Editing Vegetarianism (section)

==Ethics and diet==

===General===
{{Main|Ethics of eating meat}}
With regard to the ethics of eating meat, scholars consider vegetarianism an [[ideology]] and a [[social movement]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Gorvett|first=Zaria|title=The hidden biases that drive anti-vegan hatred|url=https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200203-the-hidden-biases-that-drive-anti-vegan-hatred|access-date=September 26, 2020|website=www.bbc.com|date=February 4, 2020 |archive-date=February 9, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200209122636/https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200203-the-hidden-biases-that-drive-anti-vegan-hatred|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Review of Adam D. Shprintzen's "The Vegetarian Crusade" |website=History News Network |date=November 11, 2013 |url=http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/153600 |access-date=September 26, 2020 |archive-date=January 22, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122035734/http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/153600 |url-status=live }}</ref> Ethical reasons for choosing vegetarianism vary and are usually predicated on the interests of [[non-human animals]]. In many societies, controversies and debates have arisen over the ethics of eating animals. Some people, while not vegetarians, refuse to eat the flesh of certain animals due to cultural [[taboo]], such as cats, dogs, horses or rabbits. Others support meat eating for scientific, nutritional and cultural reasons, including religious ones. Some meat eaters abstain from the meat of animals reared in particular ways, such as [[factory farms]], or avoid certain meats, such as [[veal]] or [[foie gras]]. Some people follow vegetarian or [[Veganism|vegan]] diets not because of moral concerns involving the raising or consumption of animals in general, but because of concerns about the specific treatment and practices involved in the processing of animals for food. Others still avoid meat out of concern that meat production places a greater burden on the environment than production of an equivalent amount of plant [[protein]].<ref>Searchinger, T.D., Wirsenius, S., Beringer, T. et al. Assessing the efficiency of changes in land use for mitigating climate change. Nature 564, 249–253 (2018). {{doi|10.1038/s41586-018-0757-z}}</ref> Ethical objections based on consideration for animals are generally divided into opposition to the act of killing in general, and opposition to certain [[Intensive farming|agricultural practices]] surrounding the [[animal husbandry|production]] of meat.

=== Ethics of killing for food ===
{{Main|Bioethics}}
Ethical vegetarians believe that killing an animal, like killing a human, especially one who has equal or lesser cognitive abilities than the animals in question, can only be justified in extreme circumstances and that consuming a living creature for its enjoyable taste, convenience, or [[nutrition]] value is not a sufficient cause.<ref>{{cite journal | author = Lindeman M., Väänänen M. | year = 2000 | title = Measurement of ethical food choice motives | journal = Appetite | volume = 34 | issue = 1| pages = 55–59 | doi = 10.1006/appe.1999.0293 | pmid = 10744892 | s2cid = 37406748 }}</ref> Another common view is that humans are morally conscious of their behavior in a way other animals are not, and therefore subject to higher standards.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Why the Naive Argument against Moral Vegetarianism Really is Naive|journal=Environmental Values|year=2001|pages=103–112|volume=10|issue=1|doi=10.3197/096327101129340769|author=David Benatar|bibcode=2001EnvV...10..103B }}</ref> [[Jeff McMahan (philosopher)|Jeff McMahan]] proposes that denying the right to life and humane treatment to animals with equal or greater cognitive abilities than mentally disabled humans is an arbitrary and discriminatory practice based on habit instead of logic.<ref>{{cite book|last1=McMahan|first1=Jeff|title=The Ethics of Killing|date=2002|publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref> Opponents of ethical vegetarianism argue that animals are not [[Moral equivalence|moral equals]] to humans and so consider the comparison of eating livestock with killing people to be fallacious. This view does not excuse cruelty, but maintains that animals do not possess the rights a human has.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.iep.utm.edu/anim-eth/#SH2b |title=Animals and Ethics [Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy&#93; |publisher=Iep.utm.edu |date=January 13, 2010 |access-date=September 12, 2012 |archive-date=July 5, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110705222257/http://www.iep.utm.edu/anim-eth/#SH2b |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Dairy and eggs ===
One of the main differences between a [[vegan]] and a [[Lacto-ovo vegetarianism|lacto-ovo vegetarian diet]] is the avoidance of both [[Egg as food|eggs]] and [[dairy product]]s such as milk, cheese, butter and yogurt. [[Veganism#Ethical veganism|Ethical vegans]] do not consume dairy or eggs because they state that their production causes the animal suffering or a premature death.<ref name=marcus>{{cite book|title=Vegan: The New Ethics of Eating|author=Erik Marcus|year=2000|publisher=McBooks Press, Incorporated |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3hHjqs43t8oC|isbn=9781590133446|access-date=October 27, 2015|archive-date=April 5, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405220137/https://books.google.com/books?id=3hHjqs43t8oC|url-status=live}}</ref>

To produce milk from [[dairy cattle]], farmers separate calves from their mothers soon after birth to retain cow milk for human consumption.<ref name=milk>{{cite web|title=Dairy cows and welfare|author=Vegetarian Society|url=http://www.vegsoc.org/page.aspx?pid=556|access-date=October 18, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130506181359/http://www.vegsoc.org/page.aspx?pid=556|archive-date=May 6, 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref>

=== Treatment of animals ===
{{main|Animal rights}}
[[Ethical vegetarianism]] has become popular in developed countries particularly because of the spread of [[factory farming]] and environmental consciousness. Some believe that the current mass-demand for meat cannot be satisfied without a mass-production system that disregards the welfare of animals, while others believe that practices like well-managed [[free range|free-range]] farming or the consumption of [[game (hunting)|game]] (particularly from species whose natural predators have been significantly eliminated) could substantially alleviate consumer demand for mass-produced meat.<ref>
{{cite journal
| last1                 = Ruby
| first1                = Matthew B.
| title                 = Vegetarianism. A blossoming field of study
| journal = Appetite
| date      = 2012
| volume                = 58
| issue                 = 1
| pages                 = 141–150
| issn                  = 1095-8304
| doi                   = 10.1016/j.appet.2011.09.019
| pmid = 22001025
| s2cid = 30991920
}}
</ref>