How many sentient mammals died to make that vegan hamburger? Tasmanian farmer Matthew Evans has added up the inconvenient numbers and written “One Eating Meat”. The death toll for vegetarian foods means vegans kill less cows, but more mice, lizards and ducks.
Preachy vegans should be silenced by new book on true cost of plant-based diets
Susie O’Brien, Herald Sun (paywalled)
For every 75 hectare of peas, 1500 animals die each year, including possums, wallabies, ducks and deer, not to mention many more rodents.
The 200,000 wild ducks killed in one year by NSW rice farmers?
Evans estimates he kills close to 5000 moths, slugs and snails each year in order to grow vegetables at Fat Pig Farm, his property in the Huon Valley.
Apparently beef uses more water, but plants use more brains:
One scientific analysis from the University of NSW quoted by Evans concludes that “25 times more sentient beings die to produce a kilo of protein from wheat than a kilo of protein from beef”.
The sentient beings are mostly mice.
More spent on low iron hospitalisations as meat intake declines
It’s down with red meat, and up with iron deficiency in NZ h/t Warwick Hughes
As the amount of red meat Kiwis eat shrinks, hospitalisations for iron deficiency anaemia are on the rise.
And it’s costing millions.
The cost of hospitalisations – primarily due to iron deficiency anaemia – has crept up from an annual $3.2 million to $6.7m over the past 10 years, according to Ministry of Health
On the ABC Evans talks about the effect the book is having on vegans.
What’s a true vegan these days?