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Beyond Meat: Why The Vegetarian Argument Is Not Enough

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Beyond Meat: Why the Vegetarian Argument is Not Enough It’s safe to say that majority of people, particularly those who live in places where pre-made food and conveniently packaged goods are readily accessible, don’t put much thought into what they use on a day-to-day basis. Although what goes in to making these (mostly) essential items may not seem to be of much importance, it is easy to forget that animals and animal products are principal staples of human consumerism. Because they are living, breathing beings that are capable of experiencing pain, it becomes necessary to question the morality of using animals for the sake of human pleasure. In this discussion, I will go beyond the vegetarian argument to argue that abstaining only from eating meat is not the end-all moral solution to problems involving the treatment of animals; rather, the vegetarian argument must encompass the avoidance of all uses of animals in order …show more content…

All animal products, such as eggs, milk, and leather, are derived using methods that add to animal suffering. In the case of both dairy and egg production, male calves and chicks are often killed unnecessarily since they are of no benefit to the farmer, and often experience cruel treatment leading up to their deaths. Likewise, buying leather necessitates killing animals for their pelts; even by abstaining from meat, widespread animal suffering will continue to occur in order to fulfill the demand for these other products. There are, of course, a select few cases in which individual households farm the animals they raise in a much more ethical manner, but they do not represent enough of the population to make a difference in this circumstance. Thus, the vegan argument proposes that one shouldn’t consume any product or partake in any action that involves the mistreatment of animals, with the purpose of reducing animal

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