- Au Canada, 4% de la population (environ 1.3 millions de personnes) se dit végétarienne (2).
- Il y a 20 milliards de têtes de bétail sur la terre, soit plus du triple de la population humaine (3).
- L'ensemble du bétail dans le monde consomme une quantité de nourriture équivalente aux besoins caloriques de 8.7 milliards de personnes - plus que la population humaine sur terre (4).
- Une ferme de 10 acres peut faire vivre 60 personnes qui font pousser du soja, 24 personnes qui font pousser du blé, 10 cultivateurs de maïs et seulement 2 éleveurs de bétail (3).
- L'omnivore moyen est responsable de la mort d'environ 2 400 animaux au cours de sa vie (3).
The day may come when the rest of the animal creation may acquire those rights which never could have been withholden from them but by the hand of tyranny. The French have already discovered that the blackness of the skin is no reason why a human being should be abandoned without redress to the caprice of a tormentor. It may come one day to be recognised that the number of legs, villosity of the skin, or the termination of the os sacrum are reasons equally insufficient for abandoning a sensitive being to the same fate. What else is it that should trace the insuperable line? Is it the faculty of reason, or perhaps the faculty of discourse? But a full-grown horse or dog is beyond comparison a more rational, as well as a more conversible animal, than an infant of a day, or a week, or even a month, old. But suppose the case were otherwise, what would it avail? The question is not Can they reason? nor Can they talk? but Can they suffer? - Jeremy Bentham, philosophe, jurisconsulte & réformateur
In all the round world there is no meat. There used to be. But now we cannot stand the thought of slaughterhouses. - H.G. Wells, écrivain (dans Utopia)
(1) Vegetarian Resource Group. (2003). How many vegetarians are there?. Vegetarian Journal, 1.
(2) American Dietetic Association & Dietitians of Canada. (2003). Position of the American Dietetic Association and Dietitians of Canada: Vegetarian Diets. Can J Diet Prac Res. 64:62-81.
(3) Motavalli, J. (2002). The Case Against Meat. E Magazine.
(4) Gold, M. (2004). The Global Benefits of Eating Less Meat. Compassion in World Farming: Washington, D.C. Références/Commentaires
