Health
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) 76 million people are affected by food-borne illness each year. Although it’s possible for any food to be contaminated, the most frequent and severe cases of food-borne illness come from meat and other animal products.
Studies at Yale University and elsewhere have shown that anywhere from 5% to 30% of people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease actually had Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), the human form of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as mad cow disease. While no smoking gun has yet been found to link Alzheimer’s to mad cow disease, there is ample evidence that Alzheimer’s, CJD and BSE are similar in their origins and in progression. Furthermore, according to Dr. Lawrence Broxmeyer of Med-America research, the risk of developing Alzheimer’s is three times greater for meat eaters than for vegetarians.
Environment
Raising animals for meat consumes massive quantities of water. According to the article “How Our Food Choices can Help Save the Environment,” by Steve Boyan, PhD (www.earthsave.org), eliminating just one pound of beef from one’s diet can save as much water as could be saved by forgoing showers entirely for six months!
Runoff from factory farms containing chemicals and animal waste—one of the greatest threats to water quality today—has polluted more than 173,000 miles of rivers and streams in the U.S. (Environmental Protection Agency)