Main > Everything Else
Vegetarians
SirPeale:
--- Quote from: shmokes on April 21, 2005, 05:15:17 pm ---Well, carrots are foreign cellular matter aren't they?
--- End quote ---
Of course. But you're talking about animal white blood cells. Cells that are part of the immune system. Of a foreign body.
--- Quote ---At any rate, is your son simply lactose intolerant? If so it is the lactate, IIRC, rather than the white blood cells that would be causing that reaction.
--- End quote ---
No, it was an allergic reaction. Children aren't lactose intolerant until a certain age. It's a component of breastmilk (and I'm fairly certain most animal milks). He didn't exhibit these symptoms until we weaned him at age 1 and gave him cows milk. At first we thought he was sick, due to his symptoms. Doctors were useless. "it's a bug, it'll pass" was their answer. Finally figured it out on my own. He tolerates it much better now, but still has issues.
--- Quote ---I'm under the impression that, according to the FDA, ingesting somatic cells poses no risk whatsoever.
--- End quote ---
Yeah, I'm so trusting of the FDA. The FDA that allowed a product like sucralose on the market, and a host of other nasty things.
So go ahead and down a glass of moo juice. I'll pass.
daywane:
--- Quote from: shmokes on April 21, 2005, 12:58:48 pm ---I am at least as concerned with the environmental impact of consuming meat as the inhumane conditions the animals are subjected to.
--- End quote ---
SirPeale:
--- Quote from: daywane on April 21, 2005, 07:36:50 pm ---fertilizer. best there is.
--- End quote ---
Problem is there is just *too* much of it. People have tried solutions like methane collection to generate power (which is actually very successful, but not anywhere in wide enough use), drying it and burning it for fuel, or just burning it in general (no one likes this option, it smells awful).
And believe it or not, faeces from factory animal farms are not ideal for fertilizer without processing it to a degree. It's for the same reason that using dog/cat faeces isn't: the inclusion of animal protein in the stool makes it unsuitable until it's broken down. How does animal protein get into cow/pig poop? Because they grind up their unfortunate friends and feed that resulting slurry to them.
shmokes:
--- Quote from: daywane on April 21, 2005, 07:36:50 pm --- fertilizer. best there is.
--- End quote ---
If this were true, farmers would not have mountains of feces with nothing to do with it. Farmers cannot sell anywhere near enough fertilizer to make a dent in the problem. And the mountains of crap cause other serious issues, like the lovely scent it creates and the lovely things its runoff introduces to streams and groundwater, and therefore to wildlife and people who drink the water.
Here's an example of one, by the way. It's on fire (or was).
jbox:
--- Quote ---I don't feel bad about it because it doesn't contribute directly to the leather industry.
--- End quote ---
Then why wear it at all? ??? Surely non-leather items are just as cheap in the thrift shop? I can think of several reasons why you shouldn't do this:
Economics: healthy 2nd hand markets tend to encourage the 1st hand market to continue.
Ethics: 'out of site, out of mind' principle.
Fashion: why make other people think *you* think leather products look good.
Mathematics: that "second hand" leather jacket you 'don't feel bad' about buying five years from now is probably a cow *today*.
I'm not saying you have to retro-actively release a cow into the wild for each cow you previously 'murdered', but surely you are drawing a line in the sand today? This is why moral vegetarianism is the hardest of the two to be. I could never spend all that time examining my toothpaste brand to make sure it doesn't use any animal products four or five steps back. :-\
And the shock factor of organisations like PETA tend to stem directly from the 'trade secret' attitude of too many businesses. Make transparency legally mandatory and you will get more mundane stories from CNN and less fantastic stories from PETA. ;D