Food Waste

Number of human beings who could be fed by the grain and soybeans eaten by U.S. livestock: 1,300,000,000

Percentage of corn grown in the U.S. consumed by livestock: 80%

Percentage of soy grown in United States consumed by livestock: 90%

Percentage of oats grown in United States consumed by livestock: 95%

Percentage of protein wasted by cycling grain through livestock: 90%

Percentage of carbohydrate wasted by cycling grain through livestock: 99%

Percentage of dietary fiber wasted by cycling grain through livestock: 100%

Number of strict vegetarians who can be fed on the amount of land needed to feed 1 person consuming meat-based diet: 20

Pounds of potatoes that can be grown on 1 acre of land: 20,000

Pounds of beef that can be produced on 1 acre of land: 165

Percentage of U.S. agricultural land used to produce beef: 56%

Percentage of U.S. agricultural land used to raise animals for meat: 87%

Pounds of grain and soybeans needed to produce 1 pound of feedlot beef: 16

Pounds of protein fed to chickens to produce 1 pound of protein as chicken flesh: 5

Pounds of protein fed to hogs to produce 1 pound of protein as hog flesh: 7.5

Amount of total U.S. grain production consumed by livestock: 70%

Amount of U.S. grain exports consumed by livestock: 66%

Amount of world grain harvest consumed by livestock (especially cattle): about two out of every five tons

Quantity of food consumed by the world's cows equal to the caloric needs of: 8.7 billion people (more than the entire human population
of Earth)

Frequency that a child dies of starvation: Every 2.3 seconds

Number of children who starve to death every day: about 38,000

Number of people who starve to death each year: about 20,000,000

Number of people who could be adequately fed if Americans reduced their meat intake by just 10%: 100,000,000

Energy Waste

Amount of raw materials and fossil fuels used to raise livestock in the U.S.: over one-third

Barrels of oil imported daily by U.S.: 6,800,000

Percentage of energy return (as food energy per fossil energy expended) of most energy efficient factory farming of meat: 34.5%

Percentage of energy return (as food energy per fossil energy expended) of least energy efficient plant food: 328%

Pounds of soybeans produced by the amount of fossil fuel needed to produce 1 pound of feedlot beef: 40

Percentage of raw materials consumed in U.S. for all purposes presently consumed to produce current meat-centered diet: 33%

Percentage of raw materials consumed in U.S. for all purposes needed to produce fully vegetarian diet: 2%

Length of time world's petroleum reserves would last if all human beings ate meat centered diet: 13 years

Length of time world's petroleum reserves would last if all human beings ate vegetarian diet: 260 years

Water Waste & Pollution

User of more than half of all water used for all purposes in the United States: livestock production

Quantity of water used in the production of the average cow sufficient to: float a destroyer

Water needed to produce 1 pound of wheat: 25 gallons

Water needed to produce 1 pound of meat: 2,500 gallons

Amount of water required to produce totally vegetarian diet:
300 gallons per day

Amount of water required to produce meat-centered diet:
4,000+ per day

Cost of common hamburger meat if water used by meat industry was not subsidized by U.S. taxpayers: $35 per pound

Current cost for pound of protein from wheat: $1.50

Current cost for pound of protein from beefsteak: $15.40

Cost for pound of protein from beefsteak if U.S. taxpayers ceased subsidizing meat industry's use of water: $89

Land Depletion

Amount of increase in global poultry population during the last
40 years: 200%

Ratio of livestock to people on Earth: three to one

Amount of Earth's land mass grazed by livestock: half

Amount of U.S. cropland producing livestock feed: 64%

Amount of U.S. cropland producing fruits and vegetables: 2%

Percentage of original U.S. topsoil lost to date: 75%

Amount of U.S. cropland lost each year to soil erosion: 4,000,000 acres (the size of Connecticut)

Percentage of U.S. topsoil loss directly associated with livestock raising: 85%

Amount of original U.S. cropland permanently removed from production due to excessive soil erosion: one-third

Pounds of topsoil lost in the production of one pound of feedlot steak: 35

Current annual topsoil loss on agricultural land in the U.S.: over 5 billion tons

Current annual topsoil loss on agricultural land worldwide: 26
billion tons

Time required for nature to form one inch of topsoil: 500 to 1000 years

Historic cause of the demise of many great civilizations: topsoil depletion

Percentage of agricultural land in the U.S. used to raise animals for meat: 87%

Percentage of total land mass in the U.S. used to raise animals for meat: 45%

Number of acres of U.S. forest which have been cleared to create cropland to produce meat: 260 million

How often an acre of U.S. trees disappears: every 8 seconds

Amount of trees spared per year by each individual who switches to a pure vegetarian diet: 1 acre

Estimated area of rainforest destroyed annually: 125,000 sq. miles

The driving force behind the destruction of the tropical rainforests: American meat habit; rainforest cleared to create grazing land for cattle

Amount of rainforest razed to produce one quarter-pound hamburger: 55 sq. feet

Current rate of species extinction, largely due to the destruction of tropical rainforests and related habitats: 4-6 per hour

Holy Shit!

Production of excrement by U.S. livestock: 68,000-250,000 pounds per second

Sewage systems in U.S. cities: usual

Sewage systems in U.S. feedlots: nil

Raw waste generated by typical pig factory equal to that of city population of: 12,000

Amount of waste produced annually by U.S. livestock in confinement operations which is not recycled: 1 billion tons

Relative concentration of feedlot wastes compared to raw domestic sewage: ten to several hundred times more highly concentrated

Where feedlot waste often ends up: in our water

Source of the deadly microbe pfiesteria, found in our drinking water:
pig excrement

Amount of wells and surface streams in the U.S. contaminated by agricultural pollutants: half

December 1997 Senate Agricultural Committee report described this waste as: untreated and unsanitary, bubbling with chemicals and disease-bearing organisms, and goes into the soil & water that people will, ultimately, bathe in, wash their clothes with, and drink

Land of the Free--but not the Healthy

Number of U.S. medical schools with a required course in nutrition: 30

Training in nutrition received during 4 years of medical school by average U.S physician: 2.5 hours

How frequently a heart-attack strikes in U.S.: every 25 seconds

How frequently a heart attack kills in U.S.: every 45 seconds

Most common cause of death in U.S.: heart attack

Risk of death from heart attack for the average American man: 50%

Risk of death from heart attack for the average American man who consumes no meat: 15%

Risk of death from heart attack for the average American man who consumes no meat, dairy products or eggs: 4%

Amount you reduce your risk of heart attack by reducing your consumption of meat, dairy products and eggs by 10%: 9%

Amount you reduce your risk of heart attack by reducing your consumption of meat, dairy products and eggs 50%: 45%

Amount you reduce your risk of heart attack by reducing your consumption of meat, dairy products and eggs 100%: 90%

Rise in blood cholesterol from consuming 1 egg per day: 12%

Rise in heart attack risk from 12% rise in blood cholesterol: 24%

Meat, dairy and egg industries claim there is no reason to be concerned about your blood cholesterol as long as it is: "normal"

Your risk of dying of a disease caused by clogged arteries if your blood cholesterol is "normal": over 50%

Your risk of dying of a disease caused by clogged arteries if you do not consume saturated fat and cholesterol: 5%

Leading sources of saturated fat and cholesterol in American diets:
meat, dairy products and eggs

Amount of cholesterol in an average egg: 275 mg

Amount of cholesterol in chicken: the same as beef, 25 mg per ounce

Americans believe meat is healthy as long as they: choose lean cuts

Main location of cholesterol in animal flesh: the lean portion

World populations with high meat intakes who do not have correspondingly high rates of colon cancer: none

World populations with low meat intakes who do not have correspondingly low rates of colon cancer: none

Increased risk of breast cancer for women who eat meat daily compared to women who eat meat less than once a week:
4 times higher

Milk Producer's original ad campaign slogan: "Everybody needs milk."

What the Federal Trade Commission called the "Everybody needs milk" slogan: "False, misleading and deceptive"

Milk Producer's revised campaign slogan: "Milk has something for everybody."

Something milk has for women: breast cancer

Hormone proven to be key factor in growth and proliferation of breast cancers: growth factor-I (IGF-I)

Similarity of IGF-I between humans and cows: identical

To produce more milk, cows are injected with: rBGH (synthetic Bovine
Growth Hormone)

Canadian government and U.S. FDA acknowledge that: rBGH-treated cows produce milk with elevated levels of IGF-I

Increase of IGF-I in body after drinking one 12-ounce glass of milk: doubled

Increased risk of breast cancer for women who eat butter and cheese 3 or more times a week compared with women who eat these foods less than once a week: 3 times higher

Bitter Irony...

McDonald's brags: over 60 billion sold
McDonald's doesn't brag about: over 70 million butchered

Ronald McDonald tells children: Hamburgers grow in hamburger patches and love to be eaten.
Ronald McDonald doesn't tell children: Hamburgers
are ground up cows who've had their throats slit
by machetes or their brains bashed in by sledgehammers.

Original actor to play Ronald McDonald: Jeff Juliano
Diet now followed by Jeff Juliano: vegetarian

The dye used for many years by the USDA for many years to stamp meats "Choice," "Prime," or "U.S. No. 1 USDA": violet dye no. 1
Current status of violet dye no. 1: banned as proven carcinogen

Egg Board's advertising slogan: the incredible edible egg
Photographs often accompanying the egg board's slogan: young women in bathing suits, emphasizing the shape of their breasts
Increased risk of breast cancer for women who eat eggs daily compared to women who eat eggs less than once a week: 3 times higher

Part of female chicken's body that produces eggs: ovaries
Increased risk of fatal ovarian cancer for women who eat eggs 3 or more times a week compared with women who eat eggs less than once a week: 3 times higher

Foods males in U.S. are conditioned to think of as "manly": animal products
Increased risk of fatal prostate cancer for men who consume meats, cheese, eggs and milk daily compared with men who eat these foods sparingly or not at all: 3.6 times higher

Amount of meat imported annually by U.S. from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras and Panama: 200,000,000 pounds
Amount of meat eaten by average person in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras and Panama: less than the average
American housecat

What you don't know WILL hurt you

The Meat Board shows us: A serving of beef they claim has "only
300 calories."

The Meat Board doesn't tell us: The serving of beef they show us is only 3 ounces (half the size of an average serving of beef) and has been surgically defatted with a scalpel.

The dairy industry tells us: Whole milk is 3.5% fat.

The dairy industry doesn't tell us: That 3.5% figure is based on weight, and most of the weight in milk is water.

The dairy industry doesn't want us to know: The amount of calories as fat in whole milk is 50%.

Oscar Mayer tells us: It is a "myth" that hot dogs are fatty.

Oscar Mayer demonstrates their point by favorably comparing the fattiness of hot dogs to such low fat bastions as: margarine, mayonnaise, salad dressing and cream cheese

Natural food for any baby mammal: the mother's breast milk

The only mammal that consumes milk after being weaned: humans

The only mammal that consumes the milk of another species: humans

The Dairy Council tells us: "Milk does a body good."

The Dairy Council doesn't tell us: Milk does a baby calf's body good--which has four stomachs, will double its weight in 47 days, and is destined to weigh 300 pounds within a year.

The Dairy Council tells children: To grow up big and strong, drink lots of milk.

The Dairy Council occasionally tells children: The enzyme necessary for digestion of milk is lactase.

The Dairy Council never tells children: 20% of Caucasians and up to 90% of people of African and Asian descent have no lactase in their intestines.

The meat, dairy and egg industries tell us: Animal products constitute 2 of the "Basic 4" food groups.

The meat, dairy and egg industries don't tell us: There were originally 12 official basic food groups, before these industries applied enormous political pressure on behalf of their products.

The meat, dairy and egg industries tell us: We are well-fed only by the inclusion of animal products.

The meat, dairy and egg industries don't tell us: The diseases which are commonly prevented, consistently improved, and sometimes cured by a low-fat vegetarian diet include: strokes, kidney stones, prostate cancer, cervical cancer, diabetes, peptic ulcers, hiatal hernias, gallstones, irritable colon syndrome, heart disease, breast cancer, pancreatic cancer, stomach cancer, hypoglycemia, constipation, diverticulosis, hypertension, salmonellosis, osteoporosis, colon cancer, ovarian cancer, endometrial cancer, kidney disease, hemorrhoids, obesity, asthma, trichinosis

Percentage of total antibiotics used in U.S. fed routinely to livestock: 55%

Percentage of staphylococci infections resistant to penicillin in 1960: 13%

Percentage of staphylococci infections resistant to penicillin in 1988: 91%

Reason: breeding of antibiotic resistant bacteria in factory farms due to routine feeding of antibiotics to livestock

Effectiveness of all "wonder-drug" antibiotics: declining rapidly

Reason: breeding of antibiotic resistant bacteria in factory farms due to routine feeding of antibiotics to livestock

Response by entire European Economic Community to routine feeding of antibiotics to livestock: ban

Response by American meat and pharmaceutical industries to routine feeding of antibiotics to livestock: full and complete support

Increase in overall pesticide use since 1945: 3,300%

Increase in overall crop losses due to insects since 1945: 20%

Increase in the amount of pesticides applied per acre to corn since 1945: 100,000%

Increase in corn crop losses since 1945: 400%

Amount of total herbicides that are applied to crops used to feed livestock: 61%

Chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticide residues in the U.S. diet supplied by meat: 55%

Pesticide residues in U.S. diet supplied by Dairy products: 23%

Pesticide residues in U.S. diet supplied by vegetables: 6%

Pesticide residues in U.S. diet supplied by fruits: 4%

Pesticide residues in U.S. diet supplied by grains: 1%

Percentage of U.S. mother's milk containing significant levels of DDT: 99%

Percentage of U.S. vegetarian mother's milk containing significant levels of DDT: 8%

Relative pesticide contamination in breast milk of meat-eating mothers compared to pesticide contamination in breast milk of vegetarian mothers: 35 times as high

Percentage of male college students sterile in 1950: 0.5%

Percentage of male college students sterile in 1978: 25%

Sperm count of average American male compared to 30 years ago: down 30%

Principle reason for sterility and sperm count reduction in U.S. males: chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticides, including dioxin, DDT, etc.

Percentage of chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticide residues in American diet attributable to meats, dairy products, fish and eggs: 94%

The Meat Board tells us Not to be concerned about the dioxins and other pesticides in today's beef because: the quantities are so small

The Meat Board doesn't want us to know: how potent dioxin and the other pesticides are

The Meat Board particularly doesn't want us to know: a mere ounce of dioxin could kill 10 million people

The USDA tells us: our meat is inspected

The USDA doesn't tell us: less than 1 out of every quarter million slaughtered animals is tested for toxic chemical residues

"But if I eat no meat, will I get enough protein?"

Recommended percentage of daily calories to be derived from protein according to Food and Nutrition Board of the U.S.D.A.: 10%

Recommended percentage of daily calories to be derived from protein according to National Research Council: 8%

Percentage of calories as protein in wheat: 17%

Percentage of calories as protein in broccoli: 45%

Percentage of calories as protein in rice: 8%

Disease linked to inadequate protein consumption: kwashiorkor

Number of cases of kwashiorkor in United States: virtually none

Diseases linked to excess protein consumption: osteoporosis and kidney failure

Number of cases of osteoporosis and kidney failure in the United States: tens of millions

The average measurable bone loss of female meat-eaters at age 65: 35%

The average measurable bone loss of female vegetarians at age 65: 18%

Health status of pure vegetarians from many populations of the world according to the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academy of Sciences: excellent

Cruelty to lose your appetite over

The first station on most poultry slaughterhouse assemblylines is: the stunning tank, where the birds' heads are submerged in an electrified bath of water

Stunning procedures are often inadequate because: they are not monitored

Because too much electricity damages carcasses, diminishing their value: electrical current is set too low to render birds unconscious

Result: birds emerge from the stunning tank still conscious, or are immobilized but still capable of feeling pain

After passing through the stunning tank: birds' throats are slashed, usually by a mechanical blade

Inevitably, the blade misses some birds who then: proceed to the next station on the assembly line, the scalding tank

Here they are: submerged in boiling hot water

Birds missed by the killing blade are: boiled alive

Frequency of this occurance: extremely common--millions of birds each year

Wingspan of average Leghorn chicken: 26 inches

Space average Leghorn chicken given in egg factories: 4-6 inches

Routine practice of egg industry to reduce excessive pecking (an aberrant behavior of confined hens): debeaking--the removal of a portion of chicks' beaks

Debeaking is: a painful procedure which involves cutting through bone, cartilage, and soft tissue

Process commonly used to induce egg laying cycle: force molting

Force molting involves: starving the hens for up to 18 days, keeping them in the dark, and denying them water to shock their bodies into another egg laying cycle

Typical consequences of force molting: birds may lose more than 25% of their body weight, and between 5% and 10% of them die

Because factory egg-laying breeds don't grow large or fast enough to be profitable as meat, unwanted male chicks are: discarded on the day they hatch

Methods of disposal: 1. thrown into trash cans and suffocated or crushed 2. (more commonly)Homogenization

'Homogenization' is: grinding chicks up alive

Eyewitness accounts at commercial hatcheries: chicks slowly dismembered on augers carrying them towards trash bin or manure spreader

Description of homogenization by research scientist: "Even after twenty seconds, there were only partly damaged animals with whole skulls." (that is, fully conscious chicks were only partially ground up)

Routine procedures of pork industry: piglets subjected to painful mutilations with no anesthesia/pain relievers--tails cut off to minimize tail biting, notches taken out of ears for identification

Piglets are taken from mothers at age: 2-3 weeks

Piglets are then: crowded into pens with metal bars and concrete floors (they are denied straw bedding, as it is "too expensive")

Headline from National Hog Farmer magazine advises: "Crowding
Pigs Pays"

Number of 700 plus pound pigs confined to space the size of a twin bed in typical factory farm: 3

Pigs endure overcrowded confinement until: they reach a slaughter weight of 250 pounds at about 6 months of age

Prior to being hung upside down by their back legs and bled to death at the slaughterhouse, pigs are supposed to be: 'stunned' and rendered unconscious

Reliability of stunning: horrendously imprecise
Result: conscious animals hanging upside down, kicking and struggling, while a slaughterhouse worker attempts to stick them in the throat with a knife

If worker is unsuccessful, the pig will be: carried to the next station on the assemblyline--the scalding tank--to be boiled alive

Average lifespan of a cow in healthy environment: 25+ years
Average lifespan of modern dairy cow: 3 years

Cows kept lactating by: continuous pregnancy, genetic manipulation and intensive production technologies

Cow's gestation period: nine months

To keep them producing milk, dairy cows are: forced to have a calf every year

Average milk production of cow in natural state: 10 pounds per day

Average forced milk production of modern dairy cow: 100 pounds
per day

Age dairy calves are separated from their mothers: immediately after birth

Calves are then fed: liquid milk substitute which is deficient in iron and fiber, designed to make animals anemic

Reason calves are kept anemic: anemia results in light, white-pink colored flesh which is prized as veal

Reason today's veal is so tender: calves never allowed to take a single step

Veal calves live for: up to sixteen weeks

Veal calves live in: cramped wooden crates where they cannot turn around, stretch their legs, or even lie down comfortably

Source which supplies calves, as by-product, for veal industry: the dairy industry

What those who shun veal--because they object to treatment of calves--are doing when they buy milk: supporting the veal industry and contributing to the suffering of calves

Painful methods of beef cattle identification: 1. hot iron brands 2. waddling (cutting chunks out of the hide which hangs under the animals' necks, large enough to be identified from a distance

Quantity/frequency of slaughter at standard beef slaughterhouse: 250 cattle killed per hour

Consequence of rushed assembly line: difficult to treat animals with any semblance of humaneness

Prior to being hung up by their back legs and bled to death, cattle are supposed to be: rendered unconscious

This is usually done by: a mechanical blow to the head

Reliability of stunning procedure: horrendously imprecise

Result of poor stunning: as with pigs--conscious animals hanging upside down, kicking and struggling, while a slaughterhouse worker makes another attempt to render them unconscious

Eventually animals will be: stuck in the throat with a knife, and bled to death whether they are unconscious or not

Number of animals killed for meat per hour in U.S.: 500,000

Cost to render an animal unconscious prior to slaughter with captive bolt pistol so that process is done humanely: 1 penny

Reason given by meat industry for not utilizing captive bolt pistol:
too expensive

Are vegetarians weak and malnourished?

Food choices of Dave Scott: vegetarian

Athlete who nearly completely dominated Olympic sport in track and field history: Edwin Moses, undefeated in 8 years, 400 meter hurdles

Food choices of Edwin Moses: vegetarian

World record holder for 24 hour triathalon, swim 4.8 miles, cycle 185 miles, run 52.5 miles: Sixto Linares

Food choices of Sixto Linares: strict vegetarian

Other notable vegetarian athletes-

Stan Price: World record-bench press

Robert Sweetgall: World's premier ultra-distance walker

Paavo Nurmi: 20 World's records in distance running, 9 Olympic medals

Bill Pickering: World record - swimming English Channel

Murray Rose: World records - 400 and 1500 meter freestyles

Andreas Cahling: Winner - Mr. International body-building championships

Roy Hilligan: Winner - Mr. America body-building championships

Pierreo Verot: World's record for downhill endurance skiing

Estelle Gray and Cheryl Marek: World's record for cross-country tandem cycling

James and Jonathan deDonato: World's record for distance butterfly stroke

Ridgely Abele: Winner of 8 national championships in karate, including U.S. Karate Association World Championships

SOURCES:

Vegan: The New Ethics of Eating, by Erik Marcus
Diet for a New America, by Tom Robbins
PETA online
EarthSave International
VegSource
Meat Stinks!