The Hunger Argument
• Number of people who will die of starvation this year - 60 million
• Number of people who could be adequately fed with the grain saved if Americans reduced their intake of meat by 10% - 60 million
• Number of human beings in America - 243 million
• Number of people who could be fed with grain and soy beans now eaten by U.S. livestock - 1.3 billion
• Percentage of corn grown in the U.S. eaten by people - 20%
• Percentage of corn grown in the U.S eaten by livestock - 80%
• Percentage of oats grown in the U.S. eaten by livestock - 95%
• Percentage of protein waste by cycling grain through livestock - 99%
• How frequently a child starves to death - every 2 seconds
• Pounds of potatoes that can be grown on an acre - 20,000 pounds
• Pounds of beef produced on an acre - 165 pounds
• Percentage of U.S. farmland devoted to beef production - 56%
• Pounds of grain & soybeans needed to produce a pound of beef - 16 lbs

The Environmental Argument
• Cause of global warming - greenhouse effect
• Primary cause of greenhouse effect - carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels
• Fossil fuels needed for a meat centered diet vs. a meat free diet - 50 X more
• Percentage of U.S. topsoil loss directly related to livestock raising - 85%
• # of U.S. forest acres cleared of land to produce a meat centered diet - 260 million
• Amount of meat the U.S. imports annually from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Panama - 200 million pounds
• Average per capita meat consumption in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala,
Honduras and Panama - less than is eaten by the average U.S. house cat
• Area of tropical rain forest consumed in every 1/4 pound hamburger - 55 sq. ft.
• Current rate of species extinction due to destruction of tropical rain forests for meat grazing and other uses - 1,000 per year

The Cancer Argument
• Increased risk of breast cancer for women who eat meat 4 times a week vs. less than once per week - 4 times greater
• For women who eat eggs 3 or more times a week vs. less than once a week - 3 times greater
• Increased risk of fatal prostate cancer for men who eat meat daily vs. sparingly or not at all - 3.6 times greater

The Natural Resources Argument
• More than half of all water used for all purposes in the U.S. - livestock production
• Amount of water used to produce the average steer - sufficient to float a destroyer
• Gallons to produce a pound of wheat - 25 gallons
• Gallons to produce a pound of meat - 25,000 gallons
• Cost of a common hamburger if water used by meat industry was not subsidized by the U.S. taxpayer - $35.00 a pound
• Cost of a pound of protein from beefsteak if water was no longer subsidized - $89.00
• Years the world's known oil reserves would last if every human ate a meat centered diet - 13 years
• Years these oil reserves would last if human beings no longer ate meat - 260 years
• Barrels of oil imported into the U.S. daily - 6.8 million
• Percentage of fossil fuel returned as food energy by the most efficient factory farming of meat - 34.5%
• Percentage returned from the least efficient plant food - 32.8%
• Percentage of raw materials consumed by the U.S. to produce present meat centered diet - 33%

The Cholesterol Argument
• Number of U.S. medical schools - 125
• Number requiring a course in nutrition - 30
• Nutrition training received by the average U.S. physician during 4 years of medical school - 25 hours
• Most common cause of death in the U.S. - heart attack
• How frequently a heart attack kills in the U.S. - every 45 seconds
• Average U.S. mans risk of death from heart attack - 50%
• Risk for average U.S. man who avoids the meat centered diet - 15%
• Meat industry claims you should not be concerned about your blood cholesterol if it normal
• Your risk of dying of a disease caused by clogged arteries if your blood cholesterol is normal - over 50%

The Antibiotic Argument
• Percentage of U.S. antibiotics fed to livestock - 55%
• Percentage of staphylococci infections resistant to penicillin in 1960 - 13%
• Percentage resistant in 1988 - 91%
• Response of European Economic immunity to routine feeding of antibiotics to Live stock - a complete ban
• Response of U.S. meat and pharmaceutical industries to routine feeding of
antibiotics to livestock - full and complete support

The Pesticide Argument
• Percentage of pesticide residues in the U.S. diet supplied by grains - 1%
• Percentage of pesticide residues in the U.S. diet supplied by fruits - 4%
• Percentage of pesticide residues in the U.S. diet supplied by dairy products - 23%
• Percentage of pesticide residues in the U.S. diet supplied by meat - 55%
• Pesticide contamination of breast milk from meat eating mothers vs. non meat eating mothers - 35 times higher
• What the USDA tells us - meat is inspected
• Percentage of slaughtered animals inspected for residues of toxins and chemicals
including dioxin and DDT - less than 0.00004%

The Ethical Argument
• Number of animals killed for their meat per hour in the U.S. - 500,000
• Occupation W/ the highest turnover rate in U.S. - slaughterhouse worker
• Occupation W/ the highest injury rate in the U.S. - slaughterhouse worker
• Cost to render an animal unconscious w/ captive bolt pistol before slaughter - 10
• Reason given by the meat industry for not using captive bolt pistol - too expensive

The Survival Argument
• Athlete to win iron man Triathlon more than twice - Dave Scott , 6 time winner
• Food choices of Dave Scott - vegetarian
• Largest meat eater that ever lived - Tyrannosaurus Rex
• Last sighting of a Tyrannosaurus Rex - 100,000,000 B.C.

Credit for this publication - The New York Times, Tuesday June 20, 1989

Butoku... "Martial Virtue"

Before you lay two paths - honesty and dishonesty. The short sighted embark on the dishonest path, the wise on the honest one. When you help others you help yourself, when you hurt others you are hurting yourself. Character overshadows money, and trust rises above fame. Sooner or later we all sit down to a banquet of consequences. It's better to fail with honor then succeed by fraud. There is no right way to do something wrong.

Masaaki Hatsumi Bujinkan Soke

Each of us will have to consider our own personal methodology for living and decide how we are to adjust to these facts and our relationship with them. Our own health and the health of our planet will indeed in time reflect our collective views. We will always in any endeavor "reap what we sow".