Profit Over Truth in Animal Industrialization

Most of us grow up consuming meat, dairy, and eggs. It is what we are taught to eat, and because of this, no questions are asked. It is until people begin looking deeper into certain aspects of lifestyle, that the truth behind it is revealed. Animal agriculture is a massive contributor to many problems, that we have the power to control, and being informed on the reality of that is not as common as one would expect. It is clear that the goal is to continue to have people obtaining diseases from these foods, in order to bring in more money for them. What is it exactly that one can do to put an end to, or drastically decrease, this industry? This can be done by cutting out animal products to not assist industry funding. The animal agriculture industry has grown tremendously over time, and so has the information on the inhumane treatment of animals, adverse effects on our health, and the true ecological unsustainability of it.

The treatment, and conditions, industrialized animals get put through is kept a secret from consumers for a reason. The consumption of animal products is so normalized, that rarely does one think twice about what it takes to achieve these products. A lot of questioning has gone into why people behave unethically, with each person having different motives (Birdsong, 2018). Majority of people do not truly know what happens to the helpless beings they end up consuming, but roughly a fallacy of such. This should be taken into consideration when realizing that pigs have their tails, and teeth pulled off (Gullone, 2017). As for cows, they are given hormones, and are genetically manipulated to produce 10 times more milk they normally would, although their milk is intended for their calves which are taken away at birth (Gullone, 2017). This large amount of milk creates problems for the cow, “unnaturally increased weight of the cow's udder causes painful stretching, or tearing of ligaments, and infections” (Gullone, 2017). Poultry is another aspect, that consists of 11 million deaths a year through methods of being gassed to death, or collectively ground alive, if they are not considered profitable (Gullone, 2017). The countless animals in building leads to overcrowding, and animals being to be routinely mutilated, in order to reduce fights. This is done by beaks, tails, or horns being chopped off, along with being confined tightly, in windowless rooms, all shockingly still considered legal (“On Eating Animals”, 2014). How can one associate the act of killing to the word “humane”? If the animal is of no use to production, they are considered waste, and are sent to get killed off. Not only are the animals harmed, but also the consumers of their byproducts.

The steady incline of health problems that reaches the mass amounts of animal byproduct consumers is outrageous: “70% of deaths and morbidity are largely lifestyle related and preventable” (What the Health, 2017). People tend to think dairy and chicken are great for you, but this is far from the truth. In fact, the leading source of sodium, and cholesterol, in the american diet for adults is chicken, while diary is the number one source of saturated fat (What the Health, 2017). Through continuous studies, we are becoming more aware of the impacts of the livestock industry on our health. Disturbingly enough, the biggest associations running our health organizations are actually in partnership with these industries, and pharmaceutical companies. People of The American Cancer Society refused to be interviewed after being told the topic: diet and cancer, and yet actually recommend processed meats - even though there is a direct correlation to cancer (What the Health, 2017).

The funding that these big associations get from meat, dairy, and pharmaceutical companies outways the importance of our health. Dr. Joel Kahn (M. D. ), cardiologist at Kahn Center for cardiac longevity even states that diabetes, arthritis, heart disease, hypertension, dementia, obesity, and cancers, just to name a few, can be prevented with the change of one's lifestyle. Animal proteins, actually trigger the growth of cancer cells, this includes caesinn which is a dairy derivative (Forks Over Knives, 2011). Some would support the statement from Ms. Diekman, director of nutrition at Washington University, that removing animal products from ones diet will make you run the risk of inadequate protein content. Ms. Diekman's response on this topic is not shocking, being that she is past president and the american dietetic association, and an advisor to the national dairy council. Dr. T Colin Campbell (PhD) Professor of Nutritional Biochemistry at Cornell University refutes this when stating, “eating whole foods, it's virtually impossible to be protein deficient”, meaning that even the minimum is available in any whole food. Campbell also points out that the higher the dairy consumption, the higher the rate of osteoporosis, contrary to what the dairy industry advertises to us (Forks Over Knives, 2011). Multiple associations recommend now that you consume low fat dairy, but this means they become even higher in protein content, which again, means activating cancer cells to grow rapidly. Simply through changing to a plant based diet, the reversal of chronic diseases has been first handedly experienced. The troubles do not end there, the catastrophic conditions that the animal agriculture industry give are only increasing in effect.

Factory farming hurts our ecosystem, and is leading us to a devastating future. Global warming is an issue we know all too well, but what we are not told, is the role factory farming has in it: “the livestock industry is a greater contributor to global warming than the entire transportation industry according to the united nations” (Forks Over Knives, 2011). Some could argue that fossil fuels are a bigger problem in comparison. Although fracking is also largely affecting our ecosystem, the amount of emissions, compared to livestock, is actually substantially smaller. This is evident when looking at the amount of methane released from the livestocks digestive process, this methane is said to be, “86 times more destructive than carbon dioxide from vehicles” (COWSPIRACY, 2014). Factory farming is responsible for an incredible amount of depletion, in most aspects, including land, and fresh water. In the United States, hydraulic fracking takes 100 billion gallons of water, while livestock takes up a gargantuan 34 trillion gallons of water (COWSPIRACY, 2014). Agencies have reported, “livestock is the leading cause of resource consumption, and environmental degradation destroying the planet today” (COWSPIRACY, 2014). With the amount of power this industry has, they have the capability of growing, and creating more room for environmental destruction. The reality is, this practice is at large, unsustainable in almost all aspects.

We are facing major environmental, and ecological destruction solely from livestock, and consumers have the power to put an end to this. The health of the people is not a concern. Simply by making the choice to not contribute to this industry, will make sure there is no further destruction from this industry. Although animal byproducts can offer some nutrition, whole plant foods can as well, without causing lifelong disease. One must take action themselves to ensure legitimate good health, and not assist the companies that work towards harming us. Putting an end the the demand on animal byproducts will leave no more large scale animal suffering, decrease and/or reverse leading diseases, as well as leave a better off living for us, and future generations.