What's wrong with eating MEAT? part 2

Submitted on Sat, 10/03/2009 - 11:38

Read part 1 human physiological evidence explored

The first thing many people ask when they hear about the vegetarian diet is "What's wrong with eating meat? Millions of people do it; why should I stop?"

There are very important reasons to eat meat -- not emotional or sentimental, but very convincing and scientific reasons. If you consider these points carefully, certainly you will want to try a vegetarian diet from now on.

What are the dangers of meat eating?

The Eskimos, living largely on meat and fat, age rapidly, with an average lifespan of 27 1/2 years. The Kirgese, a nomadic Eastern Russian tribe that lived predominantly on meat, matured early and died equally early; they rarely passed the age of 40. In contrast, field investigations by anthropologists of non-meat cultures have documented the radiant health, stamina, and longevity enjoyed by people such as the Hunzas of Pakistan, the Otomi Tribe of Mexico, and Native peoples of the American Southwest. It is not uncommon for such tribes to have healthy and active individuals of 100 years or more. World health statistics consistently show that the nations which consume the most meat have the highest incidence of diseases including heart disease and cancers, and groups of vegetarians in different parts of the world have the lowest incidence of disease.

Why do meat eaters get more diseases and die sooner?

Poisoning

Just before and during the agony of being slaughtered, the biochemistry of the terrified animal undergoes profound changes. Toxic by-products are forced throughout the body, thus pain-poisoning the entire carcass. According to the Encyclopedia Brittanica, body poisons, including uric acid and other toxic wastes, are present in the blood and tissue.

Just as our bodies become ill during times of intense rage or fear, animals undergo profound biochemical changes in dangerous situations. The level of adrenaline changes radially as they see other animals dying around them and they struggle futilely for life and freedom. These large amounts of hormones remain in the meat and poison the human tissues when consumed. According to the Nutrition Institute of America, "The flesh of an animal carcass is loaded with toxic blood and other waste by-products."

Cancer

A recent study conducted among 50,000 vegetarians (all Seventh Day Adventists) revealed results that shook the world of cancer research. The study clearly showed that this group has an astonishingly low rate of cancer. All types of cancer occurred at significantly lower rates as compared with a group matched on age and gender. This study showed that life expectancy of the Adventists is also significantly longer. A recent study of Mormons in California showed that their cancer rates were 50% lower than the normal population; Mormons characteristically eat little meat.

One reason that meat eaters get more cancer is due to the artificially colorings added to make meat appear more fresh. Normally, meat that is several days old turns a sickly gray-green color -- and the meat industry tries to mask this discoloration by adding nitrites and other preservatives. These substances make the meat appear red, but in recent years many of them have repeatedly been shown to be carcinogenic.

British and American scientists who have studied intestinal bacteria have found significant differences between the meat eaters and vegetarians. The bacteria in the meat eaters' intestines react with the digestive juices to produce chemicals which have been identified as carcinogenic. This may explain why cancer of the bowel is very prevalent in meat eating areas like North America and Western Europe and extremely rare in vegetarian areas such as India. In the United States, for example, bowel cancer is the second or third most common form of cancer, and the people of Scotland (who eat 20% more meat than the English) have one of the world's highest rates of cancers of the bowel.

Chemical Diet

Eating meat has often been called "eating on top of the food chain". In nature, there is a long chain of eaters: plants "eat" sunlight, air and water; animals eat plants, insects and other animals; some humans and meat eating animals eat smaller animals. Currently, man sprays poisonous chemicals to kill pests and fertilize crops. These poisons are retained in the bodies of the animals that eat the plants and grasses. Iowa State University performed experiments which showed that the vast majority of the DDT in human bodies was directly attributable to eating meat.

The poisoning of meat does not stop with pesticides. Meat animals are treated with many more chemicals to increase their maximum size, fatten them quickly, improve their meat color, etc. In order to produce the most meat of the highest profit, animals are even force-fed, injected with hormones, given appetite stimulants, sedatives, and feed mixtures including other chemicals that are not part of their diet in nature.

The New York Times reported in July of 1971, "But of far greater potential danger to the consumer's health are the hidden contaminants -- bacteria - like salmonella and residues from the use of pesticides, nitrates, nitrites, hormones, antibiotics, and other chemicals." Many of these chemicals have been found to be carcinogens and are the cause of death for some of the animals that do not make it to slaughter.

As farms have evolved into animal factories, many animals never see the light of day -- their lives are spent in cramped and cruel surroundings which culminate in a brutal death. A case in point is the high rise chicken farms, where eggs are hatched on the top floor: the chicks are stimulated, drugged, and force fed; they eat ravenously in their tiny cages never getting adequate exercise or fresh air. The females get to stay alive only to be forced to produce as many eggs as possible; the baby male chicks are piled onto a conveyor belt that drops them into a grinder. As they grow, the females are moved one floor at a time to the lower levels. When they arrive at the bottom, they are slaughtered.

The unnatural practices of factory farming not only unbalances the body chemistry of the animals, but also the growth of malignant tumors, and severe infections are quite common.

Animals' Diseases

Another danger facing meat eaters is that animals are frequently infected with diseases which are undetected or simply ignored by the meat producers or inspectors. Often if an animal has cancer in part of its body or other abnormality, that part is simply cut away and the rest of the body is sold as meat. Or worse yet, these discarded parts are included in mixed meats such as hot dogs, bologna, sausages, salamis, etc.

In one area of America where there is a routine inspection of slaughtered animals, 25,000 cattle with eye cancers were sold as beef! Scientists have found experimentally that if the liver of a diseased animal is fed to fish that the fish will get cancer.

... this article is incomplete, but it was published early so that the link at the end of part 1 actually pointed to something.