Animal flesh in our Diet, is it necessary? PS: It’s not!
By: Mudit Kukreti
Tags: Vegan, Morality, Environment, Science, Health

Animal flesh in our Diet, is it necessary? PS: It’s not!

Yes a good protein source but what about it’s ecological and health repercussions and what about morality? Mudit Kukreti Jul 2·5 min read

yajña-śhiṣhṭāśhinaḥ santo muchyante sarva-kilbiṣhaiḥ

bhuñjate te tvaghaṁ pāpā ye pachantyātma-kāraṇāt

Translation:

“Devotees of the Lord are released from all sins because they eat food which is offered first for ‘yagna’. Others who prepare food for personal sense enjoyment, verily eat only sin.”(Bhagavad Geeta.13.3)

The verse from the Hindu religious scripture, “Bhagvad Geeta” talks about the practice of ‘Yagna’, which means an offering to the lord. This offering in the Sanatan Dharma has always been Vegetarian, as it is believed that an offering should always be sattvic(meaning pure, clean and conscious) and a non vegetarian diet cannot be conscious as it violates a key principle in the Hindu belief system, ‘ahimsa’ or non-violence.

The following segements of the article consist three major aspects of all pro-Vegan arguements, summed up together.

The Environmental StandPoint

It is estimated that each year 77 billion land animals are slaughtered for food. Most common of these animals are cattle, Buffaloes, Sheep and pigs. The salughterhouses responsible for the production of meat, are also responsible for polluting both our air and water.

The remainder of the animal after it being butchered, is cleaned off from the surface using excess water and chemicals. This contaminated water enters our water ways contributing to a lot of damage to the aquatic life and can give rise to nitrate polution. High Nitrate levels around our agriculture communitites can cause widespread Methemoglobinemia or blue baby syndrome by consumption of their produce, it is a fatal condition for infants below the age of 6 months.

Methane(CH4) is a less abundent but highly potent green house gas,much more so than CarbonDieoxide(CO2).Grazing animals in particular host microbes in their stomach which help them breakdown and absorb the nutrients from tough grasses. These microbes produce methane as their waste, thus 40% of our annual methane budget comes only from cattle, most of which from their slaughter. Methane along with CO2, water vapour, nitrous oxide is considered a greenhouse gas and livestock itself emitts about 15% of total greenhouse gases globally.

The Moral StandPoint

Morality is the belief that some behaviour is right and acceptable and that other is wrong. The society has always accepted the consumption of animal flesh, some who might disagree with the notion are given justifications such as “humans are the part of the food chain” or “nonvegetarianism is an ancestral trait”.

One might consider one’s meal to be their own choice and that interference of someone with a contrasting opinion is unnecessary, which it is. But the choice regarding the cunsumption of another living being is a Morally Unjustifiable Choice, as is the Choice to harm someone or to steal from someone. All these are individual decesions but are morally unjustifiable and in some cases even illegal.

Humans are a part of the food chain, an undeniable fact. Yet forced pregnancies and artificial insemination of cattle for continuos suply of dairy and meat cannot be natural or be a part of the food chain. Secondly, Nonvegetarianism was an ancestral habit, so was rape and murder. Our society needs to understand that a new era brings along with it some changes in both behaviour and habits. Just how in the modern world we denounce rape and murder because these were immoral habits of the ancient humans so should be the modern habit of Nonvegetarianism be denounced.

The Science

“But the choice regarding the cunsumption of another living being is a Morally Unjustifiable Choice.” An implication of this statement towards the consumption of plant based diet is inevitable as plants too are living beings. Yet there is a crucial diffrence between the two diets, the victim. Plants as we know, grow and breath but they lack a nervous system or any pain receptors and they are in no way conscious(in how us Humans would define consciousness). Animals on the other hand, do have a nervous system and pain receptors, they feel emotions and are a lot like Humans in that context.

On an average about 16Kg plants are required to produce 1kg of animal flesh. It is plain maths how consumption of a plant based diet is preferable for the environment and if one truly cares about the plants a vegan diet does seem to be an optimal choice.

Almost each kind of Animal flesh is a rich sources of protien, fats and omega3 fatty acids but is also a major contributor to heart diseases and obesity among the Nonvegetarians. A Vegetarian diet, on the other hand has an abundance of nutrients which we’d require on a daily basis. It helps maintain a healthy heart, prevents obesity and because of the high fibre intake, improves digestion.