Post by dynastygal on Jul 18, 2009 18:21:36 GMT -5
Even though this is not a completed copy, and I don't know when I will ever complete it, it's basically a useful introduction to veganism for newbies. Beware though, it is quite long, even for a rough copy. Most of it is re-worded by me however there are some copy and paste bits where I was lacking in knowledge (i.e. religion) or where I was just lazy. Any links I used for information are at the bottom anyway.
Anywho...
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Veganism
Definition: A diet that excludes all meat, fish and dairy products as well as any food derived from a living animal such as eggs.
Why: Some reasons people go vegan for include:
• Health
The consumption of animal fats and proteins has been linked to heart disease, colon and lung cancer, osteoporosis, diabetes, kidney disease, hypertension, obesity, and a number of other debilitating conditions. Cows' milk contains ideal amounts of fat and protein for young calves, but far too much for humans – due to this milk consumption increases risk of osteoporosis. Milk also contains morphine as it is naturally created in the cow’s body which passes into the blood stream and then passes through into the udder. This and opiates within milk make it slightly addictive. By removing curds and whey to make cheese, the opiates are more concentrated and have about 1/10 the addictive power of morphine. As well as this pus will leak into the milk that is being withdrawn from the udder. And eggs are higher in cholesterol than any other food, making them a leading contributor to cardiovascular disease. The American Dietetic Association reports that vegetarian/vegan diets are associated with reduced risks for all of these conditions. This is because vegetables and fruit are abundant in antioxidants which fight free radicals, which are compounds in the body that attack and destroy cell membranes. The uncontrolled activity of free radicals is believed to cause many cancers.
• Environment
Climate Change
Animal agriculture is one of the major contributors to global warming, and thus, climate change.
“According to a 2006 United Nations report, animal agriculture is responsible for 18% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions as measured in CO2 equivalents. By comparison, all transportation emits 13.5% of the CO2. In addition to increased CO2 emissions, animal agriculture produces 65% percent of human-related nitrous oxide (which has 296 times the global warming potential of CO2) and 37% of all human-induced methane (which is 23 times as warming as CO2)”
- wikipedia.org “Climate Change”
Land
The land used to farm animals is far greater than the land needed to produce vegetables and fruit;
Food Land per kg (m2) Calories per kilogram Land per person per year (m2)
Beef 20.9 2800 8173
Pork 8.9 3760 2592
Eggs 3.5 1600 2395
Milk 1.2 640 2053
Fruit 0.5 400 1369
Vegetables 0.3 250 1314
Potatoes 0.2 800 274
-Vegan Society.co.uk
Water
Worldwide, agriculture uses up 70% of fresh water resources. This is largely because a lot of cropland has to be irrigated to make it agriculturally viable and to increase and improve crop yields.
As has been shown, much of this land is entirely wasted by being used to grow feed crops for livestock rather than food for people. The water used on this land - as well as that consumed directly by livestock.
Comparison of water use in beef and wheat production; Source: Beckett & Oltjen, 1993; USDA nutritional database:
Calories Digestible protein Water Calories per litre Protein per litre
Wheat 3300 100 120 27.50 0.833
Beef 2800 174 3700 0.76 0.047
Wheat/Beef 36 18
Pollution
Agriculture is also the number one water polluter. Livestock production pollutes our groundwater, streams and rivers directly through manure and slurry and indirectly through the pesticides used on feed crops.
Manure contains high levels of nitrogen and phosphorus. These elements can leach into groundwater and run off to pollute lakes and waterways, where they encourage algal blooms that block sunlight and encourage bacteria which deplete the water of oxygen, in the worst cases killing all the fish and endangering the health of other animals in the area. This process is known as eutrophication, and farming is the major cause.
Slurry, which is made up of manure and urine, contains high levels of ammonia, which can adversely affect plant growth and contributes to acid rain, further damaging water and air quality and contributing to loss of biodiversity. Of 208,000 tonnes of ammonia emitted in the Netherlands in 1993, 181,000 tonnes were estimated to come from manure. According to the Environment Agency, 5% of Britain's Sites of Special Scientific Interest suffer from acidification.
• Animals
Through the consumption and use of animals, their bodily excretions and by-products abuse, exploitation, suffering and death is prevalent.
Animals are sentient beings that are able to feel pain and experience suffering. Every year 21 billion animals are used and killed through animal agriculture alone. This is 3 and a half times the estimated human population.
Marine Life
Fishing and the varying forms involves the catching by various methods of ocean life such as fish, sharks, dolphins, whales, crabs, and so on. For inland fishing, a hook is often used and bait on the end of the hook is used to lure the fish. Fish need to be in water to breathe. Taking them out of their environment causes asphyxiation for the fish. Methods of catching marine life such as dolphins (both young and old) include Drive Hunting; this involves hunters banging metal poles in the water and surrounding the dolphins. The banging sound confuses the dolphin’s sonar, allowing the dolphin hunters to drive them into shallow water. Then the killing begins – often involving harpoons thrust into the dolphins as they struggle in the shallow waters. The dolphins often are still alive when they are dragged out of the water to a roadside and left to die from blood loss in full view of passers-by. Whales are also similarly killed this way by being driven into shallow waters only to be slaughtered with knifes sawing through the flesh of the spinal cord to cut the arteries to the brain. Another method of slaughtering whales and dolphins that is used is by launching harpoons with grenades in the tip at the animals. If they do not die they are shot at with guns when hoisted aboard the whaling vessel.
Certain types of fishing nets also pick up ocean life of which weren’t intended. The most destructive type of fishing is the use of driftnets. These can be anything up to 50km long and they hang in the water, like 'curtains of death' catching everything in their path: sea turtles, seabirds, sharks, whales, dolphins, seals - driftnets do not discriminate. They are now illegal in the European Union, although lobbying from Sweden, Denmark and Finland ensured that this method was allowed to continue in the Baltic Sea.
Pigs
Like most farm animals, pigs undergo intensive farming where they are housed with little room to perform natural behaviours. This can lead to cannibalism between pigs.
Sows are often incarcerated in small cages, unable to even turn around when pregnant. Huge numbers of 'fattening' pigs are kept in vast numbers in barren conditions. Mutilations such as tail-docking and teeth-clipping are routine. Tail-docking is done to prevent pigs from chewing each others tails out of boredom and frustration.
Sheep
Australian Wool: It is estimated that there are now around 94.5 million sheep in Australia. Flocks consist of thousands of sheep and individual attention to the animals' needs is considered uneconomical. 20-25% of lambs die at birth or before the age of eight weeks from exposure to extreme weather conditions or starvation. Lambs undergo ear punching for identification, tail docking, castration, dipping, spraying and mulesing (see below). Rams are regarded as too difficult to handle, so the vast majority of male sheep are wethers (castrated rams). After these procedures, lambs may suffer shock, profuse bleeding, blood poisoning, tetanus, dislocated joints and arthritis.
The Merino is the most commonly used breed in Australia. It is bred specifically for its wrinkly skin and fine white wool. Wrinkly skin means more wool per sheep and thus more money for the farmer. This unnatural overload of wool causes animals to die of heat exhaustion during hot spells, and the wrinkles collect urine and moisture. Attracted to the moisture, flies lay eggs in the folds of skin, and the hatched maggots may actually eat sheep alive (flystrike also occurs in the UK). The sheep will suffer agonising pain.
To counter flystrike a procedure called mulesing (illegal in Britain) is carried out on most of the lambs and sheep. Farmers carve strips of flesh (not wool) from around the anal and vaginal area of sheep without anaesthetic or any training or qualification requirements. This leaves a smooth scar that won't harbour fly eggs. However flies are often attracted to the dreadful wounds before they heal, often causing infection and intensifying the pain and suffering for the sheep. An estimated one million Australian sheep die every year of exposure after shearing.
UK Wool: Wool insulates sheep from the cold in the winter and the heat in the summer although specialist breeding ensures more wool than is actually natural or necessary. Whilst in full fleece they find it difficult to cope with local irritations and usually seek a post or rail to scratch on (sheep rarely groom each other). In the absence of a suitable object to rub against they will roll on to their backs. When in full fleece or heavily pregnant they may fail to get up and, if not seen, will die. Not all lambs recognise their mother without her coat and the ewe may not be able to count her lambs correctly, this can result in lambs starving to death.
Wool is normally removed from sheep during the early summer. However, it can be done in very early spring or in winter soon after housing. The majority are shorn for the first time at 14-15 months old, and then annually. Wet, windy and cold conditions can result in severe chilling, and in some cases, death. It takes 7-8 weeks for the coat to grow sufficiently to protect the animal. Winter shearing has been widely adopted in some areas, particularly south west England, as a consequence of winter housing. Initially, the main benefit was the reduction in pen and trough space requirement.
Contract shearing is now well-established throughout the UK and such teams are usually well equipped, bringing with them their own equipment. Contract shearers clip between 120-150 sheep per day. Sheep shearers work at breakneck pace and rarely fail to nick or cut the animals, which are manhandled and pinned to the ground like rodeo steers on a bad day. Some rams have their pizzles cut straight off.
Castration: Around 8 million lambs are castrated each year. Scientific research shows that this procedure causes severe pain. Farmers say they castrate their lambs to help fatten them up or because once they become sexually mature they become aggressive and breed indiscriminately. Many lambs, however, are slaughtered before reaching the age of sexual maturity so this rather invalidates their argument. In 1994 FAWC urged farmers to stop castrating their lambs but this has been largely ignored. Castration is usually carried out by the following methods:
• Application of a tight rubber ring carried out without anaesthetic less than one week of age.
• Application of a bloodless castrator such as the Burdizzo (which crushes the blood vessels leading to the testicles).
• Surgical castration involving cutting the skin carried out without anaesthetic up to three months of age.
•
Haemorrhage and local infections are always a risk and may lead to death.
Tail docking: Tail docking is carried out to reduce the risk of sheep contracting maggots through flystrike. However, it is carried out without anaesthetic and is an extremely painful and traumatic experience for young lambs.
It is carried out by the following methods:
• The application of a rubber ring.
• Cutting with a sharp knife which may cause haemorrhaging, the risk of infection of the exposed stump or death.
• The application of a hot iron.
Breeding: Ewes are increasingly bred to produce twins or triplets although they only have two teats and can only feed one or two lambs. During lambing "spare" lambs are forced to adopt ewes with a spare teat. One way that this is done is to skin a dead infant and put the skin over the "spare" lamb - it is hoped that this will persuade the ewe that the new lamb is in fact her own. The ewe may also be held by her neck in an ‘adopter box’ (a wooden contraption resembling a stocks) for up to five days to prevent her from rejecting the newly born lamb. Once ewes are unfit for breeding, they are sent for slaughter.
Slaughter: Not all sheep reach the abattoir. It is illegal to transport unfit lambs and sheep so they may be killed on the farm. The term 'unfit' is difficult to define but in legislation it includes 'infirm, diseased, ill, injured and fatigued’ animals. Unfit sheep should not be transported and farmers do leave them on the farm to die, which FAWC strongly condemned. FAWC recommend shooting sheep older than 2-3 weeks; with lambs younger than 2-3 weeks of age to be held by the back legs and killed by stunning with a heavy stick to the back of the head, then bled by cutting a large blood vessel in the neck.
Sheep are usually slaughtered by electrical stunning followed by throat cutting. Stunning, however, may not be very effective and sheep might regain consciousness when they have their throats slit or while blood is being drained from their body. Animals used for kosher meat are not stunned prior to being bled. FAWC considers that “killing without pre-stunning is unacceptable” because of the level of suffering involved.
(Source: www.vegansociety.com/html/animals/exploitation/sheep.php)
Lamb and Astrakhan
Astrakhan is aborted lambs skin/fur. It is used to make clothing and is often highly expensive. The process of obtaining this skin/fur requires killing a pregnant ewe and removing her lamb, then killing the lamb for its pelt.
Cows
Leather: Leather is an integral part of the livestock trade. Leather sales help keep slaughterhouses in business and the meat industry profitable. Most of the millions of cows who are slaughtered for their skins endure the horrors of factory farming - overcrowding, deprivation of all that is natural to them and unanaesthetised castration, branding, tail-docking and dehorning. At the end of their miserable lives, their throats are slit, and they are hung upside-down and bled to death. Also, mordants and other chemicals often used to treat leather are linked to nervous disorders, asthma, premature death, gynaecological disorders, weakness, dizziness, headaches, abdominal pain, nausea, constipation, skin and respiratory infections, cancer and other serious illnesses.
Indian Leather: Most of the world’s leather also comes from cows from India. In India, the majority of Hindu populations hold the cow in higher regard more than any other animal. Some consider them holy and deserving of protection, not only from cruelty, but also from slaughter for their flesh and skin. However the demand for cheap leather encourages illegal activities in order to obtain the leather and also meat.
Cattle are sold for slaughter at huge markets where there is typically no veterinarian and where injured animals get left behind. Although the current law states no more than six cattle can be transported per lorry, up to forty are crammed on top of each other on the long trips to the slaughterhouses. The animals frequently gore and blind one another with their horns or break their pelvises when forced to jump from the trucks. Some suffocate. Live animals struggle under the dead and dying for hours on the long, hot journeys. These cow 'death trains' are operated by the state-owned railway.
India's constitution prohibits the killing of healthy, young cattle. To get around this, dealers often deliberately break the animals' legs or poison them so that they can be declared unhealthy and therefore suitable for slaughter. Cow slaughter is permitted in just two provinces, the communist-ruled states of West Bengal in the east and Kerala in the south. Although it is illegal to transport animals for slaughter across state borders, traders bribe officials to look the other way as they pack the cows into rail cars or trucks headed for one of the two provinces. Thousands of others are surreptitiously herded overland - tied together with ropes running through their pierced noses - forced to march hundreds of kilometres in searing heat, often without food or water. If they collapse from exhaustion, herders snap the bones in their tails or rub chilli seeds and tobacco into their eyes to make them walk again.
There are approximately 3,600 slaughterhouses operating legally in India. However, there are estimated to be over 30,000 illegal slaughterhouses. Animals that survive transportation are frequently so sick that they have to be dragged into the slaughterhouse where they can see others dying before they themselves have their throats cut with blunt knives. There have been documented cases of cattle having their legs hacked off whilst still conscious and animals being skinned alive.
Chickens
Chickens receive the lowest welfare standards out of all the common ‘meat-producing’ animals. Chickens are often kept in large barns in their hundreds. There is little room to move about and they are walking about in their own faecal matter and the carcasses of their fellows who did not survive. In these intense barn situations chickens are de-beaked to stop them pecking each other or committing cannibalism.
Hens + Eggs
The majority of the eggs you see on shop shelves will come from battery farmed hens. Battery farming is a form of intensive factory farming where hens are crammed into a cage so small that they cannot stretch their wings, let alone walk or peck and scratch at the ground. Under these conditions hens are prevented from performing most of their natural behaviours, such as dust bathing, perching and laying their eggs in a nest. Up to 90,000 caged hens can be crammed into one windowless shed. The cages in Europe are stacked between 4 and 9 cages high. Japan is said to have the world's highest battery cage unit, with cages stacked 18 tiers high.
Battery hens suffer Caged Layer Osteoporosis (CLO), or brittle bones. Research has shown that 35% of premature deaths in cages are due to CLO, a slow death from paralysis and starvation at the back of the cage.
Confined to the cage, the hen is unable to forage by scratching and pecking at the ground. Under natural conditions a large proportion of a hen's day would be spent looking for food. Denied this simple activity, the hen's claws can grow long or twisted and be torn off. They can even grow around the wire mesh of the sloping cage floor. The slope itself puts painful pressure on the hen's toes, causing damage to the bird's feet.
Many hens are debeaked. A red-hot blade sears off a chunk of the birds' sensitive beak. This suffering is caused in order to stop birds pecking at each other or cannibalising, common problems on commercial egg farms - whether caged or free range.
Spent hens – hens that are not commercially viable as they are not producing enough eggs, are sent for a slaughter after a year of egg production. This is done by catching them and then bundling them into crates before being transported by lorry to the slaughterhouse. On average 29% of the battery hens arriving at the slaughterhouse are reported to have at least one freshly broken bone.
"Spent" hens can be worth as little as two pence per bird. After slaughter their carcasses will be used in chicken soups, pastes, pies, pet food, etc.
For every hen hatched for egg laying there is a cock chick that is killed almost immediately after struggling from the egg. Modern selective breeding techniques have resulted in distinct strains of chicken for egg laying and meat production. This breed specialisation has gone so far that birds of the laying strain do not make good meat birds. As male birds of the laying strain do not lay eggs and will not produce meat efficiently, they are killed when a day old. Their carcasses will often be dumped into a dumpster out back.
It also takes 3 kilos of grain as chicken feed to produce one kilo of eggs. This is because the conversion of crops by farm animals into food for humans is grossly inefficient. And it is not only food, such as grain, which could be fed directly to humans, that is wasted. Each battery egg takes about 180 litres of water to produce.
The wild counterpart of the hen will only lay 5-6 eggs a year. Eggs also provide sufficient nutrients for under-nourished hens.
Geese, Ducks, Turkeys and Other Birds
Other than the common use for meat, geese and ducks are used for foie gras production. Foie gras is translated to ‘fatty liver’. It is an industry where geese and ducks are force fed with metal rods or plastic tubes in order for their livers to become fatty and diseased. The process involves the following:
• at 12 weeks old, ducks and geese are restrained, a metal pipe is inserted into their throat, and grain is pushed down the throat into the birds stomachs, a process that often results in physical injury
• they are forcibly fed the equivalent to an adult human eating up to 28 lbs (13kg) of spaghetti a day. After two or three weeks, when they are ready for slaughter, their livers will have increased to about ten times their normal size
• their swollen liver expands the abdomen and can make movement and breathing difficult, as well as causing other health problems
• most birds are kept in wire cages which are so small that they have no room to turn around or stretch their wings, and their feet are often injured by the wire floor
• many die before the end of the force-feeding cycle and the mortality rate for ducks raised on foie gras farms is the highest in the poultry farming industry
(Source: www.banfoiegras.org.uk/)
Turkeys are used commonly for meat – especially around Christmas time. In the wild turkeys can live up to ten years, however, captive turkeys bred for meat will be slaughtered at a minimum of 8 weeks old and a maximum of 26 weeks of age. Turkeys (as well as many other birds) receive the lowest welfare standards and are farmed intensively. There are two main turkey farming systems:
- Windowless units; these are the most common. Up to 25,000 turkeys can be kept in one windowless shed. The birds are crowded together like broiler chickens, on a litter floor. Many develop ulcerated feet and painful burns on their legs and breasts as they spend their short lives standing on litter which often becomes wet, dirty and produces ammonia. Lighting is dim to discourage aggression.
- Pole barns; barns that allow daylight and ventilation but will involve a similar setting tot hat of windowless units.
Roughly 35 million turkeys are killed every year in the UK. Slaughter methods for turkeys include decapitation, breaking of the neck, gas stunning then throat slitting, electric stunning then throat slitting.
Dairy + Veal
Milk is a substance created by the mammary glands of the cow for her calf to nourish itself on until it has been fully weaned. However, to gain milk for human consumption, the calf has to be disallowed this vital nutrition. This is done by taking away the calf 24-48 hours after birth. The cow also has to be continuously impregnated in order to keep up with the demand for cow’s milk.
If the calve is female she will most likely be selected as "herd replacements" for when the original cows have stopped producing the wanted amount of milk that the humans take. If the female calf has more than four teets the extra teets are sliced off. When a cow has reached the point where she is considered “commercially unviable” she will be sent off for slaughter. Calves that are reared for the cowshed usually spend their first 6-8 weeks of life confined individually in narrow pens. Taken from their mother, and unable to interact meaningfully with their fellows, these calves suffer behavioural deprivation, which can affect them for life. Alternatively, calves may be reared in groups. With either method, calves are usually fed by artificial teat or bucket.
If the calve is male he will either be exported to other countries for veal production or killed on site when he is a couple of days old. Veal production involves placing the calves individually into tiny narrow crates with ropes tied around their neck, and fed food that is deficient in specific nutrients such as iron. The whole aim of this is to make the calf anaemic and thus make their flesh “white and tender”. After 6-8 months of this intensive farming, the calves are sent off to slaughter.
The young calf is particularly vulnerable to disease. To help boost the calve's immunity, it is essential that they receive colostrum, the mother's first milk, which contains extra nutrients and antibodies against disease. However, calves born to mothers with long, pendulous udders can have difficulty locating the udder. Each year, about 170,000 calves die within their first month of life. Scouring (diarrhoea) and respiratory infections are common killers.
Also, due to the immense strain put on the cow being milked whilst pregnant, she is likely to do what is known as “the splits”. This is where the pressure from both being milked and carrying her unborn calf causes her back legs to give way. To stop the cow’s legs from doing “the splits”, farmers often shackle the back legs together.
Rennet: Cheese is made by coagulating milk to give curds which are then separated from the liquid, whey, after which they can be processed and matured to produce a wide variety of cheeses. Milk is coagulated by the addition of rennet. Rennet is a substance obtained from the stomach of a slaughtered newly born calf. Rennet is a by-product of the veal industry.
Horses
Ex-race horses, horses bred for racing that do not get chosen to be raced, ex-riding horses, etc. all will meet an end in the slaughterhouse unless otherwise saved or killed. Their flesh is commonly sold to foreign countries for sale as meat however some places in the UK still sell horse meat.
Bees + Honey
Honey is pre-digested food made by bees from nectar. The bees collect the nectar from flowers and store it in their primary or honey stomach. Here it is partially digested and converted into the substance we call honey. It is a food source of the bee and is stored in the hive for the lean winter months. The metabolism of honey by the bee creates heat, which maintains the temperature of the hive at 17-34 degrees C. The colony requires approximately 200 lbs of honey a year to survive. It is used by humans as a food, as a medicine and in cosmetics and toiletries.
Queen bees are artificially inseminated with sperm obtained from decapitated bees. Queens are systematically slaughtered every two years because over time their egg producing abilities decline so their whole hive becomes unproductive and uneconomic. In Israel they are killed and re-queened every year.
When beekeepers manipulate combs many bees are crushed and killed. Hives have smoke puffed into them to calm bees down and make them easier to handle. Special excluders or devices that violate the bees' space are attached to hives to collect bee products from bees as they enter hives. Bees are separated from their hives by being shaken vigorously or jetted out with powerful streams of air. They may have their legs and wings clipped off. Clipping the wings of queen bees prevents them from swarming (flying off!).
Swarming is the natural way for reproduction, increase and survival of the species, at least in the wild. However, beekeepers are constantly trying to prevent this natural phenomenon and will use artificial pheromones, wing clipping and cage queens to keep their colony under control.
Bees are also used in the vivisection industry.
Fur
Animals such as foxes, racoons, chinchillas, rabbits, dogs, cats, and so on are farmed for their fur all around the world. Other animals such as seals are hunted or trapped for their fur.
Common practice on fur farms involves sheds containing cages upon cages filled with animals awaiting their inevitable death – just for their pelts. Many will start to run in circles within their cages due to the lack of any environmental stimulation in their barren cages.
Their demise is no less kind. Common methods include inserting an electrical rod in the anus and mouth in order to electrocute the animal. Other methods include stamping on the neck to break it or bashing around the head of the animal with a large blunt object. In the worst cases, animals will be skinned whilst fully conscious.
There are no fur farms in Britain to date that are known of however fur farms exist in the US, Canada, Russia, varying European countries, China, and so on. Fur is used for clothing, shoes, fancy pillows and other accessories. Even items labelled as faux fur turn out to include real fur due to false labelling.
Slaughter Methods
Different slaughter methods include:
- Shackling the animal up on a rotation belt that goes along some blades so that the animals throat is slit (e.g. chickens)
- Shackling the animal up by its hind leg and slitting the throat of said animal, and then allowing the blood to drain out either onto the kill floor or into a bucket. (e.g. pigs, sheep, cows)
- Using a captive bolt gun or gun to shoot the animal in the head; however you do not require a license to use this apparatus and often poor aim results in increased suffering. (e.g. cows, pigs)
- Stun gun; the animal is given a bolt of electricity through the body via stun gun however the voltage is often not high enough resulting in increased suffering. (e.g. pigs)
- Placing the animal in a machine that turns them upside down so that the slaughter worker can easily cut out the animal’s trachea whilst the animal is still alive. The animal will then be dumped out of the machine onto the kill floor and left to die. (e.g. cows)
- Dipping in boiling fat to scold the animal to death (e.g. chickens, pigs)
- Stabbing the animal to death (e.g. dolphins)
- Grenades on the end of harpoons (e.g. dolphins and whales)
- Cutting the spinal cord (e.g. whales)
Slaughter methods vary from country to country and farm to farm. Some will also be used in conjunction with each other. E.g. stunning and slitting of the throat.
• Religious Beliefs/Teachings
One of the primary reasons to live a vegan lifestyle is because of religious beliefs. Many religions support healthy eating, including Seventh-Day Adventists, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, and Muslims. Although not every member of any religion is vegan, many are vegetarian and others are at least careful of what they eat.
Judaism
Biblical basis for veganism exists right from the very first book. In Genesis 1:29 “…God said, ‘Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you.” Other translations say, “…it shall be for meat”. Although we usually use the word ‘meat’ to describe animal flesh, its original definition simply refers to any “solid food as distinguished from drink.” (Merriam-Webster) This verse never mentions God giving us animals to eat. In fact, up until the after the flood, eating of animal flesh was unheard of.
In Genesis 9, God does give permission to eat flesh. Being flooded, the earth went through major geologic changes. Needless to say, there would not have been an adequate supply of plant-based foods for the Noah and his family. Though Genesis 6:21 suggests that the animals and themselves ate only vegetarian food while on the ark, it would not have been practical to store food for the first few months back on dry land. While God does allow the consumption of animal flesh, he never encourages it and it is no longer necessary.
As further support for veganism, the Bible clearly teaches that we are to care for the environment. Psalm 24:10 states: “The "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof." Deuteronomy 20:19-20 says “When you besiege a city a long time, to make war against it in order to capture it, you shall not destroy its trees by swinging an axe against them; for you may eat from them, and you shall not cut them down…Only the trees which you know are not fruit trees you shall destroy and cut down…” In living a vegan lifestyle, we are helping the environment. Though indirect, this is excellent Biblical support for veganism.
Christianity
Whether or not Jesus ate meat is irrelevant to the fact the teachings of Christian tie in will all three the major reasons for veganism: health, concern for animals, and protection of the environment.
Romans 12:1 says, “Therefore, I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.” Similarly, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.” Later on, Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10:31, “Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” Finally, III John says, “Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers.” These verses make it evident that it does matter what we eat.
In addition, Jesus message was one of love, compassion, and mercy. Today’s factory farms display the horrid proof that we are supporting the torture of animals when we make the choice to eat them. Supporting a healthy lifestyle that is kind to animals and helpful to the environment is undoubtedly a preferable choice.
Seventh Day Adventists
Ellen White, co-founder of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, strongly believed in vegetarianism with a preference for veganism. She stated, “God gave our first parents the food He designed that the race should eat. It was contrary to His plan to have the life of any creature taken. There was to be no death in Eden. The fruit of the trees in the garden was the food man's wants required.” Throughout her books she continues to emphasize that “Vegetables, fruits, and grains should compose our diet. Not an ounce of flesh meat should enter our stomachs. The eating of flesh is unnatural. We are to return to God's original purpose in the creation of man.”
She also commented on the efficiency of growing food for animals, and then using animals as food. “The diet of animals is vegetables and grains. Must the vegetables be animalized; must they be incorporated into the system of animals, before we get them? Must we obtain our vegetable diet by eating the flesh of dead creatures? God provided fruit in its natural state for our first parents. He gave to Adam charge over the garden, to dress it, and to care for it, saying, ‘To you it shall be for meat.’ One animal was not to destroy another animal for food.”
Hinduism
For thousands of years, vegetarianism was a principle of health and environmental ethics. In the ancient language Sanskrit, vegetarianism is known as shakahara. A vegetarian is a shakahari. Meat-eating is referred to as mansahara, making a meat-eater a mansahari. “Skaka” means vegetable, whereas mansa simply means “meat”. “Ahara” means “to consume, or eat.”
Though the colonization of India by other cultures has damaged the Hindu vegetarian ethic, it remains an ideal of thought and practice. Hindus emphasize that we should not have to kill in order to live. In Dancing with Siva, Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami explains: "Hindus teach vegetarianism as a way to live with a minimum of hurt to other beings, for to consume meat, fish, fowl or eggs is to participate indirectly in acts of cruelty and violence against the animal kingdom. The abhorrence of injury and killing of any kind leads quite naturally to a vegetarian diet, shakahara…”
Besides viewing vegetarianism as an obligation to God, Hindus believe that our actions will have karmic consequences. By inflicting injury, pain and death upon animals, Hindus believe that they will receive equal suffering in the future.
Hindus have also observed the health benefits of a strictly vegetarian or vegan diet. As explained in our section titled “Health Reasons for Veganism”, vegans tend to live longer, healthier lives with fewer health problems.
Lastly, Hindus know that the earth itself is suffering from destruction of the environment. Much of this is a consequent of raising huge quantities of animals for food. Read more about this important reason for veganism on our page about the environment.
Buddhism
Buddha’s famous quote “To become vegetarian is to step into the stream which leads to nirvana,” goes to show how the Buddhists also believe in peace and coexistence with the world around us. Many Buddhists live vegetarian or vegan lives because of the mercy they feel for the animals. “May all that have life be delivered from suffering” is an ancient Buddhist prayer started by Lord Buddha.
According to Lin Ching Shywan in “A Buddhist Perspective on Vegetarianism “, “Having a merciful and compassionate heart will show up in all aspects of one's life; but the simplest and most direct way is to follow a vegetarian diet.”
Similar to the Hindus, Buddhists believe in karma. The basic concept in Buddhist teaching is that “Good is rewarded with good; evil is rewarded with evil; and the rewarding of good and evil is only a matter of time."
Jainism
While their dietary beliefs are similar to that of the Buddhists and Hindus, Jains believe in the strictest form of vegetarianism. Vegetarianism is regarded as a way to peaceful coexistent will all living beings. Of course, the Jain diet does require harming plants, but it is done only out of necessity. Jains strive to minimize the amount of violence used in providing for their dietary needs. Even some plants that sustain other living beings, such as roots and some fruits, are eliminated from the Jain diet.
Islam
Founded by the Prophet Muhammad, Islam supports abstinence from pork, unclean meats, and any meat that has been improperly slaughtered. Many Muslims are vegetarian, including the Muslim Druses of Lebanon. Casey Kasem, a well-known celebrity, is a Muslim Druse and therefore a vegetarian.
In the Koran, many verses emphasize the equality humans have with animals. 6: 39 states, “There is not an animal that crawls in the earth, nor a bird that flies on its two wings, but they are communities like you…Then to their Lord shall they all be gathered together.”
In America, some Muslims have become vegan, as it is very difficult to obtain meat that comes from animals slaughtered according to Muslims principles.
Though not every Muslims believes that vegetarianism or vegan is necessary, the vegan lifestyle clearly goes in accordance with the Islamic faith.
(Source: library.thinkquest.org/C004833/religion_en.shtml)
Frequently Asked Questions
What do vegans eat? Don’t vegans just eat vegetables?
No, vegans eat a variety of different foods which usually fall into the main categories: Pulses, Grains, Nuts, Seeds, Pasta, Fruit, and Vegetables. Then there is mock meats, vegan cheese, soya milk, rice milk, and so on.
Where do vegans get their essential nutrients from?
Rough list:
• Protein: Wholegrains (e.g. wholewheat flour, bread and pasta, brown rice, oats, rye), nuts (e.g. hazels, cashews, brazils, almonds), seeds (sunflower, sesame, pumpkin), pulses (peas, beans, lentils), soya products (flour, soya milk, tofu, tempeh)
• Carbohydrates: Wholegrains, pulses, potatoes, fresh fruit, dried fruit
• Fats: Nuts and seeds (and their oils), vegan margarine, avocados
• Vitamin A - Carrots, spinach, pumpkins, tomatoes, dark greens, vegan margarines.
• Vitamin B - Nuts, wholegrains, oats, muesli, pulses (peas, beans, lentils), yeast extracts, green leafy vegetables, potatoes, mushrooms and dried fruit
• Vitamin B12 - Fortified yeast extracts (e.g. Marmite), soya milks (e.g. Plamil), TVP products, packeted veggie burger mixes, some cereals (e.g. Kellogg's Fruit & Fibre, Frosties or Common Sense Oat Bran Flakes). Seaweed and fermented products may contain some B12 but are not reliable sources.
• Vitamin C - Citrus fruits (e.g. oranges, lemons, grapefruit), red and blackcurrants, berries, green vegetables, potatoes
• Vitamin D - Action of sunlight on the skin, vegan margarines, some soya milks (e.g. Plamil)
• Vitamin E - Nuts, seeds, wholegrains, vegetable oils
• Calcium - Nuts, seeds, pulses, molasses, parsley, figs, sea vegetables, grains, fortified soya milks, hard tap water
• Iron - Nuts, seeds, pulses, grains, dried fruit, sea vegetables, parsley, green leafy vegetable
But it’s natural for humans to eat meat!
If it truly were natural for humans to eat meat we’d all be doing the behaviour without a second thought. Also, something that is natural does not automatically equate to it being right. Not to mention that humans need to process their meat in order for it to be easier to digest and also taste good to the palate. Naturally omnivorous animals do not process their meat in order to eat it. They eat it straight from the carcass as nature intended. Also, much of the meat that humans eat comes from animals far from their ancestors. Meat animals are selectively bred, genetically engineered and mutated so much that many of their characteristics and behaviours do not resemble that of their ancestors. Also, much of the meat humans eat comes from animals that are fed antibiotics – far from natural.
Don’t humans need meat to survive?
No, if that were so veganism (and branches of it) would be impossible, just as vegetarianism would be. One can even remain adequately healthy on a fruitarian diet (a diet that consists of fruit, nuts and seeds that have fallen naturally from a tree or plant). All the nutrients humans need in order to survive healthily can be obtained from non-animal sources. It should also be noted, a human living solely on a meat diet is likely to become seriously ill (and possibly die) whereas a human solely on a fruit and vegetable diet is more likely to thrive.
Humans cook their meat to get rid of bacteria!
No, humans cook their meat to make it taste nicer. Even before humans even contemplated the theory of small molecular organisms that caused illness and disease, humans processed their meat via cooking and seasoning and such.
But animals eat other animals so why shouldn’t we?!
Animals in the wild eat other animals to survive. We (well, we being the majority of the world) do not. Most humans consume and use animal products purely because of convenience and the moment’s satisfaction in the mouth (eating). Also, if one were to say that animals eat other animals in the wild so it’s ok for us to, then one can easily say that some animals DON’T eat other animals in the wild so it’s ok for us to do such too. Likewise, animals in the wild steal from other animals (i.e. some birds steal the eggs of others and raise them as their own), fight for dominance within hierarchies, kill the young of rival males, and so on. So if humans are willing to use animal behaviour as an excuse for something humans do, one could apply it to other things in life that humans do.
Why should we care about animals?
Most people believe that unnecessary suffering is bad. Other animals -- particularly vertebrates -- suffer physical pain and even emotional stress in much the same way humans do. Because of this, we should take animals' suffering seriously. Because animal products are not a necessary part of our diet, becoming vegan is one of the most effective ways to reduce animals' suffering. Another thing to think about is, how would you feel if you were in the position of the animals?
Won't the animals just die anyway? And if we don't eat the animals, won't they overrun the world?
We don't just happen to kill and eat animals to save them from dying a natural death. We breed more than 9 billion farm animals just in the U.S. each year because of the consumer demand for animal products. If we stop buying animal products, animal industries will have no incentive to keep breeding these animals.
Animals are killed humanely so what’s the problem?
If one were to take that stance, one could take that stance on the killing of humans. “But Mrs. A was killed with a gun – ‘humanely’ so the murderer should be let off”. Simply put, whether animals are killed ‘humanely’ or not is irrelevant, the fact that they are killed unnecessarily is the point that is being made. Also, the majority of animals entered into the food chain are NOT killed in what is considered a ‘humane manner’ and their lives were no doubt full of suffering too especially in cases such as veal calves and foie gras (geese and ducks are force fed in order to fatten up their livers and make the livers diseased which will be turned into pate or other delicacies).
What about Free Range/Organic?
As all free-range animals are still viewed as objects to be killed for food, they are subject to abusive handling, transport, and slaughter. Free-range animals, like all animals used for their milk and eggs, are still slaughtered at a fraction of their normal life expectancy. Free range can also mean a mere 15 minutes outside a day for laying hens. As well as this in order to get laying hens you have to have fertile eggs and half the eggs will hatch into male chicks. These are killed at once or raised as table birds (usually these days in broiler houses) and slaughtered as soon as they reach an economic weight. Organic milk still isn’t any walk in the park. Cows still have to have their young taken away in order for milk to be taken for human consumption. Animals on organic farms still die for human greed.
But I love Cheese/Ice Cream/Milk too much to give them up!
There are plenty of delicious alternatives available including Rice Dream, Tofutti, Cheezly, Swedish Glace, and Alpro Soya and so on.
But tofu is yucky!
Being vegan does not necessarily mean you have to consume tofu. Some vegans don’t eat tofu or mock meats at all.
But my going vegan won’t stop animal suffering; it won’t change anything will it?
Those wonderful words by Margaret Mead 'Never doubt that a small group of concerned citizens can change the world, indeed, it has been the only thing that has' By abstaining from consuming animal products we no longer fund the exploitation and set an example of compassion to others. Short term- we save over 100 animals a year by being vegan. Long term- we gather numbers that will eventually make exploitation of animals no longer economically viable. The numbers of vegans is always going up, profits going down.
What other forms of veganism are there?
Other forms of veganism include:
• Raw vegan - Abstains from eating all animal products and cooked foodstuffs, for health reasons and environmental concerns. Only eats raw foods.
• Fruitarian – someone who only eats fruits, nuts and seeds that fall naturally from a tree or plant.
• sXe - a philosophy invented by Ian Mackeye from Minor Threat as a counter to the rampant drug use, casual sex and drinking in the hardcore scene, followers abstain from casual sex, drug use and alcohol (and in some cases, caffeine). Whilst veganism is not a rule of sXe, veganism and sXe ideas mix perfectly.
What else does being vegan entail?
Vegans also do not wear any animal fibres or skins such as leather, wool, silk, cashmere, angora, astrakhan and fur. The majority of vegans will also boycott products that are tested on animals, including makeup, household goods and drugs. All of which have alternatives to such as animal friendly makeup, household goods and herbal medicines. Some vegans will also boycott certain companies such (i.e. GlaxoSmithKline, Proctor and Gamble) because they actively test on animals. They will boycott companies even if they do sell vegan products. Other things that are not considered “vegan” are horse riding, zoos, and use of animals in sport, hunting, aquaria, and circuses and so on. This is because all of them involve using animals for personal gain, whether it is for monetary gain or personal enjoyment. There are also other problems related to such which often involves actually physical cruelty to the animal such as the use of the crop in horse riding, or the beating of animals in order to train them for circuses.
What about alcohol?
A lot of alcoholic beverages such as beer contain traces of isinglass which is from the gall bladder of a fish. This is because beer is often refined with isinglass. Also some beers, such as Guinness contain dairy products. Alcoholic beverages suitable for vegans are available though. Some animal friendly beers include: Budweiser, Banana Bread Beer, Heineken Export, and Kingfisher.
Most wines on sale in off-licences and supermarkets have been fined using one of the following: blood, bone marrow, chitin (organic base of the hard parts of insects and crustacea such as shrimps and crabs), egg albumen (egg white), fish oil, gelatin(e) (jelly obtained by boiling animal tissues such as skin, tendons, ligaments, etc or bones), isinglass (from the air bladders of fish), milk or milk casein. However there are vegan friendly wines available. Co-op will label whether any their wines are vegan or not.
What other animals are killed for animal products?
Ducks, Turkeys, Goats, Llamas, Guinea Pigs, Horses, Rats, Deer, Frogs, Toads, Dogs, Cats, Seals, Sharks, Whales, Spiders, Monkeys, Lizards, Silkworms, Grubs, Lions, Tigers, Rhinos, etc. Simply put nearly every known animal species and breed on this planet has been exploited and/or killed for a product or service that they can unwillingly and unnecessarily provide.
What is gelatine?
Gelatine is a substance derived from the boiling of ligaments, bones, tissues, etc. of an animal. It is commonly found in jellied sweets and jellies. Sweets that are gelatine free are available; however they are not commonly sold and tend to be only sold in specialist stores. For making desserts containing gelatine supermarkets often stock vege-gelatine.
How can I tell what products are vegan and what aren’t?
Most supermarkets will have their own labelling scheme for vegan store-brand items which will make it clear whether the product is vegan or not. I.E. Tesco uses a white ‘V’ on its products that are vegan. There will also be a Vegan Society logo on some products too. Even if there is no label on it, it can still be vegan if you carefully check the ingredients. Products labelled as “suitable for vegetarians” can also, luckily be suitable for vegans too, however be warned, there will be animal derivatives from milk or eggs that are not easily recognisable. Also, a lot of E numbers are animal derived. For non-animal tested products such as shampoo and conditioner and toothpaste, the BUAV rabbit logo will be on the product casing which shows that the product or its ingredients have not been tested on animals. It is also often the case that the product will contain no animal ingredients either. Co-Op is one of the main supermarkets that stock BUAV approved household goods.
What E numbers and additives are animal derived?
E120 - cochineal
E542 - edible bone phosphate
E631 - sodium 5'-inosinate
E901 - beeswax
E904 – shellac
Calcium mesoinositol, hexaphosphate, lactose, and sperm oil/spermaceti are also animal derived.
Other E numbers that are possible animal derivatives but can also be gotten from plant sources include:
E101 - riboflavin, lactoflavin, vitamin B2
E101(a) - riboflavin 5'-phosphate
E153 (believed animal-free version only may be used in food) - carbon black, vegetable carbon
E161(b) - lutein
E161(g) - canthaxanthin
E236 - formic acid
E237 - sodium formate
E238 - calcium formate
E270 - lactic acid
E322 - lecithin
E325 - sodium lactate
E326 - potassium lactate
E327 - calcium lactate
E422 - glycerol (glycerine)
E430 (believed to be no longer permitted in food) - polyoxyethylene (8) stearate, polyoxyl (8) stearate
E431 - polyoxyethylene (40) stearate, polyoxyl (40) stearate
E432 - polyoxyethylene sorbitan monolaurate, polysorbate 20, tween 20
E433 - polyoxyethylene sorbitan mono-oleate, polysorbate 80, tween 80
E434 - polyoxyethylene sorbitan monopalmitate, polysorbate 40, tween 40
E435 - polyoxyethylene sorbitan monostearate, polysorbate 60, tween 60
E436 - polyoxyethylene sorbitan tristearate, polysorbate 65, tween 65
E470(a) - sodium, potassium and calcium slats of fatty acids
E470(b) - magnesium salts of fatty acids
E471 - glycerides of fatty acids, glyceryl monostearate, glyceryl distearate
E472(a) - acetic acid esters of glycerides of fatty acids, acetoglycerides, glycerol esters
E472(b) - lactic acid esters of glycerides of fatty acids, lactylated glycerides, lactoglycerides
E472(c) - citric acid esters of glycerides of fatty acids
E472(d) - tartaric acid esters of glycerides of fatty acids
E472(e) - mono and diacetyltartaric acid esters of glycerides of fatty acids
E472(f) - mixed acetic and tartaric acid esters of mono- and di-glycerides of fatty acids
E473 - sucrose esters of fatty acids
E474 - sucroglycerides
E475 - polyglycerol esters of fatty acids
E476 - polyglycerol esters of polycondensed fatty acids of castor oil, polyglycerol polyricinoleate; - polyglycerol esters of dimerized fatty acids of soya bean oil
E477 - propylene glycol esters of fatty acids; propane-1,2-diol esters of fatty acids
E478 - lactylated fatty acid esters of gylcerol and propane-1,2-diol
E479(b) - thermally oxidized soya bean oil interacted with mono- and di-glycerides of fatty acids
E481 - sodium stearoyl-2-lactylate
E482 - calcium stearoyl-2-lactylate
E483 - stearyl tartrate
E491 - sorbitan monostearate
E492 - sorbitan tristearate, span 65
E493 - sorbitan monolaurate, span 20
E494 - sorbitan mono-oleate, span 80
E495 - sorbitan monopalmitate, span 40
E570 - fatty acids (including myristic, stearic, palmitic and oleic), butyl stearate
E572 - magnesium salts of fatty acids (including magnesium stearate); - calcium stearate
E585 - ferrous lactate
E627 - guanosine 5'-disodium phosphate, sodium guanylate, disodium guanylate
E635 - sodium 5'-ribonucleotide
E640 - glycine and its sodium salt
E920 - L-cysteine hydrochloride
E1518 - glyceryl mono-, di- and tri-acetate (triacetin) calcium hepatonate calcium phytate diacetin glyceryl leucine monoacetin oxystearin any unspecified flavourings
Since most products do not specify where the e number has come from it is often best to check online for information about the product and whether it is vegan or not or by contacting the company for information.
What other products are vegans advised to watch out for?
• Bristles in brushes such as paintbrushes, cosmetic brushes, toothbrushes etc. – these may contain pig hairs as bristles.
• Chewing gum may contain oleo stock (derived from beef fat)
• Jewellery containing insects – some insects such as butterflies are put in resin alive and used for jewellery.
• Deodorants, mouthwash and cream may contain human or animal derived urea (from urine).
• Cotton – uses animal based ingredients.
• Film can contain gelatine and may be tinted with carmine (produced by drying and pulverising a species of beetle; 70,000 beetles produce one pound of this red dye).
• Foam rubber is held together by fibres containing animal blood and urea.
• Medicines can contain the following:
- Cortisone (from cows livers)
- Heparin (from pigs thyroids)
- Insulin (usually from pig and cow pancreas)
- Pig enzymes used in dissolving blood clots.
- Sheep’s and chicken’s blood used to diagnose infections.
- Pig’s skin is used in burn treatments.
• Garden fertilizers may contain bone meal (macerated cow bones), dried blood, urea, fish guts, fish heads, fish tails and finely shredded chicken feathers.
• Hyaluronic Acid is a lubricant derived from umbilical cords, rooster combs, and joint fluid. It is used in things such as shaving cream.
• Musical instruments – things such as violin strings may be made from dried sheep’s intestines, piano keys can be made from animal bones – antique piano keys are often made from ivory (elephant tusks, rhino horns etc), records, tapes and cds all contain animal ingredients.
• Pearls come from oysters.
• Perfume may contain castor, civet and musk, ingredients extracted from around the genitalia of wild-caught beavers, civet cats and Asian deer; extracts may also be taken from muskrat and otter, ambergris from whales, spermaceti from dolphins, squalene from sharks and turtle oil from turtles.
• Quanine is used to add shimmer to cosmetics, this comes from fish scales.
• Refrigerators and air conditioners use freon, a cooling agent containing animal fat.
• Shells and coral for jewellery and decoration: causes the slaughter of millions of marine lives, and the disappearance of reefs as they are broken to obtain coral which in turn leads to an unbalanced ecosystem.
• Shoe polish - most commercial brands contain cow blood.
• Sweets may be coloured with carmine, produced by drying and pulverising a species of beetle.
• Tennis rackets are often made of dried sheep intestines.
• Tortoises and turtles are used for oil, combs, jewellery, spectacle frames: these creatures are captured, their living flesh dug out as they lie upturned with their living flippers roughly 'sewn' together with wire.
• Trophies such as lions' heads, stuffed animals and the like: have made a number of species extinct.
• Vehicle products such as antifreeze and hydraulic brake fluid contain slaughterhouse by-products. Car polish has beeswax or mink oil. Tyres and steel are processed with and contain animal by-products.
• Writing implements contain ink which contains animal ingredients; felt in felt-tip pens may be made from animal hide and hair; crayons and chalk contain fatty acids derived from pigs.
Anywho...
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Veganism
Definition: A diet that excludes all meat, fish and dairy products as well as any food derived from a living animal such as eggs.
Why: Some reasons people go vegan for include:
• Health
The consumption of animal fats and proteins has been linked to heart disease, colon and lung cancer, osteoporosis, diabetes, kidney disease, hypertension, obesity, and a number of other debilitating conditions. Cows' milk contains ideal amounts of fat and protein for young calves, but far too much for humans – due to this milk consumption increases risk of osteoporosis. Milk also contains morphine as it is naturally created in the cow’s body which passes into the blood stream and then passes through into the udder. This and opiates within milk make it slightly addictive. By removing curds and whey to make cheese, the opiates are more concentrated and have about 1/10 the addictive power of morphine. As well as this pus will leak into the milk that is being withdrawn from the udder. And eggs are higher in cholesterol than any other food, making them a leading contributor to cardiovascular disease. The American Dietetic Association reports that vegetarian/vegan diets are associated with reduced risks for all of these conditions. This is because vegetables and fruit are abundant in antioxidants which fight free radicals, which are compounds in the body that attack and destroy cell membranes. The uncontrolled activity of free radicals is believed to cause many cancers.
• Environment
Climate Change
Animal agriculture is one of the major contributors to global warming, and thus, climate change.
“According to a 2006 United Nations report, animal agriculture is responsible for 18% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions as measured in CO2 equivalents. By comparison, all transportation emits 13.5% of the CO2. In addition to increased CO2 emissions, animal agriculture produces 65% percent of human-related nitrous oxide (which has 296 times the global warming potential of CO2) and 37% of all human-induced methane (which is 23 times as warming as CO2)”
- wikipedia.org “Climate Change”
Land
The land used to farm animals is far greater than the land needed to produce vegetables and fruit;
Food Land per kg (m2) Calories per kilogram Land per person per year (m2)
Beef 20.9 2800 8173
Pork 8.9 3760 2592
Eggs 3.5 1600 2395
Milk 1.2 640 2053
Fruit 0.5 400 1369
Vegetables 0.3 250 1314
Potatoes 0.2 800 274
-Vegan Society.co.uk
Water
Worldwide, agriculture uses up 70% of fresh water resources. This is largely because a lot of cropland has to be irrigated to make it agriculturally viable and to increase and improve crop yields.
As has been shown, much of this land is entirely wasted by being used to grow feed crops for livestock rather than food for people. The water used on this land - as well as that consumed directly by livestock.
Comparison of water use in beef and wheat production; Source: Beckett & Oltjen, 1993; USDA nutritional database:
Calories Digestible protein Water Calories per litre Protein per litre
Wheat 3300 100 120 27.50 0.833
Beef 2800 174 3700 0.76 0.047
Wheat/Beef 36 18
Pollution
Agriculture is also the number one water polluter. Livestock production pollutes our groundwater, streams and rivers directly through manure and slurry and indirectly through the pesticides used on feed crops.
Manure contains high levels of nitrogen and phosphorus. These elements can leach into groundwater and run off to pollute lakes and waterways, where they encourage algal blooms that block sunlight and encourage bacteria which deplete the water of oxygen, in the worst cases killing all the fish and endangering the health of other animals in the area. This process is known as eutrophication, and farming is the major cause.
Slurry, which is made up of manure and urine, contains high levels of ammonia, which can adversely affect plant growth and contributes to acid rain, further damaging water and air quality and contributing to loss of biodiversity. Of 208,000 tonnes of ammonia emitted in the Netherlands in 1993, 181,000 tonnes were estimated to come from manure. According to the Environment Agency, 5% of Britain's Sites of Special Scientific Interest suffer from acidification.
• Animals
Through the consumption and use of animals, their bodily excretions and by-products abuse, exploitation, suffering and death is prevalent.
Animals are sentient beings that are able to feel pain and experience suffering. Every year 21 billion animals are used and killed through animal agriculture alone. This is 3 and a half times the estimated human population.
Marine Life
Fishing and the varying forms involves the catching by various methods of ocean life such as fish, sharks, dolphins, whales, crabs, and so on. For inland fishing, a hook is often used and bait on the end of the hook is used to lure the fish. Fish need to be in water to breathe. Taking them out of their environment causes asphyxiation for the fish. Methods of catching marine life such as dolphins (both young and old) include Drive Hunting; this involves hunters banging metal poles in the water and surrounding the dolphins. The banging sound confuses the dolphin’s sonar, allowing the dolphin hunters to drive them into shallow water. Then the killing begins – often involving harpoons thrust into the dolphins as they struggle in the shallow waters. The dolphins often are still alive when they are dragged out of the water to a roadside and left to die from blood loss in full view of passers-by. Whales are also similarly killed this way by being driven into shallow waters only to be slaughtered with knifes sawing through the flesh of the spinal cord to cut the arteries to the brain. Another method of slaughtering whales and dolphins that is used is by launching harpoons with grenades in the tip at the animals. If they do not die they are shot at with guns when hoisted aboard the whaling vessel.
Certain types of fishing nets also pick up ocean life of which weren’t intended. The most destructive type of fishing is the use of driftnets. These can be anything up to 50km long and they hang in the water, like 'curtains of death' catching everything in their path: sea turtles, seabirds, sharks, whales, dolphins, seals - driftnets do not discriminate. They are now illegal in the European Union, although lobbying from Sweden, Denmark and Finland ensured that this method was allowed to continue in the Baltic Sea.
Pigs
Like most farm animals, pigs undergo intensive farming where they are housed with little room to perform natural behaviours. This can lead to cannibalism between pigs.
Sows are often incarcerated in small cages, unable to even turn around when pregnant. Huge numbers of 'fattening' pigs are kept in vast numbers in barren conditions. Mutilations such as tail-docking and teeth-clipping are routine. Tail-docking is done to prevent pigs from chewing each others tails out of boredom and frustration.
Sheep
Australian Wool: It is estimated that there are now around 94.5 million sheep in Australia. Flocks consist of thousands of sheep and individual attention to the animals' needs is considered uneconomical. 20-25% of lambs die at birth or before the age of eight weeks from exposure to extreme weather conditions or starvation. Lambs undergo ear punching for identification, tail docking, castration, dipping, spraying and mulesing (see below). Rams are regarded as too difficult to handle, so the vast majority of male sheep are wethers (castrated rams). After these procedures, lambs may suffer shock, profuse bleeding, blood poisoning, tetanus, dislocated joints and arthritis.
The Merino is the most commonly used breed in Australia. It is bred specifically for its wrinkly skin and fine white wool. Wrinkly skin means more wool per sheep and thus more money for the farmer. This unnatural overload of wool causes animals to die of heat exhaustion during hot spells, and the wrinkles collect urine and moisture. Attracted to the moisture, flies lay eggs in the folds of skin, and the hatched maggots may actually eat sheep alive (flystrike also occurs in the UK). The sheep will suffer agonising pain.
To counter flystrike a procedure called mulesing (illegal in Britain) is carried out on most of the lambs and sheep. Farmers carve strips of flesh (not wool) from around the anal and vaginal area of sheep without anaesthetic or any training or qualification requirements. This leaves a smooth scar that won't harbour fly eggs. However flies are often attracted to the dreadful wounds before they heal, often causing infection and intensifying the pain and suffering for the sheep. An estimated one million Australian sheep die every year of exposure after shearing.
UK Wool: Wool insulates sheep from the cold in the winter and the heat in the summer although specialist breeding ensures more wool than is actually natural or necessary. Whilst in full fleece they find it difficult to cope with local irritations and usually seek a post or rail to scratch on (sheep rarely groom each other). In the absence of a suitable object to rub against they will roll on to their backs. When in full fleece or heavily pregnant they may fail to get up and, if not seen, will die. Not all lambs recognise their mother without her coat and the ewe may not be able to count her lambs correctly, this can result in lambs starving to death.
Wool is normally removed from sheep during the early summer. However, it can be done in very early spring or in winter soon after housing. The majority are shorn for the first time at 14-15 months old, and then annually. Wet, windy and cold conditions can result in severe chilling, and in some cases, death. It takes 7-8 weeks for the coat to grow sufficiently to protect the animal. Winter shearing has been widely adopted in some areas, particularly south west England, as a consequence of winter housing. Initially, the main benefit was the reduction in pen and trough space requirement.
Contract shearing is now well-established throughout the UK and such teams are usually well equipped, bringing with them their own equipment. Contract shearers clip between 120-150 sheep per day. Sheep shearers work at breakneck pace and rarely fail to nick or cut the animals, which are manhandled and pinned to the ground like rodeo steers on a bad day. Some rams have their pizzles cut straight off.
Castration: Around 8 million lambs are castrated each year. Scientific research shows that this procedure causes severe pain. Farmers say they castrate their lambs to help fatten them up or because once they become sexually mature they become aggressive and breed indiscriminately. Many lambs, however, are slaughtered before reaching the age of sexual maturity so this rather invalidates their argument. In 1994 FAWC urged farmers to stop castrating their lambs but this has been largely ignored. Castration is usually carried out by the following methods:
• Application of a tight rubber ring carried out without anaesthetic less than one week of age.
• Application of a bloodless castrator such as the Burdizzo (which crushes the blood vessels leading to the testicles).
• Surgical castration involving cutting the skin carried out without anaesthetic up to three months of age.
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Haemorrhage and local infections are always a risk and may lead to death.
Tail docking: Tail docking is carried out to reduce the risk of sheep contracting maggots through flystrike. However, it is carried out without anaesthetic and is an extremely painful and traumatic experience for young lambs.
It is carried out by the following methods:
• The application of a rubber ring.
• Cutting with a sharp knife which may cause haemorrhaging, the risk of infection of the exposed stump or death.
• The application of a hot iron.
Breeding: Ewes are increasingly bred to produce twins or triplets although they only have two teats and can only feed one or two lambs. During lambing "spare" lambs are forced to adopt ewes with a spare teat. One way that this is done is to skin a dead infant and put the skin over the "spare" lamb - it is hoped that this will persuade the ewe that the new lamb is in fact her own. The ewe may also be held by her neck in an ‘adopter box’ (a wooden contraption resembling a stocks) for up to five days to prevent her from rejecting the newly born lamb. Once ewes are unfit for breeding, they are sent for slaughter.
Slaughter: Not all sheep reach the abattoir. It is illegal to transport unfit lambs and sheep so they may be killed on the farm. The term 'unfit' is difficult to define but in legislation it includes 'infirm, diseased, ill, injured and fatigued’ animals. Unfit sheep should not be transported and farmers do leave them on the farm to die, which FAWC strongly condemned. FAWC recommend shooting sheep older than 2-3 weeks; with lambs younger than 2-3 weeks of age to be held by the back legs and killed by stunning with a heavy stick to the back of the head, then bled by cutting a large blood vessel in the neck.
Sheep are usually slaughtered by electrical stunning followed by throat cutting. Stunning, however, may not be very effective and sheep might regain consciousness when they have their throats slit or while blood is being drained from their body. Animals used for kosher meat are not stunned prior to being bled. FAWC considers that “killing without pre-stunning is unacceptable” because of the level of suffering involved.
(Source: www.vegansociety.com/html/animals/exploitation/sheep.php)
Lamb and Astrakhan
Astrakhan is aborted lambs skin/fur. It is used to make clothing and is often highly expensive. The process of obtaining this skin/fur requires killing a pregnant ewe and removing her lamb, then killing the lamb for its pelt.
Cows
Leather: Leather is an integral part of the livestock trade. Leather sales help keep slaughterhouses in business and the meat industry profitable. Most of the millions of cows who are slaughtered for their skins endure the horrors of factory farming - overcrowding, deprivation of all that is natural to them and unanaesthetised castration, branding, tail-docking and dehorning. At the end of their miserable lives, their throats are slit, and they are hung upside-down and bled to death. Also, mordants and other chemicals often used to treat leather are linked to nervous disorders, asthma, premature death, gynaecological disorders, weakness, dizziness, headaches, abdominal pain, nausea, constipation, skin and respiratory infections, cancer and other serious illnesses.
Indian Leather: Most of the world’s leather also comes from cows from India. In India, the majority of Hindu populations hold the cow in higher regard more than any other animal. Some consider them holy and deserving of protection, not only from cruelty, but also from slaughter for their flesh and skin. However the demand for cheap leather encourages illegal activities in order to obtain the leather and also meat.
Cattle are sold for slaughter at huge markets where there is typically no veterinarian and where injured animals get left behind. Although the current law states no more than six cattle can be transported per lorry, up to forty are crammed on top of each other on the long trips to the slaughterhouses. The animals frequently gore and blind one another with their horns or break their pelvises when forced to jump from the trucks. Some suffocate. Live animals struggle under the dead and dying for hours on the long, hot journeys. These cow 'death trains' are operated by the state-owned railway.
India's constitution prohibits the killing of healthy, young cattle. To get around this, dealers often deliberately break the animals' legs or poison them so that they can be declared unhealthy and therefore suitable for slaughter. Cow slaughter is permitted in just two provinces, the communist-ruled states of West Bengal in the east and Kerala in the south. Although it is illegal to transport animals for slaughter across state borders, traders bribe officials to look the other way as they pack the cows into rail cars or trucks headed for one of the two provinces. Thousands of others are surreptitiously herded overland - tied together with ropes running through their pierced noses - forced to march hundreds of kilometres in searing heat, often without food or water. If they collapse from exhaustion, herders snap the bones in their tails or rub chilli seeds and tobacco into their eyes to make them walk again.
There are approximately 3,600 slaughterhouses operating legally in India. However, there are estimated to be over 30,000 illegal slaughterhouses. Animals that survive transportation are frequently so sick that they have to be dragged into the slaughterhouse where they can see others dying before they themselves have their throats cut with blunt knives. There have been documented cases of cattle having their legs hacked off whilst still conscious and animals being skinned alive.
Chickens
Chickens receive the lowest welfare standards out of all the common ‘meat-producing’ animals. Chickens are often kept in large barns in their hundreds. There is little room to move about and they are walking about in their own faecal matter and the carcasses of their fellows who did not survive. In these intense barn situations chickens are de-beaked to stop them pecking each other or committing cannibalism.
Hens + Eggs
The majority of the eggs you see on shop shelves will come from battery farmed hens. Battery farming is a form of intensive factory farming where hens are crammed into a cage so small that they cannot stretch their wings, let alone walk or peck and scratch at the ground. Under these conditions hens are prevented from performing most of their natural behaviours, such as dust bathing, perching and laying their eggs in a nest. Up to 90,000 caged hens can be crammed into one windowless shed. The cages in Europe are stacked between 4 and 9 cages high. Japan is said to have the world's highest battery cage unit, with cages stacked 18 tiers high.
Battery hens suffer Caged Layer Osteoporosis (CLO), or brittle bones. Research has shown that 35% of premature deaths in cages are due to CLO, a slow death from paralysis and starvation at the back of the cage.
Confined to the cage, the hen is unable to forage by scratching and pecking at the ground. Under natural conditions a large proportion of a hen's day would be spent looking for food. Denied this simple activity, the hen's claws can grow long or twisted and be torn off. They can even grow around the wire mesh of the sloping cage floor. The slope itself puts painful pressure on the hen's toes, causing damage to the bird's feet.
Many hens are debeaked. A red-hot blade sears off a chunk of the birds' sensitive beak. This suffering is caused in order to stop birds pecking at each other or cannibalising, common problems on commercial egg farms - whether caged or free range.
Spent hens – hens that are not commercially viable as they are not producing enough eggs, are sent for a slaughter after a year of egg production. This is done by catching them and then bundling them into crates before being transported by lorry to the slaughterhouse. On average 29% of the battery hens arriving at the slaughterhouse are reported to have at least one freshly broken bone.
"Spent" hens can be worth as little as two pence per bird. After slaughter their carcasses will be used in chicken soups, pastes, pies, pet food, etc.
For every hen hatched for egg laying there is a cock chick that is killed almost immediately after struggling from the egg. Modern selective breeding techniques have resulted in distinct strains of chicken for egg laying and meat production. This breed specialisation has gone so far that birds of the laying strain do not make good meat birds. As male birds of the laying strain do not lay eggs and will not produce meat efficiently, they are killed when a day old. Their carcasses will often be dumped into a dumpster out back.
It also takes 3 kilos of grain as chicken feed to produce one kilo of eggs. This is because the conversion of crops by farm animals into food for humans is grossly inefficient. And it is not only food, such as grain, which could be fed directly to humans, that is wasted. Each battery egg takes about 180 litres of water to produce.
The wild counterpart of the hen will only lay 5-6 eggs a year. Eggs also provide sufficient nutrients for under-nourished hens.
Geese, Ducks, Turkeys and Other Birds
Other than the common use for meat, geese and ducks are used for foie gras production. Foie gras is translated to ‘fatty liver’. It is an industry where geese and ducks are force fed with metal rods or plastic tubes in order for their livers to become fatty and diseased. The process involves the following:
• at 12 weeks old, ducks and geese are restrained, a metal pipe is inserted into their throat, and grain is pushed down the throat into the birds stomachs, a process that often results in physical injury
• they are forcibly fed the equivalent to an adult human eating up to 28 lbs (13kg) of spaghetti a day. After two or three weeks, when they are ready for slaughter, their livers will have increased to about ten times their normal size
• their swollen liver expands the abdomen and can make movement and breathing difficult, as well as causing other health problems
• most birds are kept in wire cages which are so small that they have no room to turn around or stretch their wings, and their feet are often injured by the wire floor
• many die before the end of the force-feeding cycle and the mortality rate for ducks raised on foie gras farms is the highest in the poultry farming industry
(Source: www.banfoiegras.org.uk/)
Turkeys are used commonly for meat – especially around Christmas time. In the wild turkeys can live up to ten years, however, captive turkeys bred for meat will be slaughtered at a minimum of 8 weeks old and a maximum of 26 weeks of age. Turkeys (as well as many other birds) receive the lowest welfare standards and are farmed intensively. There are two main turkey farming systems:
- Windowless units; these are the most common. Up to 25,000 turkeys can be kept in one windowless shed. The birds are crowded together like broiler chickens, on a litter floor. Many develop ulcerated feet and painful burns on their legs and breasts as they spend their short lives standing on litter which often becomes wet, dirty and produces ammonia. Lighting is dim to discourage aggression.
- Pole barns; barns that allow daylight and ventilation but will involve a similar setting tot hat of windowless units.
Roughly 35 million turkeys are killed every year in the UK. Slaughter methods for turkeys include decapitation, breaking of the neck, gas stunning then throat slitting, electric stunning then throat slitting.
Dairy + Veal
Milk is a substance created by the mammary glands of the cow for her calf to nourish itself on until it has been fully weaned. However, to gain milk for human consumption, the calf has to be disallowed this vital nutrition. This is done by taking away the calf 24-48 hours after birth. The cow also has to be continuously impregnated in order to keep up with the demand for cow’s milk.
If the calve is female she will most likely be selected as "herd replacements" for when the original cows have stopped producing the wanted amount of milk that the humans take. If the female calf has more than four teets the extra teets are sliced off. When a cow has reached the point where she is considered “commercially unviable” she will be sent off for slaughter. Calves that are reared for the cowshed usually spend their first 6-8 weeks of life confined individually in narrow pens. Taken from their mother, and unable to interact meaningfully with their fellows, these calves suffer behavioural deprivation, which can affect them for life. Alternatively, calves may be reared in groups. With either method, calves are usually fed by artificial teat or bucket.
If the calve is male he will either be exported to other countries for veal production or killed on site when he is a couple of days old. Veal production involves placing the calves individually into tiny narrow crates with ropes tied around their neck, and fed food that is deficient in specific nutrients such as iron. The whole aim of this is to make the calf anaemic and thus make their flesh “white and tender”. After 6-8 months of this intensive farming, the calves are sent off to slaughter.
The young calf is particularly vulnerable to disease. To help boost the calve's immunity, it is essential that they receive colostrum, the mother's first milk, which contains extra nutrients and antibodies against disease. However, calves born to mothers with long, pendulous udders can have difficulty locating the udder. Each year, about 170,000 calves die within their first month of life. Scouring (diarrhoea) and respiratory infections are common killers.
Also, due to the immense strain put on the cow being milked whilst pregnant, she is likely to do what is known as “the splits”. This is where the pressure from both being milked and carrying her unborn calf causes her back legs to give way. To stop the cow’s legs from doing “the splits”, farmers often shackle the back legs together.
Rennet: Cheese is made by coagulating milk to give curds which are then separated from the liquid, whey, after which they can be processed and matured to produce a wide variety of cheeses. Milk is coagulated by the addition of rennet. Rennet is a substance obtained from the stomach of a slaughtered newly born calf. Rennet is a by-product of the veal industry.
Horses
Ex-race horses, horses bred for racing that do not get chosen to be raced, ex-riding horses, etc. all will meet an end in the slaughterhouse unless otherwise saved or killed. Their flesh is commonly sold to foreign countries for sale as meat however some places in the UK still sell horse meat.
Bees + Honey
Honey is pre-digested food made by bees from nectar. The bees collect the nectar from flowers and store it in their primary or honey stomach. Here it is partially digested and converted into the substance we call honey. It is a food source of the bee and is stored in the hive for the lean winter months. The metabolism of honey by the bee creates heat, which maintains the temperature of the hive at 17-34 degrees C. The colony requires approximately 200 lbs of honey a year to survive. It is used by humans as a food, as a medicine and in cosmetics and toiletries.
Queen bees are artificially inseminated with sperm obtained from decapitated bees. Queens are systematically slaughtered every two years because over time their egg producing abilities decline so their whole hive becomes unproductive and uneconomic. In Israel they are killed and re-queened every year.
When beekeepers manipulate combs many bees are crushed and killed. Hives have smoke puffed into them to calm bees down and make them easier to handle. Special excluders or devices that violate the bees' space are attached to hives to collect bee products from bees as they enter hives. Bees are separated from their hives by being shaken vigorously or jetted out with powerful streams of air. They may have their legs and wings clipped off. Clipping the wings of queen bees prevents them from swarming (flying off!).
Swarming is the natural way for reproduction, increase and survival of the species, at least in the wild. However, beekeepers are constantly trying to prevent this natural phenomenon and will use artificial pheromones, wing clipping and cage queens to keep their colony under control.
Bees are also used in the vivisection industry.
Fur
Animals such as foxes, racoons, chinchillas, rabbits, dogs, cats, and so on are farmed for their fur all around the world. Other animals such as seals are hunted or trapped for their fur.
Common practice on fur farms involves sheds containing cages upon cages filled with animals awaiting their inevitable death – just for their pelts. Many will start to run in circles within their cages due to the lack of any environmental stimulation in their barren cages.
Their demise is no less kind. Common methods include inserting an electrical rod in the anus and mouth in order to electrocute the animal. Other methods include stamping on the neck to break it or bashing around the head of the animal with a large blunt object. In the worst cases, animals will be skinned whilst fully conscious.
There are no fur farms in Britain to date that are known of however fur farms exist in the US, Canada, Russia, varying European countries, China, and so on. Fur is used for clothing, shoes, fancy pillows and other accessories. Even items labelled as faux fur turn out to include real fur due to false labelling.
Slaughter Methods
Different slaughter methods include:
- Shackling the animal up on a rotation belt that goes along some blades so that the animals throat is slit (e.g. chickens)
- Shackling the animal up by its hind leg and slitting the throat of said animal, and then allowing the blood to drain out either onto the kill floor or into a bucket. (e.g. pigs, sheep, cows)
- Using a captive bolt gun or gun to shoot the animal in the head; however you do not require a license to use this apparatus and often poor aim results in increased suffering. (e.g. cows, pigs)
- Stun gun; the animal is given a bolt of electricity through the body via stun gun however the voltage is often not high enough resulting in increased suffering. (e.g. pigs)
- Placing the animal in a machine that turns them upside down so that the slaughter worker can easily cut out the animal’s trachea whilst the animal is still alive. The animal will then be dumped out of the machine onto the kill floor and left to die. (e.g. cows)
- Dipping in boiling fat to scold the animal to death (e.g. chickens, pigs)
- Stabbing the animal to death (e.g. dolphins)
- Grenades on the end of harpoons (e.g. dolphins and whales)
- Cutting the spinal cord (e.g. whales)
Slaughter methods vary from country to country and farm to farm. Some will also be used in conjunction with each other. E.g. stunning and slitting of the throat.
• Religious Beliefs/Teachings
One of the primary reasons to live a vegan lifestyle is because of religious beliefs. Many religions support healthy eating, including Seventh-Day Adventists, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, and Muslims. Although not every member of any religion is vegan, many are vegetarian and others are at least careful of what they eat.
Judaism
Biblical basis for veganism exists right from the very first book. In Genesis 1:29 “…God said, ‘Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you.” Other translations say, “…it shall be for meat”. Although we usually use the word ‘meat’ to describe animal flesh, its original definition simply refers to any “solid food as distinguished from drink.” (Merriam-Webster) This verse never mentions God giving us animals to eat. In fact, up until the after the flood, eating of animal flesh was unheard of.
In Genesis 9, God does give permission to eat flesh. Being flooded, the earth went through major geologic changes. Needless to say, there would not have been an adequate supply of plant-based foods for the Noah and his family. Though Genesis 6:21 suggests that the animals and themselves ate only vegetarian food while on the ark, it would not have been practical to store food for the first few months back on dry land. While God does allow the consumption of animal flesh, he never encourages it and it is no longer necessary.
As further support for veganism, the Bible clearly teaches that we are to care for the environment. Psalm 24:10 states: “The "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof." Deuteronomy 20:19-20 says “When you besiege a city a long time, to make war against it in order to capture it, you shall not destroy its trees by swinging an axe against them; for you may eat from them, and you shall not cut them down…Only the trees which you know are not fruit trees you shall destroy and cut down…” In living a vegan lifestyle, we are helping the environment. Though indirect, this is excellent Biblical support for veganism.
Christianity
Whether or not Jesus ate meat is irrelevant to the fact the teachings of Christian tie in will all three the major reasons for veganism: health, concern for animals, and protection of the environment.
Romans 12:1 says, “Therefore, I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.” Similarly, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.” Later on, Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10:31, “Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” Finally, III John says, “Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers.” These verses make it evident that it does matter what we eat.
In addition, Jesus message was one of love, compassion, and mercy. Today’s factory farms display the horrid proof that we are supporting the torture of animals when we make the choice to eat them. Supporting a healthy lifestyle that is kind to animals and helpful to the environment is undoubtedly a preferable choice.
Seventh Day Adventists
Ellen White, co-founder of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, strongly believed in vegetarianism with a preference for veganism. She stated, “God gave our first parents the food He designed that the race should eat. It was contrary to His plan to have the life of any creature taken. There was to be no death in Eden. The fruit of the trees in the garden was the food man's wants required.” Throughout her books she continues to emphasize that “Vegetables, fruits, and grains should compose our diet. Not an ounce of flesh meat should enter our stomachs. The eating of flesh is unnatural. We are to return to God's original purpose in the creation of man.”
She also commented on the efficiency of growing food for animals, and then using animals as food. “The diet of animals is vegetables and grains. Must the vegetables be animalized; must they be incorporated into the system of animals, before we get them? Must we obtain our vegetable diet by eating the flesh of dead creatures? God provided fruit in its natural state for our first parents. He gave to Adam charge over the garden, to dress it, and to care for it, saying, ‘To you it shall be for meat.’ One animal was not to destroy another animal for food.”
Hinduism
For thousands of years, vegetarianism was a principle of health and environmental ethics. In the ancient language Sanskrit, vegetarianism is known as shakahara. A vegetarian is a shakahari. Meat-eating is referred to as mansahara, making a meat-eater a mansahari. “Skaka” means vegetable, whereas mansa simply means “meat”. “Ahara” means “to consume, or eat.”
Though the colonization of India by other cultures has damaged the Hindu vegetarian ethic, it remains an ideal of thought and practice. Hindus emphasize that we should not have to kill in order to live. In Dancing with Siva, Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami explains: "Hindus teach vegetarianism as a way to live with a minimum of hurt to other beings, for to consume meat, fish, fowl or eggs is to participate indirectly in acts of cruelty and violence against the animal kingdom. The abhorrence of injury and killing of any kind leads quite naturally to a vegetarian diet, shakahara…”
Besides viewing vegetarianism as an obligation to God, Hindus believe that our actions will have karmic consequences. By inflicting injury, pain and death upon animals, Hindus believe that they will receive equal suffering in the future.
Hindus have also observed the health benefits of a strictly vegetarian or vegan diet. As explained in our section titled “Health Reasons for Veganism”, vegans tend to live longer, healthier lives with fewer health problems.
Lastly, Hindus know that the earth itself is suffering from destruction of the environment. Much of this is a consequent of raising huge quantities of animals for food. Read more about this important reason for veganism on our page about the environment.
Buddhism
Buddha’s famous quote “To become vegetarian is to step into the stream which leads to nirvana,” goes to show how the Buddhists also believe in peace and coexistence with the world around us. Many Buddhists live vegetarian or vegan lives because of the mercy they feel for the animals. “May all that have life be delivered from suffering” is an ancient Buddhist prayer started by Lord Buddha.
According to Lin Ching Shywan in “A Buddhist Perspective on Vegetarianism “, “Having a merciful and compassionate heart will show up in all aspects of one's life; but the simplest and most direct way is to follow a vegetarian diet.”
Similar to the Hindus, Buddhists believe in karma. The basic concept in Buddhist teaching is that “Good is rewarded with good; evil is rewarded with evil; and the rewarding of good and evil is only a matter of time."
Jainism
While their dietary beliefs are similar to that of the Buddhists and Hindus, Jains believe in the strictest form of vegetarianism. Vegetarianism is regarded as a way to peaceful coexistent will all living beings. Of course, the Jain diet does require harming plants, but it is done only out of necessity. Jains strive to minimize the amount of violence used in providing for their dietary needs. Even some plants that sustain other living beings, such as roots and some fruits, are eliminated from the Jain diet.
Islam
Founded by the Prophet Muhammad, Islam supports abstinence from pork, unclean meats, and any meat that has been improperly slaughtered. Many Muslims are vegetarian, including the Muslim Druses of Lebanon. Casey Kasem, a well-known celebrity, is a Muslim Druse and therefore a vegetarian.
In the Koran, many verses emphasize the equality humans have with animals. 6: 39 states, “There is not an animal that crawls in the earth, nor a bird that flies on its two wings, but they are communities like you…Then to their Lord shall they all be gathered together.”
In America, some Muslims have become vegan, as it is very difficult to obtain meat that comes from animals slaughtered according to Muslims principles.
Though not every Muslims believes that vegetarianism or vegan is necessary, the vegan lifestyle clearly goes in accordance with the Islamic faith.
(Source: library.thinkquest.org/C004833/religion_en.shtml)
Frequently Asked Questions
What do vegans eat? Don’t vegans just eat vegetables?
No, vegans eat a variety of different foods which usually fall into the main categories: Pulses, Grains, Nuts, Seeds, Pasta, Fruit, and Vegetables. Then there is mock meats, vegan cheese, soya milk, rice milk, and so on.
Where do vegans get their essential nutrients from?
Rough list:
• Protein: Wholegrains (e.g. wholewheat flour, bread and pasta, brown rice, oats, rye), nuts (e.g. hazels, cashews, brazils, almonds), seeds (sunflower, sesame, pumpkin), pulses (peas, beans, lentils), soya products (flour, soya milk, tofu, tempeh)
• Carbohydrates: Wholegrains, pulses, potatoes, fresh fruit, dried fruit
• Fats: Nuts and seeds (and their oils), vegan margarine, avocados
• Vitamin A - Carrots, spinach, pumpkins, tomatoes, dark greens, vegan margarines.
• Vitamin B - Nuts, wholegrains, oats, muesli, pulses (peas, beans, lentils), yeast extracts, green leafy vegetables, potatoes, mushrooms and dried fruit
• Vitamin B12 - Fortified yeast extracts (e.g. Marmite), soya milks (e.g. Plamil), TVP products, packeted veggie burger mixes, some cereals (e.g. Kellogg's Fruit & Fibre, Frosties or Common Sense Oat Bran Flakes). Seaweed and fermented products may contain some B12 but are not reliable sources.
• Vitamin C - Citrus fruits (e.g. oranges, lemons, grapefruit), red and blackcurrants, berries, green vegetables, potatoes
• Vitamin D - Action of sunlight on the skin, vegan margarines, some soya milks (e.g. Plamil)
• Vitamin E - Nuts, seeds, wholegrains, vegetable oils
• Calcium - Nuts, seeds, pulses, molasses, parsley, figs, sea vegetables, grains, fortified soya milks, hard tap water
• Iron - Nuts, seeds, pulses, grains, dried fruit, sea vegetables, parsley, green leafy vegetable
But it’s natural for humans to eat meat!
If it truly were natural for humans to eat meat we’d all be doing the behaviour without a second thought. Also, something that is natural does not automatically equate to it being right. Not to mention that humans need to process their meat in order for it to be easier to digest and also taste good to the palate. Naturally omnivorous animals do not process their meat in order to eat it. They eat it straight from the carcass as nature intended. Also, much of the meat that humans eat comes from animals far from their ancestors. Meat animals are selectively bred, genetically engineered and mutated so much that many of their characteristics and behaviours do not resemble that of their ancestors. Also, much of the meat humans eat comes from animals that are fed antibiotics – far from natural.
Don’t humans need meat to survive?
No, if that were so veganism (and branches of it) would be impossible, just as vegetarianism would be. One can even remain adequately healthy on a fruitarian diet (a diet that consists of fruit, nuts and seeds that have fallen naturally from a tree or plant). All the nutrients humans need in order to survive healthily can be obtained from non-animal sources. It should also be noted, a human living solely on a meat diet is likely to become seriously ill (and possibly die) whereas a human solely on a fruit and vegetable diet is more likely to thrive.
Humans cook their meat to get rid of bacteria!
No, humans cook their meat to make it taste nicer. Even before humans even contemplated the theory of small molecular organisms that caused illness and disease, humans processed their meat via cooking and seasoning and such.
But animals eat other animals so why shouldn’t we?!
Animals in the wild eat other animals to survive. We (well, we being the majority of the world) do not. Most humans consume and use animal products purely because of convenience and the moment’s satisfaction in the mouth (eating). Also, if one were to say that animals eat other animals in the wild so it’s ok for us to, then one can easily say that some animals DON’T eat other animals in the wild so it’s ok for us to do such too. Likewise, animals in the wild steal from other animals (i.e. some birds steal the eggs of others and raise them as their own), fight for dominance within hierarchies, kill the young of rival males, and so on. So if humans are willing to use animal behaviour as an excuse for something humans do, one could apply it to other things in life that humans do.
Why should we care about animals?
Most people believe that unnecessary suffering is bad. Other animals -- particularly vertebrates -- suffer physical pain and even emotional stress in much the same way humans do. Because of this, we should take animals' suffering seriously. Because animal products are not a necessary part of our diet, becoming vegan is one of the most effective ways to reduce animals' suffering. Another thing to think about is, how would you feel if you were in the position of the animals?
Won't the animals just die anyway? And if we don't eat the animals, won't they overrun the world?
We don't just happen to kill and eat animals to save them from dying a natural death. We breed more than 9 billion farm animals just in the U.S. each year because of the consumer demand for animal products. If we stop buying animal products, animal industries will have no incentive to keep breeding these animals.
Animals are killed humanely so what’s the problem?
If one were to take that stance, one could take that stance on the killing of humans. “But Mrs. A was killed with a gun – ‘humanely’ so the murderer should be let off”. Simply put, whether animals are killed ‘humanely’ or not is irrelevant, the fact that they are killed unnecessarily is the point that is being made. Also, the majority of animals entered into the food chain are NOT killed in what is considered a ‘humane manner’ and their lives were no doubt full of suffering too especially in cases such as veal calves and foie gras (geese and ducks are force fed in order to fatten up their livers and make the livers diseased which will be turned into pate or other delicacies).
What about Free Range/Organic?
As all free-range animals are still viewed as objects to be killed for food, they are subject to abusive handling, transport, and slaughter. Free-range animals, like all animals used for their milk and eggs, are still slaughtered at a fraction of their normal life expectancy. Free range can also mean a mere 15 minutes outside a day for laying hens. As well as this in order to get laying hens you have to have fertile eggs and half the eggs will hatch into male chicks. These are killed at once or raised as table birds (usually these days in broiler houses) and slaughtered as soon as they reach an economic weight. Organic milk still isn’t any walk in the park. Cows still have to have their young taken away in order for milk to be taken for human consumption. Animals on organic farms still die for human greed.
But I love Cheese/Ice Cream/Milk too much to give them up!
There are plenty of delicious alternatives available including Rice Dream, Tofutti, Cheezly, Swedish Glace, and Alpro Soya and so on.
But tofu is yucky!
Being vegan does not necessarily mean you have to consume tofu. Some vegans don’t eat tofu or mock meats at all.
But my going vegan won’t stop animal suffering; it won’t change anything will it?
Those wonderful words by Margaret Mead 'Never doubt that a small group of concerned citizens can change the world, indeed, it has been the only thing that has' By abstaining from consuming animal products we no longer fund the exploitation and set an example of compassion to others. Short term- we save over 100 animals a year by being vegan. Long term- we gather numbers that will eventually make exploitation of animals no longer economically viable. The numbers of vegans is always going up, profits going down.
What other forms of veganism are there?
Other forms of veganism include:
• Raw vegan - Abstains from eating all animal products and cooked foodstuffs, for health reasons and environmental concerns. Only eats raw foods.
• Fruitarian – someone who only eats fruits, nuts and seeds that fall naturally from a tree or plant.
• sXe - a philosophy invented by Ian Mackeye from Minor Threat as a counter to the rampant drug use, casual sex and drinking in the hardcore scene, followers abstain from casual sex, drug use and alcohol (and in some cases, caffeine). Whilst veganism is not a rule of sXe, veganism and sXe ideas mix perfectly.
What else does being vegan entail?
Vegans also do not wear any animal fibres or skins such as leather, wool, silk, cashmere, angora, astrakhan and fur. The majority of vegans will also boycott products that are tested on animals, including makeup, household goods and drugs. All of which have alternatives to such as animal friendly makeup, household goods and herbal medicines. Some vegans will also boycott certain companies such (i.e. GlaxoSmithKline, Proctor and Gamble) because they actively test on animals. They will boycott companies even if they do sell vegan products. Other things that are not considered “vegan” are horse riding, zoos, and use of animals in sport, hunting, aquaria, and circuses and so on. This is because all of them involve using animals for personal gain, whether it is for monetary gain or personal enjoyment. There are also other problems related to such which often involves actually physical cruelty to the animal such as the use of the crop in horse riding, or the beating of animals in order to train them for circuses.
What about alcohol?
A lot of alcoholic beverages such as beer contain traces of isinglass which is from the gall bladder of a fish. This is because beer is often refined with isinglass. Also some beers, such as Guinness contain dairy products. Alcoholic beverages suitable for vegans are available though. Some animal friendly beers include: Budweiser, Banana Bread Beer, Heineken Export, and Kingfisher.
Most wines on sale in off-licences and supermarkets have been fined using one of the following: blood, bone marrow, chitin (organic base of the hard parts of insects and crustacea such as shrimps and crabs), egg albumen (egg white), fish oil, gelatin(e) (jelly obtained by boiling animal tissues such as skin, tendons, ligaments, etc or bones), isinglass (from the air bladders of fish), milk or milk casein. However there are vegan friendly wines available. Co-op will label whether any their wines are vegan or not.
What other animals are killed for animal products?
Ducks, Turkeys, Goats, Llamas, Guinea Pigs, Horses, Rats, Deer, Frogs, Toads, Dogs, Cats, Seals, Sharks, Whales, Spiders, Monkeys, Lizards, Silkworms, Grubs, Lions, Tigers, Rhinos, etc. Simply put nearly every known animal species and breed on this planet has been exploited and/or killed for a product or service that they can unwillingly and unnecessarily provide.
What is gelatine?
Gelatine is a substance derived from the boiling of ligaments, bones, tissues, etc. of an animal. It is commonly found in jellied sweets and jellies. Sweets that are gelatine free are available; however they are not commonly sold and tend to be only sold in specialist stores. For making desserts containing gelatine supermarkets often stock vege-gelatine.
How can I tell what products are vegan and what aren’t?
Most supermarkets will have their own labelling scheme for vegan store-brand items which will make it clear whether the product is vegan or not. I.E. Tesco uses a white ‘V’ on its products that are vegan. There will also be a Vegan Society logo on some products too. Even if there is no label on it, it can still be vegan if you carefully check the ingredients. Products labelled as “suitable for vegetarians” can also, luckily be suitable for vegans too, however be warned, there will be animal derivatives from milk or eggs that are not easily recognisable. Also, a lot of E numbers are animal derived. For non-animal tested products such as shampoo and conditioner and toothpaste, the BUAV rabbit logo will be on the product casing which shows that the product or its ingredients have not been tested on animals. It is also often the case that the product will contain no animal ingredients either. Co-Op is one of the main supermarkets that stock BUAV approved household goods.
What E numbers and additives are animal derived?
E120 - cochineal
E542 - edible bone phosphate
E631 - sodium 5'-inosinate
E901 - beeswax
E904 – shellac
Calcium mesoinositol, hexaphosphate, lactose, and sperm oil/spermaceti are also animal derived.
Other E numbers that are possible animal derivatives but can also be gotten from plant sources include:
E101 - riboflavin, lactoflavin, vitamin B2
E101(a) - riboflavin 5'-phosphate
E153 (believed animal-free version only may be used in food) - carbon black, vegetable carbon
E161(b) - lutein
E161(g) - canthaxanthin
E236 - formic acid
E237 - sodium formate
E238 - calcium formate
E270 - lactic acid
E322 - lecithin
E325 - sodium lactate
E326 - potassium lactate
E327 - calcium lactate
E422 - glycerol (glycerine)
E430 (believed to be no longer permitted in food) - polyoxyethylene (8) stearate, polyoxyl (8) stearate
E431 - polyoxyethylene (40) stearate, polyoxyl (40) stearate
E432 - polyoxyethylene sorbitan monolaurate, polysorbate 20, tween 20
E433 - polyoxyethylene sorbitan mono-oleate, polysorbate 80, tween 80
E434 - polyoxyethylene sorbitan monopalmitate, polysorbate 40, tween 40
E435 - polyoxyethylene sorbitan monostearate, polysorbate 60, tween 60
E436 - polyoxyethylene sorbitan tristearate, polysorbate 65, tween 65
E470(a) - sodium, potassium and calcium slats of fatty acids
E470(b) - magnesium salts of fatty acids
E471 - glycerides of fatty acids, glyceryl monostearate, glyceryl distearate
E472(a) - acetic acid esters of glycerides of fatty acids, acetoglycerides, glycerol esters
E472(b) - lactic acid esters of glycerides of fatty acids, lactylated glycerides, lactoglycerides
E472(c) - citric acid esters of glycerides of fatty acids
E472(d) - tartaric acid esters of glycerides of fatty acids
E472(e) - mono and diacetyltartaric acid esters of glycerides of fatty acids
E472(f) - mixed acetic and tartaric acid esters of mono- and di-glycerides of fatty acids
E473 - sucrose esters of fatty acids
E474 - sucroglycerides
E475 - polyglycerol esters of fatty acids
E476 - polyglycerol esters of polycondensed fatty acids of castor oil, polyglycerol polyricinoleate; - polyglycerol esters of dimerized fatty acids of soya bean oil
E477 - propylene glycol esters of fatty acids; propane-1,2-diol esters of fatty acids
E478 - lactylated fatty acid esters of gylcerol and propane-1,2-diol
E479(b) - thermally oxidized soya bean oil interacted with mono- and di-glycerides of fatty acids
E481 - sodium stearoyl-2-lactylate
E482 - calcium stearoyl-2-lactylate
E483 - stearyl tartrate
E491 - sorbitan monostearate
E492 - sorbitan tristearate, span 65
E493 - sorbitan monolaurate, span 20
E494 - sorbitan mono-oleate, span 80
E495 - sorbitan monopalmitate, span 40
E570 - fatty acids (including myristic, stearic, palmitic and oleic), butyl stearate
E572 - magnesium salts of fatty acids (including magnesium stearate); - calcium stearate
E585 - ferrous lactate
E627 - guanosine 5'-disodium phosphate, sodium guanylate, disodium guanylate
E635 - sodium 5'-ribonucleotide
E640 - glycine and its sodium salt
E920 - L-cysteine hydrochloride
E1518 - glyceryl mono-, di- and tri-acetate (triacetin) calcium hepatonate calcium phytate diacetin glyceryl leucine monoacetin oxystearin any unspecified flavourings
Since most products do not specify where the e number has come from it is often best to check online for information about the product and whether it is vegan or not or by contacting the company for information.
What other products are vegans advised to watch out for?
• Bristles in brushes such as paintbrushes, cosmetic brushes, toothbrushes etc. – these may contain pig hairs as bristles.
• Chewing gum may contain oleo stock (derived from beef fat)
• Jewellery containing insects – some insects such as butterflies are put in resin alive and used for jewellery.
• Deodorants, mouthwash and cream may contain human or animal derived urea (from urine).
• Cotton – uses animal based ingredients.
• Film can contain gelatine and may be tinted with carmine (produced by drying and pulverising a species of beetle; 70,000 beetles produce one pound of this red dye).
• Foam rubber is held together by fibres containing animal blood and urea.
• Medicines can contain the following:
- Cortisone (from cows livers)
- Heparin (from pigs thyroids)
- Insulin (usually from pig and cow pancreas)
- Pig enzymes used in dissolving blood clots.
- Sheep’s and chicken’s blood used to diagnose infections.
- Pig’s skin is used in burn treatments.
• Garden fertilizers may contain bone meal (macerated cow bones), dried blood, urea, fish guts, fish heads, fish tails and finely shredded chicken feathers.
• Hyaluronic Acid is a lubricant derived from umbilical cords, rooster combs, and joint fluid. It is used in things such as shaving cream.
• Musical instruments – things such as violin strings may be made from dried sheep’s intestines, piano keys can be made from animal bones – antique piano keys are often made from ivory (elephant tusks, rhino horns etc), records, tapes and cds all contain animal ingredients.
• Pearls come from oysters.
• Perfume may contain castor, civet and musk, ingredients extracted from around the genitalia of wild-caught beavers, civet cats and Asian deer; extracts may also be taken from muskrat and otter, ambergris from whales, spermaceti from dolphins, squalene from sharks and turtle oil from turtles.
• Quanine is used to add shimmer to cosmetics, this comes from fish scales.
• Refrigerators and air conditioners use freon, a cooling agent containing animal fat.
• Shells and coral for jewellery and decoration: causes the slaughter of millions of marine lives, and the disappearance of reefs as they are broken to obtain coral which in turn leads to an unbalanced ecosystem.
• Shoe polish - most commercial brands contain cow blood.
• Sweets may be coloured with carmine, produced by drying and pulverising a species of beetle.
• Tennis rackets are often made of dried sheep intestines.
• Tortoises and turtles are used for oil, combs, jewellery, spectacle frames: these creatures are captured, their living flesh dug out as they lie upturned with their living flippers roughly 'sewn' together with wire.
• Trophies such as lions' heads, stuffed animals and the like: have made a number of species extinct.
• Vehicle products such as antifreeze and hydraulic brake fluid contain slaughterhouse by-products. Car polish has beeswax or mink oil. Tyres and steel are processed with and contain animal by-products.
• Writing implements contain ink which contains animal ingredients; felt in felt-tip pens may be made from animal hide and hair; crayons and chalk contain fatty acids derived from pigs.
