Veganism is immoral

Veganism promotes wasteful consumption patterns. Vegan diets are not common, and vegans are not able to eat just any kind of food. There is a distinction between vegans and more classical vegetarians in that vegans will not eat anything that comes from an animal[2]. This includes, but is not limited to, Milk, Cheese, honey and non-organic produce. In the United States up to 48 billion pounds of food is thrown out every year at the retail level[3]. Because vegans do not consume many of these products that are being thrown out, they aren't directly responsible for much of it. So a lot of this waste is a moral neutral. However they are responsible for all produce, organic or otherwise. But I'll get to that in a moment. [2] http://bit.ly... [3] http://bit.ly... Right now I need to introduce two concept which will be constant themes throughout this debate; Market demand and waste by omission. Vegans will only eat organic produce as there is a chance non-organic produce was grow with nitrate fertilizers or somehow utilizes animal by-products. This creates a unique demand for this produce alongside other Non-Organic fruits and vegetables. Organic produce is more expensive[4] as it is more difficult to grow, so many non-Vegans will avoid purchasing in favor of cheaper, non-organic produce. Further, because Organic produce is still a type of perishable good, much of it goes bad before it can be sold. In fact more of it goes bad because it rots more easily[4] This waste is compacted on top of the other produce which also goes bad before it can be sold contributing to those 48 billion pounds of waste. When we realize how many people have to go hungry because they lack any kind of food, creating demand for produce which rots at a quicker rate and take more resources[4] to grow is immoral. Remember this is all Vegans eat. [4] http://bit.ly... Next on the table is the issue of waste by omission. Let's say for example that there's an open bag of spinach in the refrigerator. If one chose to buy and eat a different brand of spinach, all the while knowing there was already spinach waiting to be consumed, they are responsible for the wasted spinach by their omission. This illustration is a perfect example of organic versus non-organic produce. Vegans are responsible for all wasted produce by omission of their consumption. Because they will only eat a certain type of produce, allow other types of produce to be wasted. Another illustration would be eating at an all-you-can eat restaurant. If the restaurant already had french fries at the bar, requesting a slightly different form of french fries is wasteful since it means that less people will eat the already available french fries. I can't stress this enough, but this is the exact same thing with organic produce. Finally there's the health issue to be considered. Many vegans will claim that their diet is superior to mainstream omnivore diets in terms of health, but vegan diets lack essential nutrients. To name a few, one cannot obtain Vitamin A, Vitamin D, B12, Complex proteins or zinc naturally through their diets. Further, vegetables simply don't have as much nutrition as meat which means that you have to eat more and eat more often to stay healthy. So while personal malnutrition can be a huge risk to going vegan, there's also the issue of lowering the quality of one's gene's through this diet. That's right guys, eating meat makes you smarter[5]. The complex proteins in meat contribute to strong brain growth. This was essential in mankind's evolution and we can continue to see the benefits today. And while the effect of being a vegetarian won't have any immediate effects on the intelligence of humans, the long term effect is staggered intellectual progression and less nutrients for the body to work with. This is incredibly immoral as it puts one's offspring at a disadvantage. [5] http://n.pr... With all that I hand it over to Con. Good luck!