Purchasing milk from the supermarket endorses animal cruelty

Before I begin I didn't define milk. By milk I meant cow's milk. Milk " a white liquid produced by a woman to feed her baby or by female animals to feed their young; especially : milk from cows or goats that is used as food by people : a white liquid produced by a plant" [1] Merriam-webster Outline I. Prove animal sentience and ability to suffer. II. Prove suffering from milk production. III. Establish purchasing of milk causes suffering. IV. Milk in not needed for human survival. V. Prove animal cruelty VI. Prove endorsement VII. Rebuttal of Con's argument VIII. Links I. Prove animal sentience and ability to suffer. Suffer " : to experience pain, illness, or injury : to experience something unpleasant (such as defeat, loss, or damage) : to become worse because of being badly affected by something " merriam-webster.com [2] "After 2,500 Studies, It's Time to Declare Animal Sentience Proven (Op-Ed)" Marc Bekoff livescience.com [3] "With a focus on vertebrates, this section presents a brief discussion of what constitutes good evidence of the capacity to experience pain. The discussion emphasizes the strength of the evidence that all mammals (including rodents) are able to experience pain; raises the possibility that fish may feel pain" National Research Council (US) Committee on Recognition and Alleviation of Pain in Laboratory Animals. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2009. [4] As a cow is a mammal, mammals can feel pain, therefore cow can feel pain and thus the ability to suffer. II. Prove suffering from milk production. "All forms of dairy farming involve forcibly impregnating cows. This involves a person inserting his arm far into the cow"s rectum in order to position the uterus, and then forcing an instrument into her vagina. The restraining apparatus used is commonly called a "rape rack."" Humanemyth.org [5] "Most cows used for dairy production are kept indoors, with some having access to outdoor concrete or dirt paddocks. They are often forced to stand on hard surfaces"something their hooves are not designed for. This contributes to lameness, a condition where cows" feet become inflamed, making it painful to walk. Additionally, cows in the dairy industry are forced to suffer through: Widespread Infections: Unnaturally high milk production leads to mastitis, a painful bacterial infection causing a cow"s udder to swell. In 2007, 79% of farms that reported permanently removing cows from their herds did so because of mastitis." ASPCA.org [6] III. Establish purchasing of milk causes suffering. Some are of the train of thought "the milk is already produced, so no harm is being done by purchasing the milk." Yet, purchasing the milk at the supermarket will eventually lead to suffering. The simplest explanation is if nobody bought any milk, demand would rapidly fall. Supply would follow suit. Less cows would be needed to met the supply, therefore less cows being bred into existence and finally less cruelty. The opposite is also true. If more people bought milk more demand would be created, more supply, more cows, and more cruelty. IV. Milk in not needed for human survival. A.Vitamin D "People who live in areas receiving plenty of sunlight develop darker skin from excess melanin and need more sun exposure such as two hours or more to get their vitamin D. Those with lighter colored skin require less exposure, anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes." examiner.com/ [7] "Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that is naturally present in very few foods, added to others, and available as a dietary supplement. It is also produced endogenously when ultraviolet rays from sunlight strike the skin and trigger vitamin D synthesis." ods.od.nih.gov [8] B. Calcium "Collard greens, cooked1 cup357" Reed Mangels, PhD, RD [9] That's 357mg of calcium in a cup of collards. "Dairy milk has long established itself as a rich source of calcium, containing about 300 milligrams of calcium per 8-ounce serving. " fitday.com [10] From above one can see that a vegan can meet his/her nutritional needs. Besides they are plenty of health vegans. Including Al Gore and Bill Clinton. huffingtonpost [11] V. Prove animal cruelty Animal cruelty which is distinct from suffering is now established since one does not need to drink milk to survive. "Cruelty to animals, also called animal abuse or animal neglect, is the human infliction of suffering or harm upon any non-human animal, for purposes other than self-defense or survival." wikipedia [12] VI. Prove endorsement At the supermarket you are in public. People can see you. If you pay by check or credit card you must sign. You are publicly signing for the purchase of the good. Since your purchase of milk will cause animal cruelty, when you sign for your purchase you are literally endorsing animal cruelty. Even if you pay cash you are still giving your approval and support publicly through non-verbal communication. VII. Rebuttal of Con's argument "Hello, there!!! Today, I will be debating on the motion that purchasing milk from super markets doesn't endorse animal cruelty, instead it dissuades us from doing so. Now, if you go deeper, you will understand that purchasing meat from markets endorses this cruelty, not purchasing milk. " Con Buying both milk and meat from the supermarket endorse animal cruelty. There is no way to know what product people would buy in lieu of milk. They could buy meat, but fruit is just as likely. Since meat production is very similar, its safe to say if purchasing milk endorses animal cruelty so does purchasing meat. Thank you for accepting this debate. I look forward to your argument. VIII. Links http://www.merriam-webster.com... http://www.merriam-webster.com... http://www.livescience.com... http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov... http://www.humanemyth.org... http://www.aspca.org... http://www.examiner.com... https://ods.od.nih.gov... http://www.vrg.org... http://www.fitday.com... http://www.huffingtonpost.com... https://en.wikipedia.org...