adult-onset diabetes, as healthy vegetarians are less prone to such diseases.

Or is it that a United Kingdom study found vegetarians have a lower mortality rate and lower death rates from cancer and heart disease?

What disturbs me other than your dehumanization of vegetarians is your claim that a cow serves only two purposes: 1) eating grass and 2) beef.

But how does one differentiate animals from pets?

Discarding Eurocentric preconceptions, a cow is a pet as much as a collie is.

Would you have just as easily slaughtered Lassie as you did Clarence?

Cows are often kept in holding pens so small that they cannot even turn around, and many are killed when milk production declines within five to six years.

The normal lifespan for a cow is 25 years.

Cows given growth hormone to boost milk production also discharge pus from their udders and produce more of a tumor-promoting chemical called IGF-I. Is this the milk you want to drink?

Vegetarians and vegans live healthy and strong, just ask some of the UNC cyclists and triathaletes.

We carry the woes of all creatures, and I stand for their cause. We are all animals, Joe, and it is how we treat each other that echoes our humanity.

Jayur Mehta
Junior
Anthropology