Karma of Meat

I remember how sad it felt to realize at six years old and out with family that the catfish swimming in the rock pond by where we waited for our table would soon become my dinner. I am not a vegetarian, but for many years I have danced with the moral issues of eating meat. Despite the reasons for vegetarianism, I think what we should be more concerned with where our meat comes from and what eating it is doing to us.

When we are in the grocery store, we don’t think about where the neat, clean package of meat comes from, we easily just slip it into our cart and never think twice. Most of us have heard of free-range chicken, but do we truly understand what is happening to the majority of the animals we eat?

The last 40 years have seen the principles of mass production introduced into the farmyard. In the name of efficiency, production systems have been devised that inflict unspeakable suffering on calves, pigs, chicken and turkeys throughout their short and miserable lives. People are becoming educated about the disgusting environment in Confined Animal Feeding Operations, also known as CAFOs. These factories are putting our health at serious risk with the issue of the recurrent use of antibiotics meant for human use in animal feed. Using antibiotics in this fashion endangers human health and puts the health of future generations at risk with the loss of effective antibiotics. Not only are we at risk, the workers in these operations are frequently in unhealthy environments filled with dust and ammonia and other pathogens, creating respiratory issues. These health concerns have been raised by the American Public Health Association, the American Medical Association, and other similar organizations.

CAFO operations significantly add to climate change. According to the United Nations’ study, “Livestock’s Long Shadow,” almost a third of climate-changing gases can be attributed to the way we raise livestock (Jacobson). They pollute our land, our water and our health. Rural sociologist Linda Lobao of Ohio State University concludes that CAFOs hurt communities and animals significantly (Andrews).

In his article, “Eating and the Culture of Death,” from the National Catholic Reporter, David Andrews contends,

The way we treat animals is of moral significance. In theological words used by Pope John Paul II, the institutionalized and industrialized mode of treating animals that ignores their being creatures of God can be considered “a structure of sin.” The factory farms are part of a culture of abuse, not a culture of life. The operators, workers, the environment and the animals are all abused. The problem is not just that of specific farms or the good intention of operators, the problem is the entire system. It is not sustainable. An adequate definition of sustainability includes the way animals are treated… I grew up in rural Massachusetts living close to animals. I helped feed and raise chickens for their eggs and meat. During my novitiate with the Holy Cross brothers, I worked closely with pigs and cattle. I learned how to slaughter and skin steers. I have looked food animals in the eyes and learned a certain sense of spiritual concern as I cared for the animals before they were consumed. There is a living sense of dying and rising, of the paschal mystery, in food animal farming. There comes an appreciation of animals as sentient beings. The distancing that accompanies mass production removes that sensitivity from human interaction. A focus on efficiency leads to desensitization. Violence replaces care. Suffering becomes justified on the basis of economic necessity. This becomes a fact of life, seldom acknowledged (4a-6a).

Michael Pollan provides a graphic description in his article, “Power Steer,” of his first-hand account of the conditions in which our beef is raised. The animals are injected with growth hormone, human antibiotics, fed animal proteins from other cows, chickens and pigs plus lots of cheap corn. Corn fed meat is less healthy to eat because it contains more saturated fat. Meat of grass-fed livestock not only has substantially less fat, the type of fat is much healthier plus it has more omega 3 fatty acids and beta-carotene.

Animal factory proponents say that CAFOS are the most cost-effective method in the world in producing meat, milk and eggs. They credit modern America for producing the cheapest food, which is true, but at what cost?

In India, traditional Hindus believe food is the body’s source of chemistry, and what we ingest affects our consciousness, emotions and experiential patters. They believe if one wants to live in higher consciousness, in peace and happiness and love for all creatures, then he cannot eat meat, fish, shellfish, fowl or eggs. It is said that in ancient India meat would be fed to the soldiers during military campaigns, especially before combat, to bring them into lower consciousness so that they would forget their religious values. They performed these deeds in the in fulfillment of a warrior’s way – with not the least restraint of conscience. In Hinduism Today’s article The Meat-Free Life they sum it up to these five reasons not to eat meat (34-39):

• Dharma. Vedic scripture proclaims that ahimsa, non-hurtfulness, is primary religious obligation in fulfillment of dharma, divine law.

• Karma. By involving oneself in the cycle of inflicting injury, pain and death, even indirectly, by eating other creatures, one must in the future experience in equal measure the suffering caused.

• Consciousness. By ingesting the grosser chemistries of animal foods, one introduces into the body and mind anger, jealousy, fear, anxiety, suspicion and a terrible fear of death, all of which are locked into the flesh of the butchered creatures.

• Health. Vegetarians are less susceptible to all the major diseases that afflict contemporary humanity. This they live longer, healthier, more productive lives. They have fewer physical complaints, less frequent visits to the doctor, fewer dental problems and smaller medical bills.

• Environment. In large measure, the escalating loss of species, destruction of ancient rain forests to create pasturelands for livestock, loss of topsoil and the consequent increase of water impurities and air pollution have all been traced to the single fact of meat in the human diet.

Even in India, they are seeing more people abandon the vegetarianism ways of their parents and grandparents to the new modern age of meat.

As early as 2030, according to the World Bank, the world will need to produce 50% more food than it does now, chiefly because as India and China get richer, its newly affluent population will be demanding meat instead of greens. For 60 years, food production has risen in line with global population growth, but that is coming to an end. We can no longer take our food supply for granted.

For the first time, we have a generation of children not expected to outlive their parents. No matter your point of view on eating meat, things need to change. Many in my neighborhood are growing food in their gardens, but this will only take us so far. It’s time for use to wake up and really see what is going into to the food we are eating. It is true now more than ever, we are what we eat!

Works Cited

Andrews, David. Eating and the Culture of Death. National Catholic Reporter 46.6 (2010): 4a-6a. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 26 Feb. 2010.

Jacobson, Michael F. Livestock's Long Shadow. Nutrition Action Health Letter 36.5 (2009): 2. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 19 Mar. 2010.

Kirby, David. Animal Factory. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2010 Print.

Pollan, Michael. Power Steer. New York Times, March 21, 2002.

"The Meat-Free Life." Hinduism Today. 29.1 (2007): 34-39. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 26 Feb. 2010.