Ethics of Eating Meat

The ethics of eating meat has gained a lot of attention, but when people talk about the ethics of eating meat, they either know how to answer or don’t. But most people are now becoming more aware of the inhumane nature of meat industries. Books like ‘On Eating Meat’ made by Matthew Evans, TV networks such as SBS made a show about animals and meat and it is called ‘For the Love of Meat’, and this TV show teaches us what actually happens to the animals that we eat and how the animals are treated. Others disagree with eating meat and claim that is it just cruel and unnecessary. However, some people who claim that it is important to eat meat often argue that it is beneficial for our health. The importance of this issue is, without a doubt, the significant loss of animal life. People who eat meat should eat in moderation due to the fact that meat has its benefits and detriments due to the fact that it causes unnecessary suffering on animal life, too much meat negatively affects human health, and livestock farming has a severe impact on the environment.

To begin with, the eating of meat should not be allowed or banned because it causes unnecessary animal suffering. The mass production of meat sees thousands of livestock being led to slaughterhouses on a daily basis, and the conditions are more awful than people think. We kill and eat more than 150 billion animals every year. These are the numbers of animals slaughtered worldwide by the meat, egg, and dairy industries. Animals are sentient creatures whose needs and interest matte, then we should ensure these needs and interests are at least minimally met and that we do not cause them to suffer unnecessarily. Industrial livestock farming falls well short of this minimal standard. Most meat, dairy, and eggs are produced in ways that largely or completely ignore animal welfare. Failing to provide sufficient space to move around, contact with other animals, and access to the outdoors. As the living conditions, for chicken, they are either in cages or in cramped up spaces with a lot of chickens. This, in turn, increases the birds’ contact with the litter causing foot pad burn. Helpless animals are suffering unnecessarily cruel and painful deaths. Chickens can die from heat stress caused by the cramped conditions in the shed. In short, industrial farming causes animals to suffer without good justification. Although it can be argued that not all animal farms have poor living conditions, it is clear that it is not regulated effectively. This demonstrates how the meat industry has failed at implementing humane methods of meat production and has therefore caused unnecessary harm to animals. For this reason, the eating of meat should be banned to ensure that no further harm is done.

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People have a point in thinking like that. However, do you think going vegan or vegetarian means no animals will die? Billions of animals are killed on Australian farms to protect crops, farmer Matthew Evans says. All diets rely on the death of animals, it’s important to remember this. Even vegan diets result in the death of many animals. Rabbits, deer, etc., are culled in large numbers in order to protect crops, and with a vegan diet these animals would simply be left to rot. In Australia, around 100 mice are killed per hectare of wheat. It’s also important to note that many of these mice die slow, painful deaths as they starve to death after their mothers have been poisoned. That doesn’t account for the huge number of reptiles killed, plus insects, that disturb the food chain. Matthew Evans has spent the last few years researching Australia’s food industry and has come to an uncomfortable conclusion: animals will die in our name regardless of whether we choose to eat meat. In fact, he found billions of animals are deliberately killed every year on Australian farms purely to protect fruit and vegetable crops for human consumption. Matthew Evans has written a book ‘On Eating Meat’, which calls omnivores and vegans to look at the impact of their dietary choices. Australians are among the biggest meat-eaters in the world, devouring an average of 110 kilograms of meat each year, and people should buy less, but better-quality meat that is farmed ethically and sustainably. “I think a lot of vegans probably understand some animals die, but they may not understand the scale”, Matthew Evans told ABC News. So, a duck dying to protect a rice paddy for me is not much different for a cow dying to produce a steak. They are both animal deaths that happen in the name of us being able to eat. So, there is nothing that we can do that doesn't have an impact on animals.

Additionally, eating meat has a lot of benefits, such as a stronger immune system. One of the biggest drawbacks of both vegetarian and vegan diets is the very real danger of a weakened immune system. In order for your body to create the antibodies it needs to fend off illnesses, it requires a rich mix of amino acids. Eating a few different types of meat such as beef, pork tenderloin, chicken, fish, etc. several times a week will provide your immune system with the zinc, selenium and omega-3 fatty acids it needs to fire on all cylinders. Ultimately, meat consumption can prevent illness and reduce recuperation times when you do get sick. People that avoid eating meat and rely instead on a purely vegetarian diet have a harder time managing energy levels throughout the day. A few strips of bacon or an egg in the morning or a sensible roast beef sandwich at noon can help to regulate your energy levels throughout the day. An added benefit of moderate meat consumption is a more restful night’s sleep.

To a certain extent, people who support this point of view are right. But eating an excessive amount of meat, especially red and processed meat, is linked with poor health outcomes, including heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and various cancers. These diseases represent a major portion of the global disease burden, so reducing consumption could offer considerable public health benefits. Currently, the average meat intake for someone living in a high-income country is 200-250g a day, far higher than the 65g recommended by the Australian Dietary Guidelines. The Australian Dietary Guidelines are more conservative and recommend limiting red meat intake to a maximum of 455g a week, or 65g a day, to reduce the additional cancer risk that comes from eating large quantities of red meat. Switching to a more plant-based diet could save up to 8 million lives a year worldwide by 2050, lead to healthcare-related savings and avoided climate change damages of up to $1.5 trillion.

Lastly, the environmental impact is huge. Livestock farming has a vast environmental footprint. It contributes to land and water degradation, biodiversity loss, acid rain, coral reef degeneration and deforestation. Livestock farming contributes 18% of human-produced greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. This is more than all emissions from ships, planes, trucks, cars and all other transport put together. Reducing the consumption of animal products is essential if we are to meet global greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets, which are necessary to mitigate the worst effects of climate change.

Meat production requires lots of grain, water, and land. Meat production is highly inefficient and this is particularly true when it comes to red meat. To produce one kilogram of beef requires 25 kilograms of grain to feed the animal and roughly 15,000 liters of water. The scale of the problem can also be seen in land use: around 30% of the earth’s land surface is currently used for livestock farming. Since food, water and land are scarce in many parts of the world, this represents an inefficient use of resources. In short, industrial livestock farming is not only inefficient, but also not equitable.

On the other hand, eating wild animals, if carefully managed, has one of the smallest environmental impacts of any food source. In certain circumstances farming livestock can actually result in fewer sentient animals dying than crop farming. This may seem counter-intuitive, however, if you look at something like cattle farming on rangeland in Australia this uses native ecosystems.

If one of the reasons for veganism and vegetarianism is to eat in a manner that causes the least unnecessary harm to animals, then in certain circumstances this should involve eating meat. A purely plant-based diet ignores the fact that animals have to be killed in order to maintain such a diet for the vast majority of the population. Not eating meat, therefore, results in the waste of nutrition and protein, and thereby resulting in a greater requirement of crop farming and more animal deaths. It is also possible that the push for a plant only based diet can result in the destruction of native ecosystems (which can be utilized for meat production), which in turn creates far more damage to native wildlife.

In conclusion, some people think eating meat causes unnecessary animal suffering because of how many animals we kill and eat, and because animals are sentient creatures. However, being vegan or vegetarian doesn’t mean no animals will die. All diets rely on the death of animals, it’s important to remember this. Even vegan diets result in the death of many animals. Eating meat has lots of benefits such as a stronger immune system. One of the biggest disadvantages of both vegetarian and vegan diets is the danger of a weakened immune system. In order for your body to create the antibodies it needs to fend off illnesses, it requires a rich mix of amino acids. But eating an excessive amount of meat also has its detriments. Especially red and processed meat. It is linked with poor health outcomes, including heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and various cancers. Switching to a more plant-based diet could save up to 8 million lives a year worldwide by 2050. Livestock farming contributes 18% of human-produced greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. This is more than all emissions from ships, planes, trucks, cars, and all other transport put together. But in certain circumstances, farming livestock can actually result in fewer sentient animals dying than crop farming.

I believe that eating meat is still better. It’s true that eating meat has its disadvantages, but for years we have eaten meat. But in the end, it all comes to each person’s opinion and beliefs. Whether people eat meat is up to their choice, but they should be aware of the impact of their choices. So, a duck dying to protect a rice paddy for me is not much different for a cow dying to produce a steak. They are both animal deaths that happen in the name of us being able to eat. So, there is nothing that we can do that doesn't have an impact on animals. Animals will die in our name regardless of whether we choose to eat meat. In fact, billions of animals are deliberately killed every year on Australian farms purely to protect fruit and vegetable crops for human consumption. We should opt for better-quality meat that is farmed ethically and sustainably even though it cost just a bit more. That way it is better for us, the animals and the environment. If we don’t, then we will have lots of problems in the future.