[379] in Vegetarian_Support_Group
re: plants vs. animals
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (elsiedee@MIT.EDU)
Tue Feb 21 11:10:19 1995
To: dbrooks@MIT.EDU
Cc: vsg@MIT.EDU
Date: Tue, 21 Feb 95 11:07:27
From: elsiedee@MIT.EDU
There was a discussion along these lines on one of the big lists last
summer, and a couple of the points that came out of it were:
1) If you eat a plant-based diet, you are following the lesser of two
evils: you are doing less killing. For instance, it takes 16 pounds of
grain to make one pound of beef, so if you choose to eat that one pound of
beef you are taking in the death of that cow, plus all the plants that _it_
ate. Not to mention that sometimes rendered remains of other animals
(sheep, chickens) are fed to livestock as "supplements".
2) On the other hand I have heard that if a plant's leaf is torn off it
feels "pain" and all kinds of chemicals rush to that spot; also, if one
plant is killed in front of another, the surviving plant supposedly
"shakes" or "quivers".
Just a couple more thoughts to add to the discussion.
Laura
