Posted by Larry Hoover on March 2, 2005, at 16:55:23
In reply to Re: Animal Rights » Larry Hoover, posted by alexandra_k on March 2, 2005, at 16:16:59
> > It would seem that one of the predicate assumptions for the conclusion that eating animal flesh is unethical is that adequate nutrition is available from a vegetarian or vegan diet.
>
> It is but one consideration.It seems to be a core assumption.
> If we do not need to eat them to survive then I would say that that pretty much fairly conclusively settles that their interests far outweigh our desire to eat them (which would be a 'trivial' interest relative to theirs).
As you say, that is the pivotal "if".
> > Some people may do quite well on what is statistically an inadequate diet, as it is adequate for their own specific needs.
>
> Once again, that makes a mockery of the stats.No, not at all. It requires that the reader understands the nature and limitations of stats.
> >However, it is not possible to generalize from a specific case of adequacy to any other individual. That is the failure of the assumption that vegetarian diets can be adequate sources of nutrition.
>
> There isn't anything you get from meat / dairy that you can't get from an alternative source. Is that ok???I'm too brain-dead to address that just now.
> >That said, even omnivores (well, American omnivores, for certain) do not obtain anywhere near sufficient iron or zinc from diet.
>Right. See the point above. Americans tend to eat badly, we all know that ;-)
In all America, I should think there are more than a handful of intelligent vegetarians, but only those using supps get enough iron and zinc.
> You say that even people eating a balanced diet with meat need suppliments.
>
> Well, I suppose that a vegetarian / vegan would also need suppliments then. Sure, I don't have a problem with that.I was hoping that you, personally, would conclude that a vegan/vegetarian diet ought to include supplements.
Lar
poster:Larry Hoover
thread:461535
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20050224/msgs/465595.html