first of all - i'm a piece of MEAT i ain't no vegetarian but i have been gradually cutting down as i learn more about meat production reasons why meat should be taxed to the max: - its inefficient nutrition. why feed 20 kilos of grains to produce one kilo of meat when you can just consume the grains directly. - its inhumane. except for free range organic meat, most of the animals are treated like shit.......which is kinda good......hopefully some of these sick and nearly dead animals make it to the market and kill the meat eating consumers. - causes disease. SARS originated in cats and spread to humans when some people in China consumed the infected cats. BIRD FLU obviously comes from birds. MAD COW DISEASE. - its heavily subsidized. first the grain producers get subsided....then the meat producers get subsided........resulting in massive subsidies that got to the largest corporations. - creates massive waste. the resources that power a meat diet are enormous compared to the resources that are required for a vegetarian diet. - its unhealthy. many cows get fed grinded down remains of other cows.......and many chickens get fed shit from other chickens.......plus there are a ton of pesticides, artificial hormones, and antibiotics that go into each animal to get it to maturity as fast as possible......plus the meat kinda just lays in your stomach and intestines and requires lots of time to get fully digested.
I read the other day in the NYT that if Americans cut back meat consumption by 20% it would have the equivalent green effect of trading your SUV in for a prius. The article also said that 30% of earths land is given over to animal production. A book I highly recommend is Pollen's "Omnivore's dilemma" Advocates local and sustainable farming or hunting. Killing a local deer good and healthy, getting some meat trucked halfway across the country that has questionable origins, not so good. Problem with sustainable farming is the cost, in the store you can by ribeye for anywhere from $5/lb on special to $8/lb at costco. The Ribeye from the local sustainable farmer is closer to $14-16/lb. Chickens are $3.50/lb vs 79c/lb. Doesn't affect me as I never buy meat in the US but the economics are prohibitive for most people though if they knew what they were potentially being exposed to they might pay up for the quality stuff and just eat less meat overall. Children especially should not be eating the meat sold in the US fed on who knows what kind of GSM crop and "other" stuff, pumped full of antibiotics and growth hormones.
i eat like 3 or 4 chicken breast daily. grains provide incomplete protein. please dont raise the price of my chicken and turkey
damn......u gonna get bird flu.....only a matter of time.........besides you probably carry 15lbs of undigested meat in your intestines u shouldn't even call it chicken......all chickens nowadays are more like frankenchickens.........chicken was what our grandparents ate.
Hey Chewy... Don't give the pricks in Washington anymore ideas! You have valid points, but we don't need anymore taxation!