Meat is a life and death issue

Published: 11 June, 2010

• CELEBRATING National Vegetarian Week, Clare Latimer offered recipes for meals without meat (Review, May 28). 

Her warning that “calves have to be shot at birth, if you don’t eat beef” was not balanced by one spelling out the consequences of ever-increasing meat consumption.

Abattoirs are not on people’s “must-visit” lists for obvious reasons. Killers are hired to do the dirty work involved in slaughter. Perhaps people think “bootiful” turkeys grow encased in plastic on trees?

The human population increases yearly. If that goes on at the present rate, three Earth planets will be required to sustain that population, especially were all the people to enjoy the standard of living enjoyed in the west.

NOBODY suggests shooting babies at birth. A sensible policy of birth control would benefit all, especially women where lack of control is oppressive and where it endangers their health.

If readers doubt that our species is stupid as well as callous, just look at the situation in the USA, where a damaged undersea pipeline is spewing out oil. 

Eleven men were killed when the rig exploded; many thousands of sea creatures are condemned to a ghastly death. 

Meanwhile, the Japanese kill 1,000 whales yearly, supposedly for “scientific purposes”. Whales are a protected species and are not known for attacking humans, while rainforests are decimated to make new ranches to raise cattle for your burgers.

Thanks Clare for reminding us once again of the real cost of meat.

On the geological time-scale our species is a recent arrival and it is the deadliest. 

Earth will thrive when we cease to be and the remaining species will have one enemy less.

SKIP MURPHY
Prince of Wales Road, NW1