Frequently Asked Questions (and answers)
Contents
Here we'll try to address common questions people often have about the group, our actions on campus, or about veg*anism in general. For more answers, see the FAQ lists in our links section.
General
Q: What does "vegetarian" mean?
A: Vegetarians refrain from eating at least some animal products—usually meat. The term is often qualified by what sorts of animal products one does eat, if any. For example, lacto vegetarians consume dairy but not meat and eggs, ovo vegetarians eat eggs but not dairy or meat, etc.
Reasons for adopting vegetarian diets vary widely. Some people shun meat due to religious dietary guidelines. Some act out of concern for the environment, because meat production is extremely destructive and inefficient. Others are concerned with the suffering of farmed animals, or seek the health benefits of a vegetarian diet.
Q: What does "vegan" mean?
A: Vegans (usually pronounced "vee-gunz") are vegetarians who strive to avoid animal-derived products as much as reasonably possible. In addition to meat, dairy and eggs, vegans typically prefer cruelty-free alternatives to leather, wool, silk (produced by boiling silkworms) products containing gelatin (extracted from the skin/bones of cows and pigs), items stuffed with feathers, or anything else that comes from animals. The motivation for most vegans has less to do with diet than with reducing unnecessary suffering caused by industrialized agriculture.
Most new vegans are surprised to discover the variety of food available on even the strictest diet, including many delicious, pre-made, and easy-to prepare meat substitutes (hot dogs, hamburgers, turkey, spare ribs, etc.) now available at most supermarkets. And anyone can cook satisfying meals themselves with just a little creativity.
Q: What's wrong with dairy?
A: While the link between meat and killing is obvious, dairy can seem pretty harmless. Most people assume that dairy cows lead normal, even comfortable lives. Yet commercial dairy production inevitably involves a cycle of continual pregnancies, unwanted offspring, and slaughter.
To produce profitable amounts of milk, dairy cows are made to give birth every 12 months. Their calves, who would normally suckle for up to a year, are taken away shortly after birth, causing tremendous distress for both mother and baby.
Half of the calves are male: they won't ever produce milk, and as a dairy-breed they aren't suitable for beef production. Many are chained in crates, fed anemic milk replacer, and slaughtered for veal. Others are killed immediately; their bodies are ground into pet food, and their stomach lining (known as "rennet") is harvested for cheesemaking. Many of the females suffer the same fate as their brothers. The rest are raised to replace their mothers in the cycle of repeated impregnation, birth, and lactation.
While dairy cows can live for 20 years, they produce milk in profitable quantites for only the first few years of life. On the dairy farm they are slaughtered at about four years of age, when their milk production falls.
Fortunately, dairy products are completely unnecessary for human health; we can get the same nutritional benefits of dairy without any of the cruelty.
More info:
- But it Doesn't Hurt the Cow Nutritional info from Jack Norris, RD.
- The Dairy Cow Some of the ethical problems with dairy farming.
- Factory Farming photo gallery A glimpse of the suffering endured by dairy cows and their calves.
- Also see the nutrition section of our links page.
Common objections to veg*anism
Q: You say it's "unnecessary" to eat animal products. But can vegetarians and vegans really be healthy?
A: Absolutely! In their 2003 position paper on vegetarian diets, the American Dietetic Association and Dietitians of Canada state,
Well-planned vegan and other types of vegetarian diets are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including during pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence. Vegetarian diets offer a number of nutritional benefits, including lower levels of saturated fat, cholesterol, and animal protein as well as higher levels of carbohydrates, fiber, magnesium, potassium, folate, and antioxidants such as vitamins C and E and phytochemicals. Vegetarians have been reported to have lower body mass indices than nonvegetarians, as well as lower rates of death from ischemic heart disease; vegetarians also show lower blood cholesterol levels; lower blood pressure; and lower rates of hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and prostate and colon cancer.
It's also worth noting that some of the world's best athletes thrive as vegetarians. Take nine-time olympic gold-medalist Carl Lewis, for example, who trains on a vegan diet.
Q: What I eat is my business. Don't tell me what to do!
A: Cruelty isn't simply a matter of personal choice. Imagine saying to someone, "Hey, if you don't want to beat your dog, that's your business. But don't tell me not to beat mine!"
Every day, animals in factory farms and slaughterhouses experience intense suffering and die brutal deaths. We support this needless cruelty every time we buy meat, dairy, or eggs. While we may be entitled to believe whatever we like, we are not entitled to do whatever we like. And if our actions cause unnecessary suffering, then others have every right to ask us to stop.
Q: Animals eat each other. Why shouldn't we eat them?
A: Because we have the capacity to make ethical judgements. An act doesn't become justified simply because another person (or animal) does it. Some humans commit theft and murder, for example, but that doesn't give us an excuse to do the same.
Predators in the wild kill out of necessity. We, on the other hand, kill by choice: animal products simply aren't necessary for our survival or health. (In fact, vegan and vegetarian diets can be significantly healthier than the standard American diet.) Why inflict so much suffering for something that isn't even necessary?
Incidentally, many animals—including some of our closest primate relatives— don't eat each other: they're vegetarians. Why not look to them as our examples?
Q: But farm animals are raised to be eaten.
A: That's not an excuse to exploit them or cause them to suffer. For the vast majority of animals we raise for food, life is miserable and death is brutal. On vast "factory" farms they live in small, overcrowded cages and are subject to surgical mutilations like castration, ovariectomy, branding, dehorning, beak searing, tail docking, ear clipping and teeth pulling. (These painful procedures are usually performed while the animals are fully conscious, because using anesthesia would increase costs.) Later, in the slaughterhouse, millions of animals are improperly "stunned" before entering the butchering process; they awake while being skinned, disemboweled, dismembered, or boiled alive.
It's hard to imagine that such profound and intense torture could be excusable simply because its victims are "raised to be eaten." On the contrary: because we have chosen to bring these sentient beings into the world, some would argue that we have an obligation to protect them from harm.
Q: Humans are at the top of the "food chain."
A: Vegetarians are at the top of their own food chain -- one that's shorter, healthier, more compassionate, and less destructive to the environment.
Besides, a "food chain" is just a metaphor that describes energy transfer in ecosystems. (Ecologists explain that the actual process is more like a web.) We're "at the top" of a food chain because we aren't preyed upon as a species. That description applies to all humans: both omnivores and vegetarians.
Q: But we're more powerful than animals. So why isn't it okay for us to kill weaker creatures and eat them?
A: Clearly it isn't okay to be cruel and violent just because we can. Might does not make right.
