Vegan Forum

[livevegan]

If slaughterhouses had a glass wall
and you had to see your dinner fall
Would you still eat with no concern
or from it would you learn?

Whose flesh should be in your bun
could you point and choose which one?
They're trapped in line to die for you
a life resting on what you do

Terrified they watch as another dies
what if through glass you locked eyes?
Now its your dinner's turn - what do you say
as he struggles for life to get away?

You hear his agonizing bellow
as his head takes a second blow
He's lifted by a single chain
just for taste - sound insane?

His throat is slit and he's bled
dismemberment is straight ahead
Your food's true cost becoming clear
as dinnertime is drawing near

You sit in front of your plate
after witnessing this brutal fate
A blood stained and stocking sight
would it ruin your appetite?

[wude]

There is a disconnect between people and food in general; and not just concerning meat.

The other day, I was standing in a line-up at a store that accomodates vegetarians. The person in front of me put several organic fruits and vegetables on the counter and then plopped down a big bag of tortilla chips.

This particular brand of tortilla chips advertises that it is 70% organic. How ridiculous is that? That'd be like drinking water advertising that it's only 30% polluted.

The tortilla chips, in question, are fried in canola oil. Canola is a genetically engineered crop. According to the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network (CBAN), genetically engineered crops have never been satisfactorily proven to be safe for consumption.

These tortilla chips also contain dextrose. That's corn syrup which is made from genetically modified corn; the same inedible corn that is processed to be used as feed to fatten livestock.

Being a healthy vegetarian is about more than just not eating meat.

[cailean]

Plenty of food is genetically engineered. There's no proof that it's bad for you either.

I'm a vegan, but I don't have a problem with genetic engineering for food. Unless someone proves that it's harmful I don't see a reason why it can't continue, since it certainly improves food production.

But not everyone is a vegan for health reasons. I'm not... my diet sometimes leaves much to be desired for its healthiness. I'm not a vegan for me. Perhaps the person you saw didn't care that the chips were part-organic or not. I certainly don't care if my food is organically grown.

[wude]

Plenty of food is genetically engineered. There's no proof that it's bad for you either.

I'm a vegan, but I don't have a problem with genetic engineering for food. Unless someone proves that it's harmful I don't see a reason why it can't continue, since it certainly improves food production.

But not everyone is a vegan for health reasons. I'm not... my diet sometimes leaves much to be desired for its healthiness. I'm not a vegan for me. Perhaps the person you saw didn't care that the chips were part-organic or not. I certainly don't care if my food is organically grown.

Scientists have linked many health problems (like the diabetes epidemic) to genetically modified and engineered foods. The problem is that organizations like Health Canada and the CFIA bow to pressure from Monsanto which owns 86% of all GE seeds planted globally. The Canadian Biotechnology Action Network (CBAN) opines that not enough testing is done on these crops to determine if they are truly safe for human/animal consumption. They say that we don't even know if our bodies are designed to eat this stuff.

[wude]

.

.

But not everyone is a vegan for health reasons. I'm not... I'm not a vegan for me. . I certainly don't care if my food is organically grown.

I assume that you are a vegetarian because you care about animals. Consider this then:

Most of that corn that you see in the country side of rural Canada is genetically modified corn. It was engineered like that to withstand the ammonia that farmers spray on the soil and to survive pesticides which are later sprayed on the crop itself. These poisonous chemicals end up in our waterways. That's not good for humans or animals.

Genetically modified corn isn't even edible unless it's processed. It is mainly used as feed to fatten livestock. Cows which are fed this would die in forty days or so if they weren't slaughtered because this type of corn has little or no nutritional value. This is a form of animal torture because cows were meant to eat grass.

A byproduct of genetically modified corn are corn based sweeteners like glucose-fructose, corn syrup and dextrose. These sweeteners are manufactured through a process which involves sulpheric acid. They can be found in just about everything on grocery store shelves.

When you purchase products that contain corn based sweeteners, you are supporting liars like the Corn Refiners Association who care more about profit than they do about animal welfare and your health.



See the documentary King Corn for more info.

[wude]

[quote="cailean"]Plenty of food is genetically engineered.

I don't see a reason why it can't continue, since it certainly improves food production.



Genetically modified crops are mostly designed to withstand the pesticides that they are sprayed with. Monsanto's Round-up was introduced in 1996 (see the documentary film Food,inc). Round-up kills every plant that it comes into contact with except the genetically modified crop itself, and it utterly destroys the soil as well; rendering it sterile (see the documentary film The World according to Monsanto). Monsanto likes to takes credit for higher yields, but in fact, this has been a result of many generations of farmers cross-breeding seeds. Also, pesticides, in general, tend to kill off the honey bee. According to David Suzuki, host of CBC's "The Nature of Things", without bees, most fruits and vegetables wouldn't even exist.

See the documentary film entitled "One Man, One Cow, One Planet" to see Peter Proctor's method of farming. He uses ancient, tried and proven farming practices to restore Indian farms destroyed by Monsanto's herbicides. He has had a lot of success. I know that organic farming is the better way and that industrial farming isn't really an improvement at all.