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GOING VEGAN
If you’ve clicked this button then you’re already
thinking about going vegan. Our advice to you is simple: do it!
Hundreds of thousands of people in this country have already taken
that last step into a completely cruelty-free lifestyle –
including every one of us who works here at Viva!. By turning vegan
you’ll be doing something incredibly positive for your health,
your conscience and the world. What’s more, we guarantee you
that making the transition won’t be as difficult as you think.
Being vegan doesn’t mean becoming a freak; it doesn’t
mean giving up on the pleasure of good food and it certainly doesn’t
mean you have to become a self-righteous bore. It won’t make
you a different person – only a happier one. Find out more
on these pages, give it some thought and then go for it. You won’t
regret it.
WHY GO VEGAN?
There are many reasons for going vegan – just as there are
for going vegetarian. Being vegetarian helps immeasurably in reducing
animal suffering, environmental damage, hunger in the developing
world and risks to our own health. Veganism takes all those advantages
just a little further. For very many people concerned about any
or all of these problems, it seems the natural step to take from
vegetarianism.
Saving Animals
Cattle reared for milk production are exploited and made to suffer,
just like animals reared for meat. They suffer from lameness, mastitis
(inflammation of the udders) and other illnesses and – worst
of all – they are forcibly separated from their calves just
days after they are born so that humans can drink their milk. Cows
are not some kind of special animal that produces milk automatically:
just like every other animal, including us, they only produce milk
to nurse their young. Male dairy calves, meanwhile, are useless
to the dairy industry and are usually shot at birth. Meanwhile,
egg-laying hens may be crammed into battery cages or disgusting,
disease ridden percheries and forced to produce twenty times the
number of eggs as are natural to them. Even free range and organic
layers face disease and parasites – and are slaughtered for
cheap meat as soon as their productivity falls below the level that
the egg business will accept. Male chicks are as useless to the
industry as male dairy calves and all are killed – including
those on free-range and organic systems.
Like leather, wool is a vital part of the profitability of the
meat business – and animals suffer to produce it. Over 90%
of British sheep flocks have problems with lameness and almost 1
in 5 lambs die before getting to market. Even honey bees are prone
to infectious diseases and the ill-effects of intensive production.
All animals kept for profit are exploited in one way or another:
the only way to ensure that animals are not harmed is to ensure
they are not farmed at all.
Find out more from our online Guides: Murder
She Wrote about the suffering inflicted on farmed animals; and
Justice for All, presenting
the case for animal rights.
Saving the Planet
Dairy cattle and laying hens consume land, water and resources
just like other farmed animals. They eat pesticide-soaked fodder,
produce polluting slurry, consume chemicals and drugs produced at
environmental cost and generate greenhouse gases. They are a drain
on our resources that this planet cannot afford.
Find out more about how animal agriculture is ravaging the environment
from our on-line Guide, Planet
on a Plate
Saving Others
Again, dairy cattle and laying hens are consuming resources that
could go to feeding human beings. As the developing world increasingly
industrialises its animal agriculture, farming animals in order
to generate revenues instead of food that problem will get worse
– and as more dairy and egg produce is consumed in the developing
world, so its people are at risk of falling prey to the diet-induced
illnesses of Western society.
Find out more about how animal agriculture contributes to poverty
and hunger from our on-line Guide, Food
for the Future
Saving Yourself
Human beings are the only animals which consume milk after infancy
– and the milk of another species at that. It is neither natural
nor healthy. A study published in 2003 found that a vegan diet could
reduce the most harmful form of cholesterol by 29%. The American
Dietetic Association has declared that a vegan diet can provide
all the nutrition that human beings need – from cradle to
grave. Veganism is infinitely closer to the diet human beings evolved
to thrive on than a normal, animal fat-soaked western diet –
and the health benefits of a well-balanced vegan diet reflect that.
Find out more about the health benefits of veganism from our online
guides, The
Healthiest Diet of All and a guide produced by the Vegetarian
and Vegan Foundation, Kids
Go Veggie, which explains how veganism is an ideal diet for
children.
Next section:
TURNING VEGAN: EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW
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| What is a vegan? |
| A vegan is a person who eats and wears
no animal products of any kind. That means that as well as
avoiding
meat, we don’t eat or drink dairy products (cow’s
or goat’s milk or cheese) or eggs and honey. That also
means, of course, that we eat nothing which includes any
of
those products as an ingredient. We also wear no leather, fur,
silk or wool. |
| See Also |
Vegan Farming
Food scares, health concerns, pesticide problems, environmental worries and animal
welfare issues have brought farming methods into the spotlight. Most farmers
are dependent on chemicals and animal by-products – and even those specialising
in organic farming use animal manures and slaughterhouse by-products. This
presents a difficult dilemma for vegans who refuse animal-derived food yet
are still linked to the meat industry by their seemingly innocent groceries.
However, despite popular beliefs, animals aren’t necessary to agriculture.
Vegan Organic farming
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Campaigns 
