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RE: In defence of meat: Reflections on society, ethics, experience, and current scientific knowledge – Part II
I agree that there's no universal ethic against killing animals to eat. My wife and I recently started a largely plant-based diet, one of the reasons we've reduced meat (other than experimenting with supposed health benefits of less meat) is that factory farming and slaughter is pretty disgusting. My personal notion of "harm reduction" is to select "humanely" raised and slaughtered meat, as well as simply reducing the quantity in our diets.
@finpunk: Thanks for your comment. As a veterinary student, one of my career goals is to increase welfare as much as I can on my client's farms. Modern agriculture receives a lot of bad press, but I wish to reassure you that there are many well-meaning people in the industry who do care about their animals, as well as different advisors (e.g. nutritionists, farm consultants, veterinarians), who are constantly trying to improve welfare on farms, regardless of size. I would also encourage you to check out some of the work Dr. Temple Grandin has done on cattle behaviour and welfare, and how it has really shaped the design of slaughter plants.
On the reduction of meat, I think there is a strong and sensible argument to be made that the average North American could do with proportionally less meat and grains and more vegetables and fruits in their diet. However, that is a very different argument than saying we should not eat animals at all, as you correctly pointed out.
Completely agree with you on both counts, and I agree that there are a lot of really good people in agriculture doing their best to reduce suffering; most people are good, in general, so I wouldn't expect less from farmers. It's nice to see growing awareness of inhumane treatment, but i'm not an advocate of eradicating meat from the human diet.