A Vegan Health Article from All-Creatures.org

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Is There Anything We Need From Animals Besides Forgiveness?

From Sailesh Rao, ClimateHealers.org
April 2023

It is a fact that all plant foods have all 20 essential and non-essential amino acids, period. By examining such facts, day by day, we are beginning to see that there is no reason to use animals for any human purpose whatsoever. This is why animal use is animal abuse.

The current education system is deeply rooted in the archaic idea that it is necessary to exploit animals for our human well-being. The presence of useless animal experimentation requirements and the absence of plant-based nutrition training in core medical curricula illustrate this foundational bias. Nevertheless, it is jarring to see the following sentence in the middle of a well reasoned article written by a respected academic from an Ivy League institution in a mainstream journal:

“That will mean transitioning our current system of highly consolidated, intensive-confinement animal factories with its vast manure lagoons to a well-managed, pasture-based system with significantly fewer animals.”

The author is Viveca Morris, Executive Director of the Law, Ethics and Animals Program (LEAP) at Yale Law School and her article entitled, “The Cow Shaped Hole in Biden’s Methane Plan” exposed how the Biden administration was downplaying the methane emissions from animal agriculture through a statistical sleight of hand, courtesy of the Environmental Protection Agency. Yet even she threw in that “well-managed, pasture-based” sop to the animal agriculture industry, even though Ethics is embedded in the title of the program she leads at Yale University. She couldn’t imagine transitioning to a whole-foods, plant-based, healthy vegan food system that eliminated animal agriculture altogether.

If we can live and even thrive without exploiting animals, should we not consider it unethical to continue doing so? The common excuse we’re given for humanity’s continued exploitation of animals is that animal bodies and secretions are an essential source of that “most vital of all nutrients, protein.” To address this concern, I prepared a “Guess the Protein” quiz for the Climate Healers’ Earth Day presentations at schools next week.

From the three amino acid profiles shown in the graphic above, A, B & C, can you guess which is an animal food protein, which is a vegetable food protein and which is a fungus protein?

Indeed, it is a fact that all plant foods have all 20 essential and non-essential amino acids, period. By examining such facts, day by day, we are beginning to see that there is no reason to use animals for any human purpose whatsoever. This is why animal use is animal abuse.

James Lovelock correctly pointed out that if the earth improves as a result of human presence, we will flourish; if it does not, we will perish. To ensure the earth improves as a result of human presence, we need to train ourselves to become Vitally Engaged Guardians of Animals and Nature (V.E.G.A.N), not the compulsive exploiters of animals and nature that our current education system fools us to be.

That might require an entirely new education system, especially at the University level, with new curricula focused on all aspects of becoming V.E.G.A.N. A group of us brainstormed about this over the weekend and you are welcome to look through our proposal, listen to our deliberations and join the google group, if you are interested to help pursue this further. As Eric Hoffer said,

“In times of change, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.”

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All-Creatures.org Health Position and Disclaimer

We began this archive as a means of assisting our visitors in answering many of their health and diet questions, and in encouraging them to take a pro-active part in their own health. We believe the articles and information contained herein are true, but are not presenting them as advice. We, personally, have found that a whole food vegan diet has helped our own health, and simply wish to share with others the things we have found. Each of us must make our own decisions, for it's our own body. If you have a health problem, see your own physician.