Animal Rights Activism

Introduction

  Animal rights activists support the vegan diet, which contains no animal products. I am an activist for human matters. I feel that there are serious ethical and medical matters involving the drug companies. I support the vegan diet because I feel that it is good for your health, both physical and mental.

  Although I favor the ethical treatment of animals, I am not an animal rights activist per se because I am working hard on issues involving the ethical treatment of humans. However, I favor much of what the animal rights people are doing. I am against fur.

The Vegan Diet; Is It Healthy?

“Vegetarians have been reported to have lower body mass indices than nonvegetarians, as well as lower rates of death from ischemic heart disease; vegetarians also show lower blood cholesterol levels; lower blood pressure; and lower rates of hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and prostate and colon cancer.”

Journal of the American Dietetic Association 

Volume 103, Issue 6, Pages 748-765 (June 2003)

  The above article as well as Ref. 4 are available free full text on the Internet. The URL for the ADA article is given as Ref. 5. Ref. 5 is a very thorough and academic article. I have spent a lot of time reading and studying it, and I still haven't digested all of it. I plan to continue to spend time studying it because it is so valuable. It is food for thought. The title of Ref. 5 is "Position of the American Dietetic Association and Dietitians of Canada: Vegetarian diets".

Compassion Over Killing

 "Working to end animal abuse since 1995, COK focuses on cruelty to animals in agriculture and promotes vegetarian eating as a way to build a kinder world for all of us, both human and nonhuman." COK

  It may be just a strange coincidence, but in Russian cok means "juice". Maybe a Russian-American made up this acronym.

"As rates of obesity, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, hypertension, and other life-threatening conditions skyrocket in the United States, many researchers and medical experts come to the same conclusion: A vegetarian diet can help protect your health and even reverse some diseases, including the most common one—heart disease." COK

  This group has a couple of outstanding websites. One is www.cok.net, and the other is www.TryVeg.com. One thing that I have noticed about this small group is that it concentrates on the horrors of factory farms. It does not fight against animal medical research as other groups do. Maybe they figured that since they were not well known (as PETA), they should concentrate against abuse in one area so as to make an impact. Other groups fight against fur coats, abuse of dogs & cats, etc.

PETA

  This is perhaps the most famous animal rights group except possibly for the Humane Society and the Antivivisection Society. I have heard a complaint against PETA, but I am checking into these complaints to see if they are valid. There are always going to be complaints against any large organization. The complaint was regarding their treatment of unwanted dogs & cats. The complaint was that they supposedly euthanize these animals if they can't be adopted. I will consider them innocent until proven guilty.

  Pam Anderson has supported their campaign to save the seals. The main PETA website is www.peta.org. Paul McCartney and the Dalai Lama also support their work.

Conclusions

  Both PETA and COK support the vegan diet. Both correctly claim that it is healthy. My own work supports them (6, 7). 

References

1. Perry CL, McGuire MT, Neumark-Sztainer D, Story M. Adolescent vegetarians. How well do their dietary patterns meet the Healthy People 2010 objectives?. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2002;156:431–437.

2. Sabate J, Ratzin-Turner RA, Brown JE. Vegetarian diets: descriptions and trends. In: Sabate J editors. Vegetarian Nutrition. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press; 2001;p. 3–17. 

3.  Fraser GE. Associations between diet and cancer, ischemic heart disease, and all-cause mortality in non-Hispanic white California Seventh-day Adventists. Am J Clin Nutr. 1999;70:532S–538S.

4. White RF, Seymour J, Frank E. Vegetarianism among US women physicians. J Am Diet Assoc. 1999;99:595–598.

5. http://www.adajournal.org/article/PIIS0002822303002943/fulltext

6. www.associatedcontent.com/article/2342794/an_obituary_for_dr_abram_hoffer.html

7. www.associatedcontent.com/article/2339808/the_vegetarian_and_vegan_diets_to_fight.html