There are several types of vegetarians, perhaps chief among which are ovo-lacto vegetarians, who do not eat meat but do eat other animal-derived foods such as eggs and dairy foods, and vegans, who do not eat even those animal-derived foods. These definitions are very rough, and it is likely that many people do not fit completely into either of these categories, but they give a starting point for this discussion. I previously explained why I am vegetarian, that is, why I do not eat meat. That essay should really be read before this one, as it develops the ideas used here (such as they are) more fully. This essay is about why I do not eat other animal products, such as eggs and milk products. There is a distinction between these two concepts in my mind probably only because I did not become vegan until several years after I became vegetarian, but many of the arguments I used in that essay will will apply here. Specifically, I will not again go into health matters or ecological reasons, because they are exactly the same. The fats and cholesterol found in non-meat animal products has much the same effect as those in meats, and the damage to the earth's environment caused by non-meat animal products comes about in much the same way (i.e., the overfarming of the land, the danger of the animals' waste, etc.). I will instead focus on the ethical reasons for my being vegan.
So what's wrong with eating eggs or drinking milk? The animals are not killed to make milk or eggs, right? While that may be true, it ignores the fact that the animals are eventually killed when it is no longer profitable to keep them alive (i.e., when their yield is of less value than their upkeep). In addition, dairy cows and laying hens are of a different sort in this age of genetic engineering. They are designed to provide milk or eggs, not to provide meat. This means that the male offspring are of no use to the meat producer (except in the case of veal production). It is not economically viable to feed a laying hen's male offspring for the few months a broiler chicken is fed, because the yield in flesh will be so much less. So the male offspring are discarded or, in the case of veal, placed in confining cages to be killed within days or weeks. There is death involved in egg and dairy production.
That said, all is not fun and games for the cows and hens that do live to produce milk and eggs. They are often (although not always) forced to live in very small enclosures, far removed from the large spaces that they would naturally have roamed. Hens often have the tips of their beaks seared off because of a tendency they have of going a little mad and pecking at one another in the cramped cages in which they are kept. Calves are taken away from cows much earlier than they would normally have parted in a natural environment. Living in this environment, sometimes never seeing the light of day, is no life for a chicken or a cow.
It has been pointed out to me that it does not hurt cows to be milked, and furthermore that if they are not milked regularly pain and other complications will result. Part of me wants to just ignore these people, just as they appear to have ignored me, assuming that I had put so little thought into my decision as to have simply been mistaken about these elementary statements. I will, however, respond to these all too common lines of argument. First, I agree that milking the cows is probably not particularly painful. It is not the milking of cows to which I object, it is the keeping of cows under obscene conditions that I find deplorable. Second, I do understand that we have genetically engineered cows to the point where they need to be milked regularly and to the point where they produce far more milk than any calf could consume, but I also know that the production of milk has not strayed so far from nature that it is not closely linked to the birthing process. When a cow's milk production declines, she is impregnated (and yes, I do mean she is impregnated; in the farming environment of today, there are no accidents) so as to start the cycle again. Calves are taken away from their mothers very early, and the mothers' milk is diverted for human use. Cows do need to be milked, but they do not need to be continually impregnated so that the need to be milked continually arises.
So I maintain that the quality of life of animals used to produce eggs and dairy products is not good when compared to the lives they would live in a natural setting. They are penned up and manipulated to provide the maximum profit for those who own them. And why? To give human consumers pleasure. There is no need for humans to use eggs or dairy products in their diets, they do it because it is convenient and they like it. I submit that, as in the case of meat, the pleasure of the perpetrator is not relevant in moral discourse. We simply do not accept the excuse, "But I liked it!" from someone who has harmed another unnecessarily. There is no reason to place these animals in these conditions other than the pleasure doing so brings us, so we ought not do so.
Perhaps more importantly, I feel that the exploitation of animals in the food industry (as well as in other areas) is indicative of a deeper problem in our society. People do not seem to care about anyone or anything but themselves. Everyone is out to get the most he or she can get, damn the consequences to others. We see this in the explosion of frivolous lawsuits in our society. We see it in the casual disregard for life in our cities and even our schools. I had personal experience of it as a tax preparer for one tax season, watching as people tried to bilk the government out of as much money as they could. It is greed. We are out for ourselves. It seems to be a part of "human nature" (whatever that may be). The fact is, we must work to be ethical people; it does not come naturally. I do not claim to be the most moral individual in the world, or even close, but I do try not to put the most trivial of my concerns (e.g., a good tasting meal) above the most dire of another (e.g., the life or well-being of an animal). This is a lesson that can be put to use in many aspects of modern life.
I do not eat eggs nor dairy products because I believe that it is wrong to cause harm to another being for no reason. I deplore the massive exploitation of non-human animals in our society as a symptom of a greater calamity: a lack of respect and concern for others prevalent in our civilization. Denying the greed underlying this lack of respect does not come naturally; it is not easy to do the right thing all the time. We must, nevertheless, try our best to do so. This is why I am vegan.
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