Xaymountry 1

Anne Xaymountry

Professor Rosenfeld

English 113B

10 April 2017

Should We Eat Meat?

Most people do not have a problem touching or eating processed meat from the grocery

store, but do not have the guts to butcher a dead animal with their own bare hands for meat. The

majority of people would rather not know where the meat they are eating came from or what

happened to the animals in order to get the meat. They do not want to feel guilty knowing that

thousands of animals are being slaughtered daily for people to consume. If everyone knew,

would it change the perspective of how others would feel about whether the consumption of

meat is necessary? In the article, Hunters: the original locavores: hunters know it, but now the

rest of society is starting to understand that eating meat from wild animals is a healthy; safe, and

environmentally friendly choice, Shane Mahoney discusses how the abundance of meat within

our species lineage led to many changes in our biology such as the development of the human

brain and maintenance. It has been proven that nearly three million years ago, our primate

ancestors began to use sharp stones as tools to cut meat in order to make it easier to transport and

digest. Meat entered the diet of our ancestors as scavenged food, stolen from other animals or

possessed in the aftermath of natural disasters. Overtime, there was a crucial shift in human

evolution and in our relationship with wild animals; therefore, making meat our primary food.

Although human evolution has been associated to meat in many fundamental ways, people

should not consume meat because it promotes unbearable suffering and diseases among animals

while raising the risk of chronic diseases and mortality for many people. Furthermore, raising
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animals for food causes significant environmental implications by the overuse of natural

resources and pollution generated by factory farms.

Some people may argue that consuming meat is a natural part of the cycle of life;

however, raising and killing animals in confinement for food is cruel and unethical. Daniel Payne

states, The logic being, of course, that no meat can be humane, if only because eating meat

involves killing animals, and killing animals is allegedly wrong (703). When we kill an animal,

we are also hurting the animal. We are depriving the animal of future life for our own best

interest. For example, if humans did not kill cows for food, it could go on living and have a good

life where they can be free to roam around. The image to left illustrates how it is morally wrong

to kill animals for meat because they are forced to die for human use; therefore, there are no such

thing as humane meat. Animals are living beings that have emotions and social connections.

They can also experience stress, pain, and fear such as humans. An animal is not a piece of

property for humans to use or take, but is an individual creature that should be able to live a life

that belongs to him or her alone. However, humans cause animals a lot of emotional pain and

suffering because their babies are taken away from them at birth while keeping them locked up

in confinement. It is bad enough that we deprived animals of life, but we also jam thousands of

animals into filthy, windowless sheds, stuff them into wire cages, metal crates, and other torture

devices in factory farms before taking away their lives. Animals living in factory farms are

experiencing constant fear and torment because they have no room to move or lay around, are

genetically manipulated to grow bigger, and injected with antibiotics to grow faster. People

ignore that raising and killing animals for meat is not necessary for human health and that

there are a lot of other alternatives available, such as veganism (Taylor 708). Humans do not

need to kill animals to survive, they are able to completely survive on a plant based diet. In fact,
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a vegetarian diet can meet protein requirements, provide all the essential amino-acids, vitamins,

fats, minerals, and improve health. Therefore, meat that came from raising and killing animals is

not an essential part of a healthy diet.

Even though meat can provide health benefits and deliver complete nutrition, high

consumption of meat can harm ones

health. High consumption of meat

has been associated with the risk of

obesity and chronic diseases such as

type II diabetes. Mikael Fogelholm

states, Although proteins are the

most satiating of all macronutrients,

high consumption of meat has often

been associated with higher weight

gain in population studies (1016). Meat has high levels of saturated fat that can make people

gain weight if high amount of meats are consumed on a daily bases. In fact, animal products

contain much more fat than plant-based foods. Not only are meat products loaded with saturated

fat, but they also contain high level of sodium and preservatives that can cause water retention,

bloating, and high blood pressure. People who consume an excessive amount of meat will also

tend to make poor eating habits; Moreover, meat consumption was positively associated with

the consumption of several single foods or food groups that typically are considered unhealthy

(Fogelholm 1063). Most people lean towards vegetables, fish, eggs, potatoes, oil, beverages and

alcohol instead of fruits, nuts, and whole-grains when associated with meat. At steakhouses,

people will mostly likely be served a steak with a side of baked potatoes and an alcoholic
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beverage instead of nuts and berries. To sum it up, if people continue to consume a lot of meat,

they can be in the risk of excessive weight gain due to the high intake of saturated fat and low-

quality diet which may lead to obesity. Therefore, people who are obese are more likely to have

heart diseases, strokes, diabetes, and cancer; Besides being an ecological concern, increased

meat consumption may also predict an increased risk for chronic diseases and mortality

(Fogelholm 1060). It has been scientifically proven that there is a positive association between

high consumption of meat and colorectal and pancreatic cancer. The total fat and saturated fat

found in red meat and processed meat all heighten colon cancer risk. In addition, people who eat

a lot of meat and less fiber, fruits, and nuts are also in the risk of getting pancreatic cancer

because the ability of saturated fat to increase insulin-like growth factor is a known risk factor

for pancreatic cancer mortality.

One may argue that meat production is sustainable; however, raising animals for food

wastes our Earths natural resources. In order to raise animals for food, it requires a huge amount

of land, food, energy, and water. PETA states, It takes more than 2,400 gallons of water to

produce just 1 pound of meat, but it takes just 25 gallons to grow 1 pound of wheat. Nearly half

of the water is used to raise animals to suffer and the other half is split among everyone else on

the planet. Growing fruits and vegetables would conserve so much water than using water to

raise animals for food. One way to reduce the demand for water is to reduce the amount of meat

we eat because we discover that the heaviest water use is by animals we raise for meat. If we

stop wasting water to raise animals, the world would not be in a global water shortage anytime

soon. PETA states, According to the United Nations, raising animals for food (including land

used for grazing and land used to grow feed crops) now uses a staggering 30 percent of the

Earth's land mass. Mostly, forest has been cleared to create space to grow grains to feed farmed
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animals. It takes up to 10 pounds of grain to produce just one pound of meat. In the United

States, 56 million acres of land are used to grow grains for raised animals while only 4 million

acres of land is used to grow plants for humans to consume. The increasing global demand for

meat has led to more deforestation for grazing pastures. If we keep on cutting down forest trees

in order to raise animals, there will eventually be nothing left to deforest.

Some may argue that meat production is not an important contributor to global warming;

however, meat production causes significant environmental implications by creating a lot of air

and water pollution. Niman states, The studies show only that the prevailing methods of

producing meat-that is, crowding animals together in factory farms, storing their waste in giant

lagoons, and cutting down forest to grow crops to feed them-cause substantial greenhouse gases

(700). Animals raised in the U.S. produces many more feces than the entire human population of

the country. In fact, animals raised for food on the U.S. factory farms produce about 500 million

tons of manure each year. There are thousands of factory farms animals which means that there

are a lot of animal excrements that need to be disposed somewhere. Since there is no animal

sewage to dispose the feces, the waste is stored either in waste lagoons or sprayed out all over

the fields. Runoff from factory farms and livestock grazing is one of the leading causes of

pollution in lakes and rivers. Runoff from factory farms can carry bacteria and viruses which can

contaminate groundwater. Methane, the second-largest greenhouse gas, emitted from lagoons is

a factor in climate change; The E.P.A. found that with the rapid rise of factory farms, liquefied

manure system became the norm and methane emissions skyrocketed (700). Factory farms

sometimes tries to dart water pollution limits by spraying liquid manure into the air, creating

mists which gets carried away by the wind. However, people who lives nearby have no choice
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but to inhale the toxins and pathogen carried in the air. Lagoons that holds animal's feces release

toxic airborne chemicals that not only harms our environment, but can endanger peoples lives.

People should stop eating meat because it promotes suffering and illness among animals

while putting people at risk of chronic diseases and mortality. Additionally, raising animals for

food causes serious environmental implications by wasting our natural resources and emitting

pollution generated from factory farms. It is cruel and unethical to raise and kill animals for food

because we deprive them from a life of happiness. High consumption of meat can lead to obesity

and chronic diseases. It requires huge amount of natural resources such as water and land to raise

animals for meat. Lastly, raising animals for meat releases air and water pollution. It is difficult

to give up something you have been eating your entire life such as meat, but if you take one step

at a time from being a meat lover to vegetarian or vegan, you will see that it is possible.

Work Cited
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Fogelhom, Mikael. Association between red and processed meat consumption

and chronic diseases: the confounding role of other dietary factors. General OneFile,

Accessed 1 Mar. 2017.

Mahoney, Shane. "Hunters: the original locavores: hunters know it, but now the rest of society

is starting to understand that eating meat from wild animals is a healthy; safe,

and environmentally friendly choice." Sports Afield, Nov.-Dec. 2016, p. 70+

General OneFile, libproxy.csun.edu/login?url=http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?

p=ITOF&sw=w&u=csunorthridge&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA470559302&it=r. Accessed 1 Mar.

2017.

Niman, Nicolette H. The Carnivores Dilemma. Practical Argument. Ed.

Laurie G. Kirszner. Stephan R. Mandell. 3rd ed. 699-703. Print.

Payne, Daniel. Why You Should Eat Humane Meat. Practical Argument. Ed.

Laurie G. Kirszner. Stephan R. Mandell. 3r ed. 703-707. Print.

Taylor, Sunaura. Humane Meat? No Such Thing. Practical Argument. Ed.

Laurie G. Kirszner. Stephan R. Mandell. 3rd ed. 707-710. Print.