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AR Philosophy >
Debating AR
How to Win an Argument With a Meat
Eater
"Outsmart him. Outrun him. Outlive
him." -- Dave Scott
The Hunger Argument
Number of people worldwide who will die as a result of malnutrition this
year: 20 million
Number of people who could be adequately fed
using land freed if Americans reduced their intake of meat by 10%: 100
million
Percentage of corn grown in the U.S. eaten by people:
20
Percentage of corn grown in the U.S. eaten by livestock:
80
Percentage of oats grown in the U.S. eaten by livestock:
95
Percentage of protein wasted by cycling grain through
livestock: 90
How frequently a child dies as a result of
malnutrition: every 2.3 seconds
Pounds of potatoes that can be
grown on an acre: 40,000
Pounds of beef produced on an acre:
250
Percentage of U.S. farmland devoted to beef production:
56
Pounds of grain and soybeans needed to produce a pound of
edible flesh from feedlot beef: 16
The Environmental Argument
Cause of global warming: greenhouse effect
Primary cause of
greenhouse effect: carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels
Fossil fuels needed to produce meat-centered diet vs. a meat-free diet:
3 times more
Percentage of U.S. topsoil lost to date:
75
Percentage of U.S. topsoil loss directly related to
livestock raising: 85
Number of acres of U.S. forest cleared
for cropland to produce meat-centered diet: 260 million
Amount
of meat imported to U.S. annually from Central and South America:
300,000,000 pounds
Percentage of Central American children
under the age of five who are undernourished: 75
Area of
tropical rainforest consumed in every quarter-pound of rainforest beef: 55
square feet
Current rate of species extinction due to destruction of
tropical rainforests for meat grazing and other uses: 1,000 per
year
The Cancer Argument
Increased risk of breast cancer for women who eat meat daily compared to less
than once a week: 3.8 times
For women who eat eggs daily
compared to once a week: 2.8 times
For women who eat butter
and cheese 2-4 times a week: 3.25 times
Increased risk of
fatal ovarian cancer for women who eat eggs 3 or more times a week vs. less than
once a week: 3 times
Increased risk of fatal prostate cancer
for men who consume meat, cheese, eggs and milk daily vs. sparingly or not at
all: 3.6 times.
The Cholesterol Argument
Number of U.S. medical schools: 125
Number requiring a
course in nutrition: 30
Nutrition training received by average
U.S. physician during four years in medical school: 2.5 hours
Most common cause of death in the U.S.: heart attack
How
frequently a heart attack kills in the U.S.: every 45 seconds
Average U.S. man's risk of death from heart attack: 50 percent
Risk of average U.S. man who eats no meat: 15 percent
Risk
of average U.S. man who eats no meat, dairy or eggs: 4 percent
Amount you reduce risk of heart attack if you reduce consumption of meat,
dairy and eggs by 10 percent: 9 percent
Amount you reduce risk
of heart attack if you reduce consumption by 50 percent: 45
percent
Amount you reduce risk if you eliminate meat, dairy and eggs
from your diet: 90 percent
Average cholesterol level of people
eating meat-centered-diet: 210 mg/dl
Chance of dying from
heart disease if you are male and your blood cholesterol level is 210 mg/dl:
greater than 50 percent
The Natural Resources Argument
User of more than half of all water used for all purposes in the U.S.:
livestock production
Amount of water used in production of the
average cow: sufficient to float a destroyer
Gallons of water
needed to produce a pound of wheat: 25
Gallons of water needed
to produce a pound of California beef: 5,000
Years the world's
known oil reserves would last if every human ate a meat-centered diet:
13
Years they would last if human beings no longer ate meat:
260
Calories of fossil fuel expended to get 1 calorie of
protein from beef: 78
To get 1 calorie of protein from
soybeans: 2
Percentage of all raw materials (base products of
farming, forestry and mining, including fossil fuels) consumed by U.S. that is
devoted to the production of livestock: 33
Percentage of all
raw materials consumed by the U.S. needed to produce a complete vegetarian diet:
2
The Antibiotic Argument
Percentage of U.S. antibiotics fed to livestock: 55
Percentage of staphylococci infections resistant to penicillin in 1960:
13
Percentage resistant in 1988: 91
Response
of European Economic Community to routine feeding of antibiotics to livestock:
ban
Response of U.S. meat and pharmaceutical industries to
routine feeding of antibiotics to livestock: full and complete
support
The Pesticide Argument
Common belief: U.S. Department of Agriculture protects our health
through meat inspection
Reality: fewer than 1 out of every
250,000 slaughtered animals is tested for toxic chemical residues
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
Contamination of breast milk, due
to chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticides in animal products, found in meat-eating
mothers vs. non-meat eating mothers: 35 times higher
Amount of
Dieldrin ingested by the average breast-fed American infant: 9 times the
permissible level
The Ethical Argument
Number of animals killed for meat per hour in the U.S.: 660,000
Occupation with highest turnover rate in U.S.: slaughterhouse
worker
Occupation with highest rate of on-the-job-injury in U.S.:
slaughterhouse worker
The Survival Argument
Athlete to win Ironman Triathlon more than twice: Dave Scott (6 time
winner)
Food choice of Dave Scott: Vegetarian
Largest meat eater that ever lived: Tyrannosaurus Rex (Where
is he today?)
Source = "Diet For A New
America" by John Robbins
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