You are the Change

A short video which highlights several issues that I personally find utterly important and worth researching such as: animal cruelty, water fluoridation, food control through codex alimentarius that's going to be valid from December 2009, GM food, media manipulation through mass media, engineered viruses, human caused global warming, the myth of terrorist and many others.

It's time for a change now so let's be the change!

“Be the change you want to see in the world!”
~ Mathama Gandhi

“The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.”
~Albert Einstein

 

The Difference Between Human and Animal Rights

A video describing how exactly rights relate to animals, pointing out that humans only have rights because they ARE animals - and that the label and vocal language the humanity is the only thing standing in the way of animals claiming the rights they should already possess.

The Dairy Cow: The Most Overworked Mother On The Planet

The dairy cow normally has her first calf at the age of two when she will be producing around 35 liters of milk a day. In subsequent lactations this figure rises even higher. She will continue to be milked for 10 months - but will be made pregnant again in the third month.

Professor John Webster, Department of Animal Husbandry, Bristol University says: "The dairy cow is a supreme example of an overworked mother. She is the hardest working of all our farm animals and it can be scientifically calculated. It is equivalent to a jogger who goes out for six to eight hours a day which is a lunatic pursuit. He states that almost 100 per cent of cows suffer from laminitis - a disease which causes 'great pain to the cow' (MAFF). Tissue lining of the foot becomes inflamed and may lead to ulcers. Professor Webster continues: "To understand the pain of laminitis it helps to imagine crushing your finger nails in the door then standing on your fingertips."

How Free Is “Free-Range”?

“Just because it says free-range does not mean that it is welfare-friendly.”
—Dr. Charles Olentine, editor of Egg Industry magazine, an industry trade journal(1)

As concern grows over the way the meat, egg, and dairy industries treat the animals we eat, so does the number of animal products labeled “free-range.” What does this mean? Do “free-range” chickens, pigs, turkeys, and cows receive humane treatment? Are they slaughtered in less violent ways? While “free-range” practices may be less inhumane than the horrors animals are forced to endure on conventional factory farms, they are still very far from cruelty-free.

“Free-Range” Eggs

There is no inspection system for companies that label their eggs “free-range.”

The popular myth that “free-range” egg-laying hens enjoy fresh grass, bask in the sunlight, scratch the earth, sit on their nests, and engage in other natural habits is often just that: a myth. In many commercial “free-range” egg farms, hens are crowded inside windowless sheds with little more than a single, narrow exit leading to an enclosure, too small to accommodate all of the birds at once.

Both battery cage and “free-range” egg hatcheries kill all male chicks shortly after birth. Since male chicks cannot lay eggs and are different breeds than those chickens raised for meat, they are of no use to the egg industry. Standard killing methods, even among “free-range” producers, include grinding male chicks alive or throwing them into trash bags and leaving them to suffocate.

Whether kept in sheds or cages, laying hens—who can naturally live more than ten years—are considered “spent” when they are just one or two years old and their productivity wanes. Rather than being retired, “free-range” hens are slaughtered to make room for another shed of birds.

With no federal regulations overseeing the use of animal welfare claims on egg cartons, misleading or exaggerated claims are rampant. Consumers may be deceived by phrases such as “animal-friendly” or “naturally-raised,” which can be found on cartons of eggs from caged hens. Read about COK’s truth in labeling campaign urging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to require the full disclosure of production methods on eggs cartons sold nationwide.

“Free-Range” Broiler Chickens

Birds raised for meat ("broilers") may be considered "free-range" if they have U.S. Department of Agriculture-certified access to the outdoors. No other criteria-environmental quality, the size of the outdoor area, the number of birds confined in a single shed, or the indoor or outdoor space allotted per animal-are considered in applying the label. As with "free-range" laying hens, many "free-range" broilers live in a facility with only one small opening at the end of a large shed, permitting only a few birds to go outside at any given time.

Even Richard Lobb, spokesperson for the National Chicken Council admits, "Even in a free-range type of style of production, you're basically going to find most of them inside the grow out facility."(2)

According to The Washington Post Magazine, in the case of birds, the term "free-range" "doesn't really tell you anything about the [animal's] quality of life, nor does it even assure that the animal actually goes outdoors."(3)

Aside from the birds' actual living conditions, there is no prohibition in "free-range" poultry farming against using breeds of chickens and turkeys who have been selectively bred for fast growth and high feed conversion.

In the 1950s, it took 84 days to raise a five-pound chicken. Due to selective breeding and growth-promoting drugs, it now takes only 45 days.(4) Such fast growth causes chickens to suffer from a number of chronic health problems, including leg disorders and heart disease.(5) According to one study, 90 percent of broilers had detectable leg problems, while 26 percent suffered chronic pain as a result of bone disease.(6) Two researchers in The Veterinary Record report, "We consider that birds might have been bred to grow so fast that they are on the verge of structural collapse."(7) Industry journal Feedstuffs reports, "[B]roilers now grow so rapidly that the heart and lungs are not developed well enough to support the remainder of the body, resulting in congestive heart failure and tremendous death losses."(8)

Whether labeled "free-range" or not, if the birds used by agribusiness are the standard "broiler" chicken of today, buying these products involves an enormous amount of animal suffering.

And, as with factory-farmed birds raised for their meat, "free-range" chickens and turkeys may undergo the same grueling and sometimes fatal transport to slaughterhouses when reaching market weight. Workers gather these birds up to four at a time, carrying them upside down by their legs before throwing them into crates on multi-tiered trucks without protection from the heat or cold and without access to food or water. "Free-range" birds end up at the same slaughterhouses as factory-farmed birds, where they are hung upside down, have their throats slit, and bleed to death, often while still fully conscious.

“Free-Range” Cows, Sheep, and Pigs

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), "free-range" beef, pork, and other non-poultry products are loosely defined as coming from animals who ate grass and lived on a range. No other criteria-such as the size of the range or the amount of space given to each animal-are required before beef, lamb, and pork can be called "free-range." "Free-range" and "free-roaming" facilities are rarely inspected or verified to be in compliance with these two criteria. The USDA relies "upon producer testimonials to support the accuracy of these claims."(9)

Even when "free-range" cows, sheep, and pigs are allowed to live outdoors, they are still subjected to excruciating mutilations without painkiller or analgesic, such as castration, branding, dehorning, tail-docking, and tooth-grinding. Once they are fattened to market weight, they are trucked to slaughterhouses. They are denied food, water, and adequate protection from extreme temperatures once in the vehicles, and many die during the trip. These cows, sheep, and pigs are still slaughtered in the same violent ways as factory-farmed animals: They are pushed through narrow chutes, hung upside down on conveyor belts, and have their throats slit; some are dismembered while still fully conscious.

Is a Truly Free-Range World Possible?

The U.S. animal agribusiness industry currently confines and slaughters more than ten billion land animals each year, the overwhelming majority of whom live intensively confined on factory farms where many cannot even turn around or fully stretch their limbs. Would it be possible to raise ten billion animals without intensive confinement? Probably not.

If intensive confinement operations were banned, it's highly unlikely producers could supply an entire nation of 300 million meat-, egg-, and dairy consumers with enough animal products to sustain the typical American diet. So, without even considering the ethical problems inherent in raising and slaughtering animals for food, from a practical perspective, completely humane farming and slaughtering methods aren't possible.

The Bottom Line

Granted, living in cramped conditions is better than living in even more cramped conditions. Laying hens who have 67 square inches of space per bird likely suffer less than those who have only 50, and giving even 10 out of 10,000 turkeys access to sunlight and the outdoors is better than denying all of them such basic needs. But, clearly, commercial "free-range" farming is not the answer to ending animal abuse.

Doing the Right Thing

The animals killed so we can have chicken breasts, milk, and omelets feel pain and experience joy just like the dogs and cats we pamper. And, like dogs and cats, they want to live free from torture and suffering. By choosing vegetarian foods, we can improve their lives and our own. Indeed, eating meat, eggs, and dairy products is not necessary for our survival and. In fact, even the country's leading nutrition organization, the American Dietetic Association, states that "appropriately planned vegetarian diets are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases."(10)

Since we have no need for meat, eggs, and dairy products, why support animal cruelty by purchasing those products? Becoming vegetarian, rather than looking for less inhumane animal products, is the most ethical decision to make.

Citations:

1. Olentine, Charles. "Welfare and the Egg Industry: The Best Defense Is an Offense," Egg Industry, October 2002, p. 24.
2. Quoted from interview with CNN news piece which aired on July 25, 2004. Transcript available at http://www.cok.net/feat/cnn.php.
3. Perl, Peter. "The Truth About Turkeys," The Washington Post Magazine, November 5, 1995.
4. Duncan IJH, "Welfare Problems of Meat-Type Chickens," Farmed Animal Well-Being Conference at the University of California-Davis, June 28-29, 2001; personal correspondence with Stephen Pretanik, director of Science and Technology, National Chicken Council, Washington, D.C., January 14, 2004.
5. Leeson S, Diaz G, and Summers JD, Poultry Metabolic Disorders and Mycotoxins (Guelph, Canada: University Books, 1995); Julian RJ, "Rapid Growth Problems: Ascites and Skeletal Deformities in Broilers," Poultry Science 77 (1998): 1773-80.
6. Kestin SC, Knowles TG, Tinch AE, and Gregory NG, "Prevalence of Leg Weakness in Broiler Chickens and Its Relationship with Genotype," The Veterinary Record 131 (1992): 190-4.
7. Wise D and Jennings A, "Dyschondroplasia in Domestic Poultry," The Veterinary Record 91 (1972): 285-6.
8. Martin D, "Researcher Studying Growth-Induced Diseases in Broilers," Feedstuffs, May 26, 1997.
9. Donovan, Michael E. Official U.S. Department of Agriculture/Food Safety and Inspection Service letter, April 11, 1996.
10. "Position of the American Dietetic Association: Vegetarian Diets," Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 2003, volume 103, pp. 748-765. Available at http://www.eatright.org/Public/GovernmentAffairs/17084.cfm

Source : Compassion Over Killing

Doreen The Downer

Dairy = Veal Calf Prisons–Go Vegan

A look at "modern" calf housing... Gone are the primative wood stalls to be replaced with the primative plastic ones. It's all cruel - all unnecessary. Go Vegan

Milk Comes From Grieving Mothers - Truth About Organic Dairy

Lena, a mother cow's perspective of her experience as a dairy cow.

The truth about organic dairy.

From Organic Valley/CROPP Cooperative:

"Economically, it is not possible for farmers to keep retired cows on the farm.... Organically raised cows will stay a part of the herd for an average of 6-8 years verses conventionally raised cows who only average 4 years...." (PPS: this means that organically raised cows have two more years of emotional and physical suffering and two more of their newborn babies stolen from them and murdered for Veal).

"We require that the packing plants (another word for slaughterhouse) get certified before we will do business. This means that our animals must be processed (brutally slaughtered) separately with clean equipment. This also means that they cannot use chemicals or pesticides in the plant."

Organic Valley/CROPP Cooperative

Consumer Relations
http://www.peacefulprairie.org/outreach/grievingMother.html

VEGAN. For the People. For the Planet. For the Animals.

People everywhere are making choices more connected with their values.

We are simplifying our lives, buying less and living more because we know that the Earth provides enough to satisfy everyone's need, but not everyone's greed.

But there is one connected choice that sometimes gets overlooked. It's one of the most far-reaching personal, practical and ethical choices you can make. With this choice we can help...

• Feed ourselves and every hungry person on the planet.
• End deforestation -- replenish the deep woods of the North and save our disappearing rainforests.
• Revitalize our rural landscapes and save family farms.
• Stop the number one polluter of water and the number one waster of water.
• Return our oceans to thriving underwater worlds teeming with life and wonder.
• Make cancer and heart disease a rarity instead of a common occurrence.
• Stop the unnecessary suffering of billions and billions of animals.
• And return wild lands to their rightful owners.

This powerful choice can be done by everyone every day... by you... right now.

Vegan.

Every day you are invited to make choices. Live your values. Change the world. It's that simple.

Fish Can't Feel Pain? Don't Be So Sure

“But why not at least eat fish? They can’t feel pain anyway”.

Growing up vegetarian, this was an argument I encountered on a regular basis. I always balked at it, for a couple of different reasons. First, was the implication that the inability to feel pain somehow caused a life to be of lesser value. The other was, perhaps, a bit more complicated. How, I would ask, can we be sure that fish really don’t feel pain?

It seems that I was not the only one asking this question.

It has long been denied that fish are capable of feeling pain, a conclusion drawn from the idea that they do not have the brain matter required to recognize it. Yet studies done over recent years have done a great deal to challenge these long-held beliefs.

In 2003, a report from the BBC described research conducted at the University of Edinburgh. This research team identified, for the first time, receptors in fish similar to those found in other species, including mammals. Furthermore, when the fish were injected with such substances as venom and acid, they wiggled and showed reactions that both went further than reflex and were comparable to reactions one might see in other creatures.

Last year, American and Norwegian scientists took things further. A group of fish, as in the British experiment, were introduced to painful substances; however, part of the group had been given morphine. After the test, those who had received morphine acted normally. Those who had not became fearful, just as would be expected from a creature who had experienced the pain. (It is interesting to note, when reviewing the studies, that fish were subjected to cruelty in an effort to determine whether fish may be subjected to cruelty. But perhaps I digress.)

As we cannot truly experience the world as a fish does (swimming a mile in their fins?), we may not, at least yet, be able to say for certain whether fish feel pain as we understand it. However there is a great deal of evidence indicating that fish are at least more complex beings than people have been willing to recognize, and there can be little doubt that something is going on when a fish displays behaviors that indicate pain.

So, maybe I could succumb to peer pressure and chow down on a fish filet. Yet when it comes to a question of cruelty, I like to give the victim the benefit of the doubt.

Source : http://news.change.org

Top 10 Reasons to Go Vegan in the New Year

Many people's New Year's resolutions often include losing weight, eating better, getting healthier, and doing more to make the world a better place. You can accomplish all these goals by switching to a vegan diet, and you'll enjoy delicious, satisfying meals as well. Here are our top 10 reasons to go vegan this year:

1. SLIM DOWN AND BECOME ENERGIZED
Is shedding some extra pounds first on your list of goals for the new year? Vegans are, on average, up to 20 pounds lighter than meat-eaters. And unlike unhealthy fad diets, which leave you feeling tired (and usually result in gaining all the weight back eventually), going vegan is the healthy way to keep the excess fat off for good while feeling full of energy.

2. IT'S THE BEST WAY TO HELP ANIMALS
Every vegan saves more than 100 animals a year from horrible abuse. There is simply no easier way to help so many animals and prevent so much suffering than by choosing vegan foods over meat, eggs, and dairy products.

3. A HEALTHIER, HAPPIER YOU
A vegan diet is great for your health! According to the American Dietetic Association, vegans are less likely to develop heart disease, cancer, diabetes, or high blood pressure than meat-eaters are. Vegans get all the nutrients they need to be healthy (e.g., plant protein, fiber, minerals, etc.) without all the nasty stuff in meat that slows you down and makes you sick, such as cholesterol and saturated animal fat.

4. VEGAN FOOD IS DELICIOUS
So you're worried that if you go vegan, you'll have to give up hamburgers, chicken sandwiches, and ice cream? You won't. As the demand for vegan food skyrockets, companies are coming out with more and more delicious meat and dairy product alternatives that taste like the real thing but are much healthier and don't hurt any animals. Plus, we have a list of some of our favorite products and thousands of tasty kitchen-tested recipes to help you get started!

5. MEAT IS GROSS
It's disgusting but true: Meat is often contaminated with feces, blood, and other bodily fluids—all of which make animal products the top source of food poisoning in the United States. Scientists at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health tested supermarket chicken flesh and found that 96 percent of Tyson chicken was contaminated with campylobacter, a dangerous bacteria that causes 2.4 million cases of food poisoning each year, resulting in diarrhea, cramping, abdominal pain, and fever.

6. HELP FEED THE WORLD
Eating meat doesn't just hurt animals—it hurts people too. It takes tons of crops and water to raise farmed animals. In fact, it takes up to 13 pounds of grain to produce just 1 pound of animal flesh! All that plant food could be used much more efficiently if it were fed directly to people. The more people who go vegan, the more we can feed the hungry.

7. SAVE THE PLANET
Eating meat is one of the worst things that you can do for the Earth. It's wasteful, it causes enormous amounts of pollution, and the meat industry is one of the biggest causes of climate change. Adopting a vegan diet is more important than switching to a "greener" car in the fight against climate change.

8. ALL THE COOL KIDS ARE DOING IT
The list of stars who shun animal flesh is basically a "who's who" of today's hottest celebs. Joaquin Phoenix, Natalie Portman, Tobey McGuire, Shania Twain, Alicia Silverstone, Anthony Kiedis, Casey Affleck, Kristen Bell, INXS lead singer J.D. Fortune, Benji Madden, Alyssa Milano, Common, Joss Stone, Anne Hathaway, and Carrie Underwood are just a handful of famous vegans and vegetarians who regularly appear in People magazine.

9. LOOK SEXY AND BE SEXY
Vegans tend to be thinner than meat-eaters and have more energy, which is perfect for late-night romps with your special someone. (Guys: The cholesterol and saturated animal fat found in meat, eggs, and dairy products don't just clog the arteries to your heart. Over time, they impede blood flow to other vital organs as well.) Plus, what's sexier than someone who is not only mega-hot but also compassionate?

10.  PIGS ARE SMARTER THAN YOUR DOG
While most people are less familiar with pigs, chickens, fish, and cows than they are with dogs and cats, animals used for food are every bit as intelligent and able to suffer as the animals who share our homes are. Pigs can learn to play video games, and chickens are so smart that their intelligence has been compared by scientists to that of monkeys.

Source : PETA.org

Why Honey isn't Vegan

Many people with omnivorous eating habits understand the basics of vegan living, that most vegans don't eat or wear meat or animal products or by-products. Yet many of these same people are taken aback when a vegan explains that she won't eat honey. They don't understand why a vegan wouldn't eat honey. Here's why.

Vegans choose their particular lifestyle for multiple reasons. One of those reasons is to protect their health. Vegans have studied the findings of legitimate scientists and have discovered that eating animal protein is hazardous to one's health. Eating animal protein (whether it is found in meat, eggs, or dairy products) can be directly linked to multiple Western diseases (also known as "diseases of affluence"). Some of those diseases include cancer, diabetes mellitus, heart disease, and osteoporosis, to name a few. A great many vegans have chosen to eliminate all animal protein from their diets to gain these health benefits. Even vegetarians don't benefit from the health a vegan diet offers.

So where does honey fit in? Honey is an animal product, produced when bees digest nectar they have collected and then regurgitate it. It is an animal product, just like an egg or milk. Yes, a bee is an insect and not technically considered an animal by many people, but a bee's body changes the composition of what it ingests, just like other animals. According to Raw Food Explained.com, honey contains "animal ferments" as well as protein. If animal protein is harmful to one's health, then honey also falls under that category.

However, there is another reason vegans won't eat honey, and that is because it is harmful to another living creature. According to Daniel Hammer, bees do experience pain and suffering while they are being exploited for their products (not just honey but also beeswax, royal jelly, and more). There is simply no way beekeepers, humane or otherwise, can avoid harming or killing bees while they are extracting the bees' products. Many vegans choose their lifestyle because they wish to avoid harming any other creature, and so they choose not to eat honey.

Just as vegans won't eat honey, they also won't eat or use these products for the same reasons:

• Silk
• Other animal non-food products, such as leather and wool
• Fish oil (non-vegan omega 3 supplements)
• Other hidden animal products, such as gelatin
• Other foods processed with animal products, such as non-vegan sugar, processed using a bone char filter

Vegans will continue to educate their omnivorous friends and relatives, hoping to avoid awkward situations when dining together or when accepting gifts. Refusing to eat honey may seem confusing to non-vegans at first, but when they understand the rationale behind a vegan's choices, people should have a better idea of why vegans avoid bee products and other products derived from animals or insects.

Farm to Fridge - The Truth Behind Meat Production

WARNING! DISTURBING CONTENT! Viewer discretion is advised!

Mercy For Animals presents Farm to Fridge. Narrated by Oscar-nominee James Cromwell, this powerful film takes viewers on an eye-opening exploration behind the closed doors of the nation's largest industrial farms, hatcheries, and slaughter plants -- revealing the often-unseen journey that animals make from Farm to Fridge.

Ohio Dairy Farm Brutality

On September 24, 2010, Billy Joe Gregg, Jr., a worker at Conklin Dairy Farms caught on hidden camera during a Mercy For Animals investigation maliciously abusing cows and calves, pleaded guilty to six misdemeanor counts of cruelty to animals.

Gregg was sentenced to eight months in jail, ordered to pay a $1,000 fine, and is barred from contact with animals for three years. Gregg must also receive counseling through a program that specializes in treating individuals involved in animal abuse cases.

Gregg's arrest and conviction stem from chilling undercover footage recorded during a Mercy For Animals investigation earlier this year at Conklin Dairy Farms in Plain City, Ohio.

During a four-week investigation in April and May, MFA's investigator documented farm workers:

• Violently punching young calves in the face, body slamming them to the ground, and pulling and throwing them by their ears

• Routinely using pitchforks to stab cows in the face, legs and stomach

• Kicking "downed" cows (those too injured to stand) in the face and neck – abuse carried out and encouraged by the farm's owner

• Maliciously beating restrained cows in the face with crowbars – some attacks involving over 40 blows to the head

• Twisting cows' tails until the bones snapped

• Punching cows' udders

• Bragging about stabbing, dragging, shooting, breaking bones, and beating cows and calves to death

After viewing the footage, Dr. Bernard Rollin, Distinguished Professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University, stated: ""This is probably the most gratuitous, sustained, sadistic animal abuse I have ever seen. The video depicts calculated, deliberate cruelty, based not on momentary rage but on taking pleasure through causing pain to cows and calves who are defenseless.""

Sadly, cruelty to farmed animals in Ohio – no matter how egregious – is classified as a mere misdemeanor. Ohio has some of the weakest animal protection laws in the nation – ranking 43rd out of all 50 states. Further, no federal laws provide protection for farmed animals during their lives on the farm. Such inadequate state laws and the absence of federal laws lead to rampant abuse.

The deplorable conditions uncovered at Conklin Dairy Farms further highlight the reality that animal agriculture cannot be trusted to self-regulate and that meaningful federal and state law must be implemented and strengthened to prevent egregious cruelty to farmed animals.

"Gregg's punishment is a slap on the wrist compared to the unimaginable suffering endured by the animals who were victims of his malicious abuse," says MFA's Executive Director, Nathan Runkle. ""It's an outrage that in Ohio it's a mere misdemeanor to sadistically punch, beat and stab farmed animals, break their bones and otherwise torture them. This case should serve as a wake-up call to all compassionate citizens that Ohio must do more to strengthen its animal cruelty laws.""

Although many of the abuses documented at Conklin Dairy Farms are expressions of Gregg's sadistic pathology, numerous MFA undercover investigations at dairy farms, pig farms, egg farms, hatcheries and slaughterhouses have revealed that violence and abuse to farmed animals – whether malicious or institutionalized – run rampant nationwide.

Compassionate consumers can end their direct financial support of farmed animal abuse by rejecting dairy, and other animal products, and adopting a vegan diet.

Source: http://www.mercyforanimals.org/ohdairy/

4 Reasons to Avoid Eating Eggs

Have you ever realized there's no such thing as a vegan refrigerator? Try opening the nearest fridge and you'll find an egg rack along with a clearly marked butter tray and meat drawer. Eating animals and animal by-products is not just accepted, it's expected. As I've documented here several times, what's expected is not always grounded in reality.

4 Reasons to Avoid Eggs

1. Chicken Abuse

Most people don't know this, but chicken are inquisitive and intelligent animals. Chicken abuse not only happens in the U.S., it happens all over the world.

2. The Free Range Myth

As the good folks at Compassionate Over Killing explain: "The popular myth that 'free-range' egg-laying hens enjoy fresh grass, bask in the sunlight, scratch the earth, sit on their nests, and engage in other natural habits is often just that: a myth. In many commercial 'free-range egg farms, hens are crowded inside windowless sheds with little more than a single, narrow exit leading to an enclosure, too small to accommodate all of the birds at once. Both battery cage and 'free-range' egg hatcheries kill all male chicks shortly after birth. Since male chicks cannot lay eggs and are different breeds than those chickens raised for meat, they are of no use to the egg industry. Standard killing methods, even among 'free-range' producers, include grinding male chicks alive or throwing them into trash bags and leaving them to suffocate."

3. The Protein Myth

How much protein do you think we need? The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition says 2.5% of our daily calories should come from protein. According to the World Health Organization, it's about 5%. How does that work out in grams? A lot lower than the US average of 100 grams a day, that's for sure. "To consume a diet that contains enough, but not too much, protein, simply replace animal products with grains, vegetables, legumes (peas, beans, and lentils), and fruits," clarifies the Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine. As long as one is eating a variety of plant foods in sufficient quantity to maintain one's weight, the body gets plenty of protein."

4. Cholesterol

Check this:

• Rise in blood cholesterol level from consuming one egg per day: 12%
• Associated rise in heart attack risk from consuming one egg per day: 24%
• Risk of death by heart attack for average American male: 50%
• Risk of death by heart attack for average vegan: 4%

Read More : 4 Ways to Replace Eggs in Your Diet

What’s Wrong With Milk And Eggs?

For starters, animal products that lacto-ovo vegetarians eat (cow’s milk and eggs) have a strong relationship to DEATH because cow’s milk and chicken eggs are only produced by females. The male has no value in the production system, thus he is often killed. Baby chicks who are unlucky enough to be born male are often gassed, suffocated, or crushed. Male calves are often confined in small crates and slaughtered at a young age to become “veal.”

Next, most milk and eggs come from factory environments, which means that the females who are kept alive to produce milk or eggs suffer tremendously. The cows are often pumped full of hormones and antibiotics, confined to small spaces and fed corn or soy unnaturally, overused and abused, and lastly, they are slaughtered at a fraction of of their lifespan (around 4 years of age when they can live into their teens). The chickens are often crammed into cages or barns, and like cows they’re given hormones and antibiotics, overused and abused.

Granted, the relationship to animal suffering through lacto-ovo vegetarianism is not as direct as is the relationship between animal suffering and meat consumption, but the relationship still exists, in almost all cases. Granted, the lacto-ovo vegetarian is eating a diet that is less cruel than the meat-eater’s diet, but the diet is still unnecessarily cruel.

But more than suffering, there is a separate issue. There is the problem of treating another living being as a commodity, specifically, treating another living, sentient being who not only has a will to live, but also a will to love. There is the problem of treating animals as commodities, the problem of the property status of animals. That’s a HUGE ethical problem.

If you care about animals, you want what’s best for them. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could simply ask and they could simply tell? Well, in some ways we can tell what’s best for them. We can understand the basics: cow’s milk is for baby cows, not us. Swathes of unfertilized chicken’s eggs are not common, nor are they natural. Only an UNNATURAL environment, an environment without a rooster, would produce unfertilized chicken’s eggs.

And just to quell the standard farmer’s response that “cows need to be milked”: Cows don’t need to be milked any more than humans need to be milked. Mammals create milk for their babies, yes. And if their babies die or are removed/killed by a farmer, they continue to produce milk for a while, yes. And that excess milk can be painful, yes. But does that mean humans should take it and drink it? No. Cow’s milk does not belong to humans.

And just to quell the response that “eggs are nature’s bounty”: chicken’s eggs are no more a natural human food than are fingernail clippings, placentas, or cloned meat. Chickens, hens specifically, produce unfertilized eggs, yes. And if the rooster dies or is removed/ killed, the hens continue to produce eggs, yes. And those eggs remain unfertilized, yes. But does that mean humans should take them and eat them? No. Neither chickens nor their eggs belong to humans.

Source: Vegan Soupbox

The Disturbing Conveyor Belt of Death Where Male Chicks Are Picked Off and Killed So You Can Have Fresh Eggs

This is the reality for millions of chicks in Britain every year.

Fluffy yellow youngsters travel on conveyor belts at hatcheries dotted across the country – half to their death, the other half to egg farms.

The males are immediately discarded – and either gassed or thrown into macerating machines, which kill instantly.

Undercover filming by the campaigning welfare group Viva has captured the reality of the early days of factory farm chickens.

Once hatched, the chicks are placed onto a conveyor belt system to be sexed and sorted.

Bleak existence: Once hatched the chicks are placed onto a conveyor belt system to be sexed and sorted

Immediately killed: These male chicks have been gassed and are falling out of the machine

While the females will survive this initial process, their heads are placed into machines that will automatically clip away the ends of their beaks and inoculate them against disease.

In some hatcheries the tips of the beaks are removed using a hot wire.

This is done to ensure the birds do not peck and injure each other out of the frustration of spending their lives in cramped wire battery cages.

The same machine will inoculate them against various diseases common in the cage systems used on farms in Britain and around the world.

Even chicks going into other systems, such as free range, will have the end of their beaks cut off.

There was nothing illegal in the activities witnessed by Viva's undercover team, however the images demonstrate the reality behind the idyllic farmyard pictures plastered over supermarket egg boxes.

Viva is a pro-vegetarian organisation and would prefer people to turn their back on eating eggs. The filming took place at two hatcheries in this country in August.

At one, the male chicks are gassed in a machine before the bodies are then packaged to be fed to reptiles.

Life and death: This woman is sorting males from females to catch any that were missed in
the gassing room and is pictured flinging a male chick from the conveyor belt into a crate

Coming up for air: This little chick's head was poking out of a crate

At the second the male chicks are picked up in handfuls and dropped alive into a mincing machine in a process known as IMD - Instantaneous Mechanical Destruction.

Even chicks going into other systems, such as free range, will have the end of their beaks cut off.

The official line of the UK egg producing industry is that this destruction method is uncommon.

However, the recent footage demonstrates IMD is routinely used by at least one major hatchery.

Both of these slaughter methods are approved by Government's food and farming department, Defra, and the Humane Slaughter Association.

Viva campaigns manager, Justin Kerswell, said: 'It is the hidden horror that the egg industry does not want you to see.

'For the first time ever in the UK, the egg industry’s number one secret has been exposed: what happens to male chicks.

'In egg production male chicks are surplus to requirements, which means that they are sorted from the females in vast warehouses and then killed in their thousands at just a day or two old.

'Identical to the chicks you see on Easter greeting cards, these uncomprehending young birds are either sent on a conveyor belt to be gassed or thrown alive into electric mincers.

'Our undercover investigator has revealed the awful truth that underpins the British egg industry.'

He said: 'The female chicks don’t get it much better. Roughly sorted from the males, they too are transported on a seemingly never ending conveyor belt.

'However, they are vaccinated and have the tip of their beaks cut off, which is potentially painful to these young animals.'

Mr Kerswell said the conveyor belt system in the egg hatcheries is not unique to the chicks that go into battery cages.

The same system is used to sort those which move to barn, free range or even most organic egg farms.

'It is an unimaginable waste of life – and all just to bring an egg to your morning table,' he said.

The actor Martin Shaw, who starred as Judge John Deed is a vegetarian and supporter of Viva. He described the footage as 'shocking'.

He said: 'This exposes the mass murder and mutilation of thousands of baby chicks – at the hands of the British egg industry.

'Supporting this cruel industry sees the continuation of the slaughter of male baby birds for no reason, other than their sex.'

The British Egg Information Service defended industry practises.

Despite the evidence of the Viva footage, the organisation claimed it was unusual to put live chicks into mascerators in this country - although not illegal.

It said: 'In the egg industry, on hatching, chicks are immediately segregated into the male and female sexes by feather colour identification. Obviously, only females lay eggs.

'In the past the male chicks were used for poultry meat but the broiler meat industry has now developed specific strains of chicken which grow quickly. The male chicks from egg-laying breeds are not suitable.

'It is therefore necessary to dispose of the male chicks using a method approved by DEFRA and monitored by the Government's Animal Health Agency.

'Disposal is normally carried out by exposure to carbon dioxide or a mixture of carbon dioxide and argon, which is quick and painless, following a Code of Practice approved by the Humane Slaughter Association.

'The male chicks then provide a valuable source of food for other species such as reptiles and birds of prey.'

It said hatcheries are required to have mascerators by law, but said these are mainly used to dispose of unhatched eggs.

'It is not in the industry's commercial interest to throw chicks alive into mascerators, although this is not illegal,' it said.

'Masceration of live chicks is common in other countries including the USA.'

Source: Mail Online

A Cow by Any Other Name

By Marguerite

Its strange that people are happy to eat Steak and Ham, Cutlets and Shanks but when you start calling it what it really is, Cow, Pig, Sheep, they get uncomfortable even angry. As if you had brought into discussion the sewerage treatment process at the dinner table. As soon as we put a face to what we eat it becomes a moral issue.

As long as its out of sight, its out of mind and people don't want to be reminded of what they are eating and the processes involved in getting the cow to be a steak. Turning a blind eye has never been more prevalent or more dangerous.

Here is a recipe for one of my favourites, 100% Vegan, 100% Delicious!

CHICKPEA TAGINE with Green Olives and Lemon Zest

Lightly fry 1 chopped medium onion in a little olive oil, add one teaspoon each of ground ginger, ground black pepper, ground cumin and ground paprika. Add to this 1 medium sized butternut, peeled, seeded and cubed, and pour over enough veggie stock to cover. Stir in 1/2 a teaspoon of Harrisa paste and simmer covered until the butternut is tender and the liquid has reduced. Remove from the heat and add pitted and chopped green olives and freshly grated lemon zest to taste, serve on a bed of cous cous. This meal can also be dressed up with a little aubergine relish and some Moroccan flat bread. Enjoy!

Chickens

Chickens are inquisitive, interesting animals who are as intelligent as mammals like cats, dogs, and even primates. They are very social and like to spend their days together, scratching for food, cleaning themselves in dust baths, roosting in trees, and lying in the sun. Dr. Chris Evans, administrator of the animal behavior lab at Australia’s Macquarie University, says, “As a trick at conferences, I sometimes list [chickens’] attributes, without mentioning chickens, and people think I’m talking about monkeys.”

Chickens are precocious birds. Mother hens actually cluck to their unborn chicks, who chirp back to their mothers and to one another from within their shells! The intelligence and adaptability of chickens actually make them particularly vulnerable to factory farming because, unlike most birds, baby chickens can survive without their mothers and without the comfort of a nest—they come out of the shell raring to explore and ready to experience life.

But the more than 9 billion chickens raised on factory farms each year in the U.S. never have the chance to do anything that is natural to them. They will never even meet their parents, let alone be raised by them. They will never take dust baths, feel the sun on their backs, breathe fresh air, roost in trees, or build nests.

Chickens raised for their flesh, called “broilers” by the chicken industry, spend their entire lives in filthy sheds with tens of thousands of other birds, where intense crowding and confinement lead to outbreaks of disease. They are bred and drugged to grow so large so quickly that their legs and organs can’t keep up, making heart attacks, organ failure, and crippling leg deformities common. Many become crippled under their own weight and eventually die because they can’t reach the water nozzles. When they are only 6 or 7 weeks old, they are crammed into cages and trucked to slaughter.

Birds exploited for their eggs, called “laying hens” by the industry, are crammed together in wire cages where they don’t even have enough room to spread a single wing. The cages are stacked on top of each other, and the excrement from chickens in the higher cages constantly falls on those below. The birds have part of their sensitive beaks cut off so that they won’t peck each other as a result of the frustration created by the unnatural confinement. After their bodies are exhausted and their production drops, they are shipped to slaughter, generally to be turned into chicken soup or cat or dog food because their flesh is too bruised and battered to be used for much else.

Eating Chickens Is Bad for Your Health 
According to a major 2006 Harvard study of 135,000 people, people who frequently ate grilled skinless chicken had a 52 percent higher chance of developing bladder cancer compared to people who didn’t.

Because the male chicks of egg-laying breeder hens are unable to lay eggs and are not bred to produce excessive flesh for the meat industry, they are killed. Every year, more than 100 million of these young birds are ground up alive or tossed into bags to suffocate.

Chickens are slammed into small crates and trucked to the slaughterhouse through all weather extremes. Hundreds of millions suffer from broken wings and legs from rough handling, and millions die from the stress of the journey.

At the slaughterhouse, their legs are snapped into shackles, their throats are cut, and they are immersed in scalding hot water to remove their feathers. Because they have no federal legal protection (birds are exempt from the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act), most are still conscious when their throats are cut open, and many are literally scalded to death in the feather-removal tanks after missing the throat cutter.

Undercover Investigation at Hy-Line Hatchery

Thrown, dropped, mutilated, and ground-up alive. This is the disturbing reality faced by hundreds of thousands of chicks each day at the world's largest egg-laying breed hatchery Hy-Line International in Spencer, Iowa.

New hidden camera footage obtained at this facility during ahttp://www.MercyForAnimals.org undercover investigation gives a disturbing glimpse into the cruel and industrialized reality of modern hatcheries.

The warm, comforting, and protective wings of these newly hatched chicks' mothers have been replaced with massive machines, quickly moving conveyor belts, harsh handling, and distressing noise. These young animals are sorted, discarded, and handled like mere cogs in a machine.

For the nearly 150,000 male chicks who hatch every 24 hours at this Hy-Line facility, their lives begin and end the same day. Grabbed by their fragile wings by workers known as "sexers," who separate males from females, these young animals are callously thrown into chutes and hauled away to their deaths. They are destined to die on day one because they cannot produce eggs and do not grow large or fast enough to be raised profitably for meat. Their lives are cut short when they are dropped into a grinding machine tossed around by a spinning auger before being torn to pieces by a high-pressure macerator.

Over 21 million male chicks meet their fate this way each year at this facility.

For the surviving females, this is the beginning of a life of cruelty and confinement at the hands of the egg industry. Before even leaving the hatchery they will be snapped by their heads into a spinning debeaker a portion of their sensitive beaks removed by a laser. Workers toss and rummage through them before they are placed 100 per crowded box and shipped across the country.

The callous disregard for animal welfare at this facility is not isolated. In fact, the conditions documented during this investigation are completely standard and acceptable within the commercial egg industry. Referred to by Hy-Line corporate leaders as mere "genetic products," these chicks are treated just as they are viewed as inanimate objects, rather than the sentient creatures they are.

Driven by consumer demand, the egg industry will continue to exploit, abuse, and kill day-old animals as long as doing so remains profitable. Empowered consumers can put their ethics on the table by choosing kindness over cruelty at each meal by adopting an animal-friendly vegan diet.

Vegetarian for Animals

Animals on factory farms are treated like meat, milk, and egg machines. Chickens have their sensitive beaks seared off with a hot blade, and male cattle and pigs are castrated without any painkillers. Farmed chickens, turkeys, and pigs spend their brief lives in dark and crowded warehouses, many of them so cramped that they can't even turn around or spread a single wing. They are mired in their own waste, and the stench of ammonia fills the air.

Animals raised for food are bred and drugged to grow as large as possible as quickly as possible—many are so heavy that they become crippled under their own weight and die within inches of their water supply.

Animals on factory farms do not see the sun or get a breath of fresh air until they are prodded and crammed onto trucks for a nightmarish ride to the slaughterhouse, often through weather extremes and always without food or water.

Many die during transport, and others are too sick or weak to walk off the truck after they reach the slaughterhouse. The animals who survive this hellish ordeal are hung upside-down and their throats are slit, often while they're completely conscious.

Many are still alive while they are skinned, hacked into pieces, or scalded in the defeathering tanks.Learn more about the factory-farming industry. By switching to a vegetarian diet, you can save more than 100 animals a year from this misery.

One suggestion: If you plan to make the transition to a vegetarian diet gradually, the most important foods to cut out of your diet first are bird flesh and eggs. While many people think that “red meat” and dairy products should be the first to go, this isn’t the case.

By cutting bird flesh from your diet, you’ll save many more animals. Because chickens are so small, the average meat-eater is responsible for the deaths of many more chickens than cows. Plus,chickens and turkeys exploited by the meat and egg industries are the most abused animals commonly used for food.