Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
The saturated fat content of beef and milk products is a major con-
tributor to high blood pressure, heart disease, and some types of cancer.
The meat in our diets causes more emissions of greenhouse gases
carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide into the atmosphere than
either transportation or industry.
Beef consumption is a serious drain on the consumption of fuel and
water, as well as a waste of grain and agricultural land. But meat con-
sumption is considered a sign of affl uence around the world, and affl uence
in the Third World is growing rapidly. In developing countries like China,
India, and Brazil, consumption of red meat has risen 33 percent in the past
decade. It is expected to double globally between 2000 and 2050. In
2007, 56 percent of the world's beef was produced in developing nations.
Food that makes people sick should not be considered food at all.
However, some executives in the meat industry do not believe that eating
meat harms a person's health. James Hodges, executive president of the
American Meat Institute, believes that “meat products are part of a
healthy, balanced diet and studies show they actually provide a sense of
satisfaction and fullness that can help with weight control. Proper body
weight contributes to good health overall.”
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I suspect that a nationwide
poll would reveal that few adults would be willing to risk their life for
a little sense of satisfaction and fullness, which could easily be experi-
enced by eating a healthful diet consisting of fruits, vegetables, grains,
legumes, nuts, and seeds.
Chickens are fed ground-up parts of cows, sheep, and other animals.
Some of that chicken feed spills out and is swept up as chicken litter,
which is then fed to cows. USDA regulations allow chicken feces to be
used as feed for cows. Dead farm animals are fed to chickens, and then
chicken feed spills onto the fl oor where, combined with chicken poop,
it gets swept up and fed to vegetarian cows. It's enough to make a person
sick. From a health standpoint, eating meat and its derivative dairy
products is analogous to smoking cigarettes.
A properly balanced vegetarian diet is likely to be the healthiest diet
and is followed by about 2.5 percent of Americans. Two-thirds of them
are women. Vegetarians live longer and have lower rates of heart disease,
lower blood pressure, and lower rates of hypertension, adult-onset dia-
betes, dementia, and prostate and colon cancer.
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Albert Einstein dem-
onstrated his insight in a fi eld far removed from physics when he said,
“Nothing will benefi t human health and increase the chances for survival
on earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.”
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