Should We Put the Eat in Meat
All over the world, people sit down to a meal which, for the vast majority, includes beef, pork or chicken. It is not too often these days that the consumer considers the life of the animal in which they are eating; or to even associate the slab of beef on one’s plate with an actual cow that lives, breaths and feels. When one hears cow, picturesque images of luscious green fields with spotted cows mooing and grazing peacefully fill your mind; and this is how much of our society believes cattle are raised for consumption. Instead, cattle are raised in what can be described as jail cells: holding pens, over crowded stalls with no room to move. Often times, these cows don’t even make it past their first few
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Is the treatment of said animals something to be considered before firing up that grill? God gave us all creatures to replenish our bodies; he never said to mistreat, abuse, torment, and cruelly slaughter these animals. One should still treat these animals with proper care and dignity, even if they are raised for the sole purpose of nourishing the human body.
For many centuries, families raised their own livestock for the primary purpose of their consumption. It was understood then that one can’t get attached to the animals because they are not going to be around forever. It was also understood that these animals were to be taken care of; they were treated well and their health mattered. If the livestock was not healthy, it couldn’t be consumed, that could mean food for the winter or starvation for some families; life or death if you will. Universally speaking, when one hears the use of antibiotics, they think something is wrong; there is an infection to be obliterated. While this is true in some cases, it is not always the way farms and slaughterhouse use antibiotics on their cattle. PBS.org and South Dakota State University explain that nearly half a century ago, it was discovered that by administering small doses of antibiotics through an animals food or water source, said animal can grow and gain weight faster than if not given the medications. This is tantamount to
Then Tom continues education with a little education on the variety of antibiotics and how “crucial for treating serious human infections” (Philpott). Using a hotlink to a well-known credible organization like the “Food and Drug Administration” back up some of his statistics regarding over use of antibiotics in livestock operations. Tom continually notes
In this brief, the reader will see the pros and cons in antibiotic livestock. They will see commonly misunderstandings about antibiotics and facts. Throughout the paper the reader will see what long term and short term problems and benefits in livestock. In this research paper it will be covering antibiotics resistance and also how antibiotics it has changed the face of medicine.
In the US today cattle are part of everyday culture. With more than 93 million cattle in the dairy and beef industry, and tens of thousands in the rodeo business, cattle are definitely a huge part. Lately, there has been many concerns with the bovine friends along with multiple misconceptions. Rodeos may look tough on animals, and todays society is not educated well enough on the beef and dairy industry. People don’t realize that these animals are happy, healthy, and very well cared for.
Do animals have the right to a certain quality of life? How would your views change if our cooks got treated the same way cattle and poultry do? How would you feel about them being beaten and brought to their knees just to be detained to know how to cook todays specials? You might think that the food industry has no issues and no faults behind their tasty food, but when you open up the meat curtain, there is a different kind of world out there that is cruel and inhumane. In Robert Kenner’s 2008 film, Food, Inc., He shows the conditions that cows, chickens, and pigs have to live in. The dark and closeted homes in which the animals are closely compacted together and eating, sleeping, and walking in their own manure. As a person who would consider themselves an animal rights activist, most people would agree that the food industry treats their animals like products instead of living things.
The dawn of civilization began with mankind mastering a constant source of food. From humble grains to the mighty cow, raising and harvesting food has been an unchanged profession for millennia. Ingrained into the fabric of society to the point of the biblical story of Cain and Abel, where Abel, being a Shepard, offered one of his flock to God as a sacrifice which was preferred over Cain’s grain offering. From biblical times, the progression of technology for herding and rearing animals had not changed up until the industrial revolution. The industrial revolution led to new mechanized ways of raising animals but, also losing touch with the natural way of things. This mechanized way of raising animals is talked about by Paul Solotaroff in his article, “In the Belly of The Beast” on how cruel and brutal the conditions are for the animals being raised today in factory farms and how people should act against them.
Our nation’s industrial farming has become more than just feeding people; it has become a way for the food industry to make more money as human population continues to grow. Jonathan Safran Foer in his book Eating Animals, illustrates the effects factory farming has had on animals meant for human consumption. Furthermore, Foer asks many questions to the reader on what will it take for us to change our ways before we say enough is enough. The questions individuals need to be asking themselves are: how do we deal with the problem of factory farming, and what can people do to help solve these issues? Eric Schlosser in Fast Food Nation, also illustrates the animal abuse that goes unseen within the food industry as well as Bernard Rollin and Robert Desch in their article “Farm Factories”, both demonstrate what is wrong today with factory farming. Foer gives such examples of employees who work in slaughterhouses giving accounts of what goes on in the kill floors, and stories of employees who have witnessed thousands and thousands of cows going through the slaughter process alive (Animals 231). Namit Arora in the article “On Eating Animals”, as well as Michael Pollan in his book The Omnivore’s Dilemma, both address some of the issues that animals face once they hit the kill floor. The food industry has transformed not only how people eat, but also the negative effects our climate endures as a result of factory farming as illustrated by Anna Lappe in “The Climate Crisis at the End
This is due in part by the previous statement to get higher yields out every animal raised. Cattle, chickens and pigs alike are all subject to certain fattening diets, modern breeding techniques and growth hormone treatments. These forced practices have very adverse, life altering and threatening affects that lead farmers to use antibiotics in order to keep diseases at bay. The Committee on Drug Use in Food Animals states, “doses are used when pathogens are known to be present in the environment or when animals encounter a high stress situation and are more susceptible to pathogens “, (1999, p. 28). It is important to point out that the use of growth hormones and antibiotics dramatically increases body mass, drastically shortens the lifespan of animals such as cattle and is being detected in food for human consumption.
Cows are animals that are used to extract many things, since clothes to food. More than 9.3 million cows were used to produce milk in the United States in 2008, and more than 2.5 million dairy cows were slaughtered for meat. In the farms cows are forced to give birth to collect the milk because the first milk is the best, because male calves will not grow up to produce milk, they are considered of little value to the dairy farmer and are sold for meat. Millions of these calves are taken away to be raised for beef. Hundreds of thousands of other male calves born into the dairy industry are raised for veal. Cow lives all her life in a deplorable place where every day the machine extract milk from their udders causing cancer on it when the cow does not serve she is sends to the slaughterhouse to sell their meat. These are the kind of life led farm animals and although they have
More than ever before, our planet is one filled with meat eaters. In fact, the average American consumes 270.7 pounds of meat per year. And, as one might have guessed, the question of where this food set before them on the table came from is often unregarded or ignored altogether. As more media forms commercialize extremely unhealthy versions of double cheeseburgers and meat lover’s supremes, the consumer’s demand for meat spikes up and companies in the food industry are faced with the ethical dilemma of benefiting themselves, their companies, increasing profits...and doing right by the animals- who without, they would not even be where they are today. Needless to say that animal rights and the humane treatment of their precious lives have been disregarded. Why do we, as a
Close your eyes and step into the world of an individual. You are born into a world where nights and days are never constant (attention getter). You are fed three to five times a day, but no one is there to nurture you. Not even the numerous others crammed into your living space. You grow frantic, scared, and sickly. Now open your eyes, to reality. What I have just described is one of America’s worst ghettos. You know this individual who is trapped in this environment. He is your breakfast, lunch and dinner. It is the meat you eat . Today’s farms not only abuse their animals they also produce harmful diseases and environmental hazards that affect each and every one of us, regardless of whether you consume animal products or not. The U.S. government should ban factory farms and require the meat industry to raise animals in their natural environments (preview of points and statement of purpose).
It doesn’t make sense to eat meat when there is no need to do so. Humans can live long, happy, and healthy lives on an all plant-based food diet. Sense this is correct, there is no need to continue to put these animals in pain that is no longer necessary for our survival. The treatment of these animals is inhumane and brutal. This treatment is equivalent to a person beating up your dog and killing it because they think it is fun. The only plausible reason humans eat meat is merely for the taste of it. Who doesn’t like a nice juicy steak, but if you were to really know about what it took for that piece of meat to reach your dinner table and truly understand the pain and suffering, then you would never order that piece of steak again.
The conditions in which meat livestock live in is not exactly that of a large open green field in which they are free to roam and be merry. In the Economist article, Cows down: The beef business (2008) the effects of the ill conditions cows talks of how a
We are a nation of meat eaters. We are socialized from a young age to consume high levels of animal products. This deeply ingrained meat-eating tradition is a big part of the American standard diet. A visit to the local grocery store shows that there is no shortage of animal products. Isle by isle you see a plethora of meats, neatly packed and ready to be cooked, dairy products neatly shelved, and even candies that contain animal by-products. This is an omnivore’s utopia, allowing for a lifestyle that involves the overconsumption of meats and animal by-products. The rampant meat industry has managed to condition people to disassociate the meats in our grocery markets and the animals from which they came. Most people have become unaware omnivores, consuming whatever meats are available to them. This shift of moral degradation is evident in how we process and consume our meats. We have become a selfish society that values our own convenience and affordability of meat rather than the consideration of the animal. This begs the question, is eating meat inherently wrong and should we forbid meat consumption under any and all circumstances? To fully address this issue, we must first define the moral status of animals. So, are animals equal to humans in worth and value and should they receive similar treatment?
In order to eliminate the use of antibiotics in animal feed, farmers and meat corporations should practice free range animal raising. Free range practice is when animals are fed outdoors, and roam outdoors freely, rather than being confined in an enclosed and in a cult for 24 hours 7 days a week. Dr. Marcos Rostagno wrote in the Livestock behavior Research Unit article that illnesses and diseases are linked to stress and overcrowded environments (Rostagno 1). Infact, overcrowding and very large numbers of animals make disease transmission easier and the mutation of pathogens to become more lethal (Turner 25). When practicing free range animal rising hygiene in animal and environment will improve, and disease spread will decrease, causing the use of antibiotics be
As humanity becomes more civilized, many of us perceive that eating livestock is morally incorrect, but aren’t we are designed to be an omnivore? Our teeth and digestive system serve the purpose of breaking down animal and plant foods and to bring these important nutrients to every part of the body. Despite the fact that, in 2011, U.S. meat and poultry production reached more than 92.3 billion pounds, the ethic of killing and eating animals as well as the concern of the environmental burden caused by the production of meats is debatable. However, animal based diet is necessary for the human body to function properly and we can choose the meat produced from environmentally sustainable farms to avoid the moral ambiguity.