Jainism and Animal Issues 1997

Author(s): Federation of JAINA
Publisher: USA Federation of JAINA

Page 15

Jainism and Animal Issues
SOME WINNER ARGUMENTS
If you're vegetarian, chances are, people interested in being vegetarian will ask you for information about it. That is why it is important to know these facts and figures.
THE HUNGER
- 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%: 60 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 protein wasted by cycling grain through livestock: 90 - How frequently a child dies as a result of malnutrition: every 2.3 seconds
- 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
-Primary cause of global warming due to greenhouse effect: carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels
- Fossil fuels needed to produce meat-centered diet vs. a meat-free diet: 3 times more
- Principle historic cause of demise of great civilizations: Topsoil depletion
-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
- 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 -Production of excrement by total U.S. human population: 12,000 pounds per second
- Production of excrement by U.S. livestock population: 250,000 pounds per second
-Sewage systems in U.S. cities: Common -Sewage systems in U.S. feedlots: Nil
THE HUMAN HEALTH
- Most common cause of death in the U.S.: heart attack
- How frequently a heart attack kills in the U.S.: every 25 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
-Nutrition training received by average U.S. physician during four years in medical school: 2.5 hours -Leading sources of saturated fat and cholesterol in American diets: Meat, dairy products and eggs
- Increased risk of breast cancer for women who eat meat daily compared to less than once a week: 3.8 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 NATURAL RESOURCES
- 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 U.S. Naval destroyer
- Gallons of water needed to produce a pound of wheat: 25 - Gallons of water needed to produce a pound of meat: 2,500 -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 - 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
- Percentage of U.S. antibiotics fed to livestock: 55
- Percentage of staphylococci infections resistant to penicillin in 1960: 13
(11)
- 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
- 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
-Leading source of pesticide residues in the U.S. diet: Meat - 55% - Second leading source of pesticide residues in U.S. diet: Dairy Products -23%
- Total pesticide residues in U.S. diet supplied by: Vegetables - 6%, Fruits - 4%, 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
- Contamination of breast milk, due to chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticides in animal products, found in meat-eating mothers vs. nonmeat eating mothers: 35 times higher
THE ETHICS
- Number of animals killed for meat per hour in the U.S.: 500,000