Friday, December 11, 2009

A conundrum

If we are not supposed to eat animals, then why are they made out of meat?

10 comments:

  1. Turn the question around: 'Why don't we eat humans when they are edible too?'. :P

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  2. Oh boy, have you been reading Going Rogue?!

    That's Sarah Palin's argument. Except she thanks God for the meatishness of animals. Meh.

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  3. Ben, you need to get out more.

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  4. Because they are murder victims, they live a worse life than you ever will, they feel pain. Just thank god your a prisoner and not a battery hen. (who want's to eat a chickens period anyway) Ben, have you really not got anything to write about??? There was always something going on in Cookham Wood. Prison may be a lot of things, but it wasn't dull.

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  5. I have a sneaking feeling thdt ben is teasing us...

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  6. Ben that is a very good hypothesis maybe you should research it?

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  7. @Gaina

    The reason it is not good to eat others of your same species is that it increases the chance of diseases and parasites to infect or infest you as a result. We know it isn't good to eat close relatives either, it is very probably how SIV jumped to humans from chimps and became HIV.

    It is good to eat some meat especially if you are growing. Meat is the best source of high quality protein (that which contains all the necessary amino acids) and essential fatty acids. Omega 3 & 6 from fish is good for you, but 3 & 6 from plants are not since they are chemically different and only 1% of them get turned into the right sort when we eat plant versions.

    The problem is that in developed countries we eat too much meat which is not good either for us or the planet. We just have to make sure the vegetarians and Greens don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

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  8. Peter in Dundee. Thank you for taking the bait ;-).

    Just out of interest, where did you get your information about the 3 and 6 from plants? Not disputing it, just like to know where people get their facts from :).

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  9. I have been aware of it for a while, but it was firmly put in my mind in an article in a recent issue of New Scientist magazine. It described a number of efforts by agribusinesses to make GM oil producing plants (rape, corn etc) make marine type omega 3 & 6 both for the sake of human health and to save some of the fish in the sea caught to make omega oils.

    Why would those companies bother investing all that time, effort and money if it were not true that plant omega oils are not bioavailable to humans?

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  10. Peter: Wouldn't make sense from a financial point of view for a GM crop company to tell people their product had a flaw so if they are admitting that then I can't see any reason other than it's true.

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