- McDonald's -

Why meat is bad for you, animals, and the environment.

Posted by: MDG on February 09, 19100 at 23:23:00:

In Reply to: Meat is good for you, it just depends how it was made. posted by Ryan on February 09, 19100 at 20:52:44:

: You know what? so far i agree with lars. Eating certain kinds of meat is harmful but things like low fat steaks are fine.

No, not fine. While "low fat" steaks may be healthier than a fatty pork chop, they are still made from animal flesh, and lead to all the ill health effects mentioned here. For example, all meat has cholesterol; no plant-based foods do. Please see my "More pro-meat nonsense" post, below, for scientific citations in support of a vegetarian diet, or go here for yet more info:
http://www.pcrm.org/health/index.html
http://www.pcrm.org/health/Info_on_Veg_Diets/faq.html

Vegans have to eat certain beans with certain rices and things of that nature to get the 5 essential (or whatever the number is) amino acids that the body needs to construct muscle, bone, blood cells, and keep the immune system running smoothly.

No, that is a myth which has been dispelled. Go here for info on this old myth: http://www.pcrm.org/health/Info_on_Veg_Diets/faq.html

The cholesterol and fat that comes in the meat, unavoidable in most cases but you need some fat and cholesterol to survive.

You can get all the fat you need from vegetarian diets; I've been one for nearly 20 years, and I'm very healthy.

:McDonalds meat cannot even be classified as meat if what i have seen here is true.

It's "meat" in the same way that Boones Farm Strawberry wine is wine, i.e., cheap crap, but still technically meat.

:It is ground poop chemically treated and colored to look like meat.

You may be right!

:The reason this meat has adrenaline and other chemicals of the like is because of the way McDonalds kills the cows.

McDonalds technically doesn't kill the cows; that's done in commercial slaughterhouses which contract to sell meat to McDonald's. I guarantee you 1000% that these commercial slaughterhouse "process" too many animals every day to treat them well; they live in fear and pain and die the same way. Go to the Farm Sanctuary website (Farm Sanctuary is a haven for rescued farm animals) for the background on the meat industry. www.farmsanctuary.com

:If they would use a chemical injection that totally excretes from the body before death they would have all of that out of the meat before the cow went to slaughter.(and there are chemicals like that out there)

I've never heard of such chemicals; what's your source? Even if they got the adrenaline out, that still leaves the growth hormones, concentrated pesticides, bacteria, tumors (hamburger!), antibiotics, and filth.

: Now in conclusion meat is healthy as long as the fat content is low.

A little meat won't kill you, and a little meat won't harm you. Eating meat every day is unhealthy, however, even if the fat content of the meat you're eating is low when compared to other meats (plus, meat has transfatty acids, which are very bad for you). You don't need to eat meat to live, and you can live very well as a vegetarian.

:Meat is also healthy as long as it is taken from the animal in the calmest way possible as to not get fear chemicals in there.

As I and others have pointed out, it's not just the fear chemicals. But also, Ryan, where do you think all but the most expensive gourmet meats come from? They come from factory farms and commercial slaughterhouses. The animals not only die in fear and pain, but live their entire lives in confinement and fear and pain. This is not a pretty truth, but Old McDonald's farm is not the way it is now. Factory farms are today's truth. Please look at the www.factoryfarming.com for the ugly background about factory farms & modern slaughterhouses.

You also need to consider the environmental costs of meat production. Here's a brief sample:Inevitably, intensive animal agriculture depletes valuable natural resources. Instead of being eaten by people, the vast majority of grain harvested in the U.S. is fed to farm animals. This wasteful and inefficient practice has forced agribusiness to exploit vast stretches of land. Forests, wetlands, and other natural ecosystems and wildlife habitats have been decimated and turned into crop and grazing land. Scarce fossil fuels, groundwater, and topsoil resources which took millenium to develop are now disappearing.

Meanwhile, the quantity of waste produced by farm animals in the U.S. is more than 130 times greater than that produced by humans.
Agricultural runoff has killed millions of fish, and is the main reason
why 60% of America's rivers and streams are "impaired". In states with
concentrated animal agriculture, the waterways have become rife with
pfiesteria bacteria. In addition to killing fish, pfiesteria causes open sores, nausea, memory loss, fatigue and disorientation in humans. Even groundwater, which takes thousands of years to restore, is being
contaminated. For example, the aquifer under the San Bernadino Dairy
Preserve in southern California contains more nitrates and other
pollutants than water coming from sewage treatment plants.

For lots more info, go here:

http://www.enviroweb.org/mcspotlight-na/media/reports/beyond.html#3



Follow Ups:

None.

The Debating Room Post a Followup