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J. Baird Callicott on Factory Farms

Animal Ethics

From the perspective of the land ethic, the immoral aspect of the factory farm has to do far less with the suffering and killing of nonhuman animals than with the monstrous transformation of living things from an organic to a mechanical mode of being.

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On "Knockout Animals"

Animal Person

Today's New York Times gives us Adam Shriver's Op-Ed " Not Grass-Fed, But at Least Pain-Free ," which presents its dilemma at the end: If we cannot avoid factory farms altogether, the least we can do is eliminate the unpleasantness of pain in the animals that must live and die on them. It would be far better than doing nothing at all.

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Another Reason to Go Vegetarian

Animal Ethics

We can thank factory farming for yet another antibiotic-resistant supergerm: Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA). According to Stephanie Woodard's column in Prevention published today, the CDC reports that "certain types of MRSA infections kill 18,000 Americans per year—more than die from AIDS."

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From Today's New York Times

Animal Ethics

And thanks to federal corn and soybean subsidies, factory farms saved an estimated $3.9 billion a year between 1997 and 2005, totaling nearly $35 billion, according to researchers at the Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University. Unfortunately, that is unlikely to happen any time soon.

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Meat, Cancer, and the Cumulative Case for Ethical Vegetarianism

Animal Ethics

Ethical vegetarianism is the thesis that killing and eating animals is morally wrong whenever equally nutritious plant-based alternatives are available. Similarly, most people also agree that: (2) It is wrong to kill a conscious sentient animal for no good reason. Nor ought we kill them without reason.

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From Today's New York Times

Animal Ethics

As the lead prosecutor in this case told the jury, this poor infant was not killed by a vegan diet. Well-planned vegan diets are healthful for pregnant mothers and their infants, as well as for older children, according to a large body of scientific research. Contrary to Ms.

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On "EATING ANIMALS" by Jonathan Safran Foer

Animal Person

The good news is that if you know someone who needs to be schooled on all of the sordid details of factory farming, and appreciates good writing, this is a great book. Factory farming considers nature an obstacle to overcome" (34). But this plate also holds all of the animals that were killed for your serving of sushi.