Originally Posted by veganheart

"Most tanning processes are all natural components...remember they have been tanning leather before your greatgrandfather was a twinkle in his daddys eyes!"


The way they tan leather today is drastically different than 50 years ago. Yes, it was much more natural then, but now they use all kinds of harsh chemicals. Same thing with factory farming; 50 years ago cows used to live a somewhat decent life… until slaughter that is. Now they are housed in huge buildings the size of airplane hangers. The green pastures and idyllic barnyard scenes of years past, which are still portrayed in children’s books, have been replaced by windowless metal sheds, wire cages, gestation crates, and other confinement systems—what is now known as “factory farming.”


Farmed animals have no legal protection from horrific abuses that would be illegal if they were inflicted on dogs or cats: neglect, mutilations, genetic manipulation, and drug regimens that cause chronic pain and crippling, transport through all weather extremes, and inhumane slaughter. Yet farmed animals are no less interesting, intelligent, or capable of feeling pain than are the dogs or cats whom we cherish as companions.


The factory farming system of modern agriculture strives to produce the most meat, milk, and eggs as quickly and cheaply as possible, and in the smallest amount of space possible. Cows, calves, pigs, chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese, rabbits, and other animals are kept in small cages or stalls, often unable to turn around. They are deprived of exercise so that all their bodies’ energy goes toward producing flesh, eggs, or milk for human consumption. They are fed drugs to fatten them faster and are genetically altered to grow faster or to produce much more milk or eggs than they would naturally.


Because crowding creates a prime atmosphere for disease, animals on factory farms are fed and sprayed with huge amounts of pesticides and antibiotics, which remain in their bodies and are passed on to the people who eat them, creating serious human health hazards. Both the World Health Organization and the American Medical Association have supported ending the use of antibiotics.(1,2) Although McDonald’s has announced that it will phase out growth-promoting antibiotics, the fast-food chain is not likely to decrease overall antibiotic use.(3) The industry simply cannot raise the billions of animals per year that it does in such gruesome conditions without the drugs that allow their bodies to survive conditions that would otherwise kill them.


All those injustices you are describing really have nothing to do with the issue at hand. Moreover, to claim that advocates of animal-well being are terrorists is grossly inaccurate. With every movement you are sure to find some small portion who are wingnuts. However, the vast majority are like me who abhor violence of any kind. So to call us terrorists is quite misinformed.


I am pretty much an eco-freak so I do not own a car, lawnmower, or motorcycle. I don’t use gas in any way. I live in British Columbia and our energy comes from hydro-electric dams; although I still am very conscious about the energy I do use. Of course, I could live like a hermit in the woods and eat berries and bark, but I, like most people don’t think that’s a reasonable thing to ask of people.


Froze said,

“To claim that man’s use of animals is immoral is to claim that we have no right to our own lives and that we must sacrifice our welfare for the sake of creatures who cannot think or grasp the concept of morality. It is to elevate amoral animals to a moral level higher than ourselves-a flagrant contradiction.”


This argument simply does not make sense. There is simply no reason why humans cannot share the earth. Animals exist for their own reasons, not to serve humans. A 100 years ago it was thought that women and non-Caucasians were here to serve the white man, but now, of course, we know that is morally wrong. Humans do not need animals to survive. I have lived on a plant-based diet for over 8 years and I am very healthy. I know a whole family of vegans who have been vegan for over 25 years. Their son is 20 years old and has been vegan since the womb. He just finished an iron man triatholon last summer and is much healthier than most meat-eaters I know of. The American Dietic Association among many others has endorsed the vegetarian diet as one of the healthiest diets possible. So nutrition simply is not an issue.


Speaking of morality, if we are so superior why do we torture and eat those who are inferior to us? Shouldn’t we be their caretakers exactly because we are superior? Just like a parent is to a child? Based on your argument we might as well just round up all the mentally challenged people and eat them and use them for experiments. It’s the same logic.


Dude, we are never going to agree on this issue so I don’t see the validity in discussing it with you. However, as others are reading this, I feel obligated to offer up some counter-arguments to what I perceive as misinformation and propaganda.

peace and balance