Whats wrong with being vegetarian anyway?

Dairy

To get milk, cheese, butter, yoghurt a cow has to produce milk. Just like humans this only happens with pregnancy. Commercially cows are subject to yearly pregnancies. Normally a calf would suckle for 6 months. But this would cut in to profits, so if they're lucky they get a few days and then are put on milk substitutes. Roughly a quarter of calves get to grow up to become dairy cows themselves. Others are reared for beef or veal. The rest get to die young (at approx 2 weeks) to provide rennet for cheese, calf skin, piefilling. The dairy cow has been hormonally manipulated to produce 10 times as much milk as she would naturally. This causes a great strain on her body such that her natural life span of 20 years is reduced to 3-7 years. She spends a miserable life, lucky if she doesn't go lame or suffer from recurrent infection such as mastitis. Think about this next mothers day even if you can't bear to during the rest of the year. And tell the world. Even if the plight of the cow doesn't bother you, spare a thought for the environmental effect of cattle slurry. It's good at depleting oxygen in water and contributing to global warming. If you need some encouragement closer to home to help you change your act, consider the effect of the saturated fat in milk on your cardiovascular system- furring up your arteries and contributing to asthma, eczema and osteoporosis. You don't need it and you can get substitutes- try soya or rice based milk, cheese, yoghurt, cream, ice cream. Better for you, better for the cows, better for the planet. Contact the Vegan Society (links section)

Eggs

I don't think anyone is unaware of the cruelty of factory farming. Life is brutal, cramped, unnatural and short. The misery of over crowding turns feathery sociable creatures into short tempered aggressive creatures unable to fulfil their instincts to build a nest and groom. Free range systems remain prisons that treat birds as objects for the use of humans. In both systems male chicks are slaughtered young as they are not profitable. You don't need to eat eggs for your health. In fact you may benefit your cholesterol levels as well as your karma if you leave eggs off your plate.

Leather

Helps make the meat and dairy industry profitable representing about 10% of an animals monetary value. The animals are not slaughtered when they reach a ripe old age. They die when no longer profitable. Cows would normally live 20 years. A beef cow is killed at 1-3 years and a dairy cow at 3-7 years. Getting to the slaughterhouse is a cramped, stressful truck ride marked by hunger and dehydration. Talk to anyone who has worked in a slaughterhouse. It is a brutal dehumanising experience for the workers and the worst possible death for the creatures they kill. Tanneries produce a considerable amount of dodgy chemical by products. You don't need it. You can get substitutes. See the footwear section. For more info contact the Campaign Against Leather and Fur (CALF) BM Box 8889, London WC1N 3XX or the Vegan Society in the Links section.

Silk

Do we need to kill silk worms? Yes if you want to boil them alive in order to be able to unravel the cocoon they have painstakingly woven. No if you prefer to use materials that are not the product of death.

Honey

Yet again humans decide we have the right to mess with other beings lives. So bees are kept in hives and those that die or are maimed when the honeycombs are slid in and out are just collateral damage. The male bees who are decapitated in order to provide semen ejaculate are necessary sacrifices. Not to mention the hives that are allowed to die over winter because its cheaper to re stock in the spring than to feed through the colder months. You don't need it. The bees produce the honey for a reason and that reason is not human use. I promise you it is possible to be happy and healthy without honey products (unless you are a bee). It takes a bee a working life to produce half a teaspoon of honey. Contact the Vegan Society for more info (see the links section).

Fur

It's pretty obvious that synthetic materials can keep you warm. As to looking good, killing a sentient creature and then draping yourself in their skin is a strange and cruel way to behave. Rabbits, mink and cats are kept in factory farm conditions to satisfy our desire for fur.Its miserable and cruel. You don't need it For more info contact the Campaign Against Leather and Fur (CALF) BM Box 8889, London WC1N 3XX or the Vegan Society in the links