To what extent does the animal agriculture industry impact
health, the environment & animal welfare?
Sofia Manton
,Introduction
Culture is one of the most significant and influential concepts to exist on our planet. It can
manipulate, justify, deceive, and even propagandise information without any detection of
falsity. This is seen in multiple areas in history. Consider a child being taught that slavery is
perfectly acceptable. It is possible to persuade that child that it is right if it is repeated
enough times. The child will believe it even more if they see evidence of it all around them: in
the people they spend time with, in the words they read, and in the information they watch.
When a lie is told enough times, it starts to feel true. Slavery becomes part of the culture if
enough individuals are convinced that it is acceptable. It becomes tradition if that culture
passes on the misinformation to the next generation. Looking back at a time when slavery
was normalised, it is clear to see how heinous slavery now is considered. It was never
morally permissible. However, at that time, there were a huge number of individuals who
believed slavery was justified. These people could be said to have been manipulated,
taught, and deceived leading them to justify that the statement, ‘slavery is permissible’, is the
truth. It is significant to understand from this example, and countless others, that just
because a tradition has been established, does not mean it is morally acceptable. Tradition
and morality are not equivalent. Although slavery was abolished almost two centuries ago in
the United Kingdom, many instances take place in education, industry and homes, that can
only be classed as manipulation and misinformation, propaganda and deception, in places
where many would not expect.
The animal agriculture industry is a collective term to describe the four main organisations of
the farming world, these being the meat, dairy, fish and egg industries. These organisations
are all part of a bigger story embedded in culture, and now a tradition. This tradition
preaches the products these industries supply have no implications on health, the
environment, or the welfare of animals. However, this is a fantasy. These, and many other,
statements are fed to all people by the industry to get individuals to buy their products.
The hidden truth is that animal products have been linked to heart disease, cancer, diabetes,
arthritis, and osteoporosis in studies. This statistic barely scratches the surface of the harm
animal products do to your body (PETA, 2022a). Furthermore, animal farming, after fossil
fuels, is the second greatest source of human-made greenhouse gas emissions and a major
contributor to deforestation, water and air pollution, and biodiversity loss (Climate Nexus,
2016). The animal agriculture industry also is by far the world's leading killer of animals. It is
to blame for the systematic cruelty to farm animals, who suffer for every second of their short
lives (PETA, 2022b). These three fundamental issues the industry causes will be explored,
analysed and discussed in this essay, but a solution to all three will also be presented, that
solution being plant-based diets which will be the summary for each section.
Health
Health is a topic which many believe our society is incredibly advanced in the field of. This,
arguably, is seen in many areas, such as in hospitals, pharmacies and through charities
which organise countless missions to find cures for diseases. It is so-called common
knowledge that our society has created a stable platform to aid people to live long and
healthy lives. However, the figures uncovered override this belief completely. There are
approximately 422 million people in the world who are living with diabetes (World Health
, Organization, 2021). It is also stated that one in two people will develop cancer in their
lifetime (NHS England, 2019). It seems that these statistics are only predicted to rise, rather
than fall, by as much as 50% in cancer rates specifically in the United States by 2050 (Weir
et al., 2021). Despite this, the healthcare sector invests a significant amount of money in
discovering a cure or treatment for a variety of diseases, including diabetes and cancers,
without identifying the underlying cause (Anderson & Kuhn, 2017). However, information
released by The World Health Organization (WHO) in 2015 finally provided an answer to a
possible cause of multiple diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer (World
Health Organisation, 2015). The cause was no other than a food that 86% of individuals in
39 countries reported was a regular part of their diet (Buchholz, 2021), that food being
animal meat, as well as many other foods, which all have one thing in common. They are all
derived from an animal.
The food that the meat industry supplies is possibly one of the most carcinogenic items that
humans can consume. The World Health Organization (2015) states that processed meat is
classified as a Group 1 carcinogen, and cigarettes, asbestos, and plutonium are all in this
category. Furthermore, red meat is classified as a Group 2 carcinogen, and this alone
highlights the extreme effect that the consumption of meat can have on an individual.
Additionally, one serving of processed meat a day elevates the risk of developing diabetes
by 51% in a study (Hu, 2011).
Firstly, elements in red meat, including choline and carnitine, have been examined in
research. These nutrients are broken down by microbes in the stomach, which produce
trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO). High blood levels of TMAO raise your risk of clogged
arteries, heart attack, and stroke (Janeiro et al., 2018). A vegan or vegetarian diet, on the
other hand, is connected to lower TMAO development in the body. A vegan diet does not
include any animal products, whereas a vegetarian diet does include dairy and eggs. High
TMAO levels have been linked to an increased risk of atherosclerosis in previous studies.
Furthermore, when red meat consumption rises, so does the amount of TMAO-producing
bacteria in the gut, altering the gut microbiome pattern (Thomas, 2020). In over 4,000
individuals, high TMAO levels were linked to blood clots, heart attacks, and strokes. In 720
patients with heart failure, elevated levels of this substance were linked to an increased risk
of death (Tello & Novkovic, 2021).
More well-known features of meat, such as the high levels of saturated fats can raise total
cholesterol and shift the balance toward more hazardous LDL cholesterol, causing artery
blockages in the heart. As a result, most nutritionists advise limiting saturated fat to less than
10% of daily calories (Harvard Health Publishing, 2019). However, adults in the United
Kingdom consume 12.5% of their calories from saturated fat, which is higher than
recommended (Dowden, 2019). It is important to note nutritionists recommend 10% as the
maximum, so it is much more beneficial for the human body to have lower saturated fat
levels. Vegan and vegetarian diets are lower in saturated fat than meat-based diets,
therefore those who eat plant-based diets have lower risks of cancer, heart disease and
diabetes (Brazier, 2020). Due to high levels of saturated fat and low levels of fibre and
vitamins, meat-eaters are three times more likely than vegetarians to be obese, and nine
times more likely than a vegan. Vegans are 10 to 20 pounds lighter on average than adult
meat-eaters. Vegetarian diets have also been linked to increased metabolic rates. This is
around 16% faster for vegans compared with meat-eaters (Krantz, 2016).
