Vegan Pros And Cons

Meat, eggs, milk, and cheese have made their way to be main focal points in an average American’s diet. Statistics show that only 2.5% of the U.S. population has adopted a vegan diet (Huffington Post). Why are so little people vegan? Studies have shown that vegan diets promote health benefits and reduce the risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and improve bone health (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition). Despite the fact that vegan diets are proven to have great health benefits, the number of vegans are only increasing at a slow, but steady, pace. The reason why more people are not turning vegan is because are they misinformed about veganism, they are unaware of how animals are raised, and they are unaware of how animal products are …show more content…
For instance, on the Delmarva Peninsula, 600 million chickens are raised per year, and as a result, the chickens produce more manure than a large city of 4 million people. Consequently, the amount of excess manure and the lack of maintenance of the manure are collecting in rivers and streams, which collect half of the manure’s nutrients. Because rivers and streams end up collecting nutrients from manure, a “dead zone” is created, and many animals are forced out of their ecological habitats (EEATS, 30). The manure also gives humans nausea and ruins clean drinking water. While the effects of raising animals are not very obvious to consumers, the environment as well as humans suffer from maintaining too much livestock. In addition, it is reported that livestock such as cattle, buffalo, sheep, and goats produce a tremendous amount of methane gas, equating to almost half the annual methane emission (EPA). Raising livestock does not only affect rivers and streams; it also contributes to gas emissions which leads to global warming. Sadly, consumers are not informed about the consequences of raising such large amounts of