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Can you imagine what would happen if they not only banned smoking but taxed the hell out of red meat? Heart disease would plummet.
/people who hate smoking but love big-macs tearing into me in 3...2....1....
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@mizike: I eat read meat but don't smoke, so I don't know the answer to this question; what's a safe level of smoke that I can expose myself to before I start putting myself at risk?
@karmaghost: There is no safe level. Any amount of exposure is a potential risk. Slight exposures, however, are obviously much smaller risks than heavy exposure.
@mizike: The person next to me eating a burger does not affect me the same way a person that is smoking does. In this case the \"user\" of cigarettes or meat would be left to only affect themselves at home.
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@mizike: Nah, they'd just have to overdose on their cholesterol through other means. And trust me, there are plenty of other means.
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@Oranges w/ Cheese wants it to be winter already: Like cheese! Or delicious eggs. Or cream sauces. Mmmmmm lots of non-meat ways to be deliciously unhealthy. I don't eat meat, and I still eat lots of sinful high fat and high cholesterol foods. :-)
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@Julia789: @mizike: Honestly, how does someone eating red meat affect everyone else?
Cons: @Rey, yeah cuts down on hormone useage and sewage that can contaminate groundwater, especially during heavy rains or snowmelt: [www.nytimes.com]
Also, cows release a lot of methane, which affects us all, including those too poor for a Big Mac. And consume a lot of feed and water, which is a big or small deal depending on if you want food prices to go up or down. Water is more scarce some places compared to others, i.e. Southern California vs. Western Washington.
Cows serve as a source of cross-communication (as any domesticated animal, including my beloved cat) of disease. We probably received measles (in cattle it's called rinderpest), tuberculosis and smallpox (cowpox) from the our bovine servants (source: Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond, in the aptly named chapter, \"Lethal Gift of Livestock\".
Pros: Cows are so damned cute. Especially the little ones.
Leather.
Meat is an excellent source of fuel if a person wishes to utilize it as such. When we hike, we pack pre-cooked sausages as a source of protein and fat in our bear canisters, and when eaten with pasta or potatoes provides very sustaining fuel for the next day. Meat is of practical value to those who have physically demanding jobs or exercise heavily. Now, similar benefits can be had by combining starches, legumes and peanuts, so it's not essential.
Dairy products - good for the bones.
It's a livelihood for a segment of the population.
The aurochs (the ancestor of the modern cow) is one of the primary reasons we have civilization today, right up there with wheat.
@NewsMuncher: I made a comment about how it is still easy to eat unhealthy even if one does not eat meat. I never said anything about meat consumption bothering others. I was commenting on a \"sub-comment\" not the original topic.
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@Oranges w/ Cheese wants it to be winter already: The brain's made (partly) of cholesterol. True story!
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@Wally East: By not allowing so many hormones in our water and by not requiring so many trucks on the road spewing out toxins to pick up cows, deliver cows, pick up cow parts, deliver cow parts, etc.
And you know that nice (to some) smokey char smell that emanates out of all McDonald's and other burger joints? Carcinogenic. Completely.
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@Rey: And you know that nice (to some) smokey char smell that emanates out of all McDonald's and other burger joints? Carcinogenic. Completely.
How do you know that? Did you read it somewhere, are you going by anecdotal evidence, or are you just making it up?
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If we want to reduce healthcare costs immediately, there should be a nationwide ban on public smoking. 47 percent less heart attacks in the whole country... that would save billions in healthcare costs immedately... right?
@moore850: What's public smoking? Sitting on my front porch having a cigarette? Driving in my car on some Interstate and having a cigarette? Standing out in the middle of a field and having a cigarette?
20% of Americans smoke. That's 60 million people. If Uncle Nanny wants to ban smoking, tomorrow it can ban red meat, or sugar, or alcohol. Oh wait, we tried that once and created organized crime and the Kennedy fortune.
@moore850: Wrong. You'd just create a new marijuana. People are going to use regardless, so it's better to keep it legal so that the use can be regulated.