The Slaughter of Animals for the Consumption of Meat Ought to Cease

MORAL CONSISTENCYWhy do we value human life as much as we do? This is not a question we ask ourselves very often, because it just seems natural to value human life. If pressed however, we usually think about what a human life is. We think about the novelty of a person living a life besides our own, having their own thoughts, joys, loves, and trials. I could go on attempting to describe human life, but I think the point is made. We place a value on human life because of the high quality of existence that is human life; in other words, quality of life determines value of life. Take this concept over to animals. For the sake of argument, I would posit that animals experience life 1/1000th of the way we do in terms of complexity and intensity. I feel that this is a pretty low bar to set (I mean, can you imagine experiencing things on 1/1000th the level you are right now?), and I'm setting it here so my opponent and I can have a debate beyond trying to ballpark what the life of an animal is like compared to a human's.If an animal experiences life 1/1000th of the way we do, then, if we're being morally consistent, we ought to consider their lives to be valued as 1/1000th of a human's. If we're doing that, then we kill an equivalent of 10 million people per year in the US alone[1]. So if we're being morally consistent, and if I'm being generous to my opponent in terms of what an animal's life is like in comparison to ours, what we're doing is worse than the Holocaust. Far worse. That's the damage done to the animals, now let's talk about ourselves.FOODPlain and simple, eating meat is a wasteful process. Were we to stop eating meat, we could provide enough new food to meet the caloric needs of 8.7 billion people[2]. In a world where 1/8 of our constantly growing population are starving[3], it's not as if we can readily afford this wastefulness. If you'd like to read about why raising animals for food is incredibly inefficient compared to growing crops, follow this link[4].DISEASESAccording to the American Dietetic Association, "...vegetarian diets, including total vegetarian or vegan diets, are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and may provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases. Well-planned vegetarian diets are appropriate for individuals during all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence, and for athletes......the results of an evidence-based review showed that a vegetarian diet is associated with a lower risk of death from ischemic heart disease. Vegetarians also appear to have lower low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, lower blood pressure, and lower rates of hypertension and type 2 diabetes than nonvegetarians. Furthermore, vegetarians tend to have a lower body mass index and lower overall cancer rates. Features of a vegetarian diet that may reduce risk of chronic disease include lower intakes of saturated fat and cholesterol and higher intakes of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, soy products, fiber, and phytochemicals."[5]Well that's pretty clear cut. Non-meat eaters are healthier than meat eaters, suffering from less horrible diseases like cancer. I'd like to add to the list: Alzheimer's. The more one consumes meat and the saturated fats within, the more likely one is to develop Alzheimer's[6].Simply put, it is in your interests to cease eating meat. THE TASTEPerhaps at this point some of the readers are thinking to themselves, "Whatever, it tastes good." While that would hardly be enough to overturn the fact that meat causes cancer, Alzheimer's, starvation, and the moral equivalency of 10 million human deaths, this point doesn't even have to get in the way; there are plenty of non-meat but meat-tasting alternatives[7], and you could imagine that as the number of non-meat eaters rises, so too will the demand for these alternatives, and therein, the appropriate market response to that.CONCLUSIONWell that wraps it up for me. The slaughter of animals for the consumption of meat causes the moral equivalency of 10 million human deaths, prevents nearly 9 billion people's worth of food, and causes diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer's, and none of it is necessary to get that meat taste we all love.Sources:[1] http://farmusa.org...[2] http://www.peta.org...[3] http://www.google.com...[4] http://www.google.com...[5] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov...[6] http://www.peta.org...[7] http://grains-nuts-soy.wonderhowto.com...