Slaughterhouses were industrialized in the nineteenth century as the craving for meat began to grow in the United States (Fitzgerald 3,5). Every year, American slaughterhouses put to death thirty-two million animals (Mercy For Animals). The methods used by these slaughterhouse to handle and subsequently kill animals are the antithesis of humane as they seriously damage the animals both physically and psychologically. Slaughterhouses have sought out and more or less achieved broad deregulation as part of a political move to expand their profits. In doing so, these slaughterhouses have poorly affected the economy and the world via a disregard for the environment and an obsession with the accumulation of wealth. The vast majority of animals produce an enormous amount of greenhouse gases and require a lot more land than do other sources of food. The meat that slaughterhouses produce is less nutritional than vegetables and is often even harmful to the human body. The scientific conclusion, with the backing of comprehensive research, is that the eradication of slaughterhouses is best for the sake of our moral, economic, environmental, and physiological prosperity.

The concept of humane killing is an oxymoron. The human population is killing countless animals every year without adequate reason. There is not a single justification for neither torturing these animals as they are raised on factory farms nor for subsequently killing them in slaughterhouses. Fulfilling one's cravings does not always prove to be morally sound as I am sure everyone knows. Besides that fact though, if one believes that if the animal is killed humanely than it is okay then what exactly does "humane killing" entail? The American Humane Association writes that humane killing includes hanging the animal by its feet and then slitting its throat while it is alive and letting it bleed out. If that is not bad enough some slaughterhouses let animals witness the killing of their own species which emotionally damages the animal (American humane Association). One could argue that they are about to die so the emotional damage will not impact much of their life; however, conditions in the factory farms in which they are raised are not any better than those of the slaughterhouse, where these animals spend their final moments.

Factory farm conditions can be exemplified by looking at the pork industry. Smithfield, the largest pork industry in the world, keeps their full grown pigs in gestation crates (Undercover at Smithfield Foods). Gestation crates are two by seven foot metal crates that do not allow a pig enough room to turn around, lay down comfortably, or move side to side, forwards or backwards (Undercover at Smithfield Foods). Temple Grandin said "basically you're asking a sow to live in an airline seat" when asked about his thoughts on gestation crates. In the video of the Humane Society going undercover at the Smithfield, one can see that the pigs usually go crazy because of their restrictions and ram and bite the metal bars of the crate. The pigs' actions leave sores on their head and their mouths bleeding. Quite often animals will have open sores on their bodies that do not get treated because they lack veterinarian inspection (All Creatures). A PLoS ONE article explains that because of these sores pigs can often acquire streptococcus suis-swine flu.

Furthermore, the animals are not even safe during transportation from the factory farms to the slaughterhouses. The American Humane Association claims that birds are crammed into small crates with their feet tied together. This situation has led to many leg injuries, pain and suffering for the animals. Many illnesses are spread because of the truckers and the trucks themselves. The Chicago Tribune reports that a virus that is deadly to piglets and harmful to adult pigs was spread rapidly to many separate slaughterhouses through transportation trucks and the virus latching onto workers boots and coveralls. This shows that the uncleanliness of slaughterhouses, factory farms, and the transportation there between exists and goes unpunished.

All of these unfavorable conditions could be remedied fairly easily, but at a financial cost which the meat industry is reluctant to pay. Countless organizations like the American Humane Association have tried to work with the government in order to regulate slaughterhouses and factory farms. Unfortunately, slaughterhouses and factory farms have utilized some of their fortunes to amass some political power via lobbying and campaign contributions (poorly veiled bribes). As a result, there are now laws in place that protect and perpetuate their clearly immoral and unsanitary practices. Cody Carlson notes that new Ag Gag laws make it illegal for animal rights activists to take jobs at slaughterhouses or factory farms so that none of their unpleasant secrets get out to the world. Laws are supposed to protect people but these Ag Gag laws are making people vulnerable to something as common as the food they eat. Carlson reports 

"the Ag Gag laws muzzle the few people that are telling the truth about our food. With no meaningful state or federal laws to regulate industrial animal farms, they take away one of the only forms of public accountability this multi-billion dollar industry has ever faced."

If this does not prove the power the meat industry has I do not what would. Clearly the meat industry has a stranglehold on its market and has no regard for the welfare of the people, of the American economy, of the animals it slaughters, or of the sanctity of democracy.

A meat eaters favorite argument against shutting down slaughterhouses and factory farms is that it would be bad for the economy because there would not be nearly enough food to feed the population. However, slaughterhouses and factory farms are such an inefficient use of resources that it would be better for the economy to not have them.  The grain and other vegetables people use to feed livestock could just as easily feed people and that would mean less food we would have to grow if we abandoned slaughterhouses. In Canada, seventy-seven percent of the grain they produce is used to feed livestock (All Creatures). All Creatures provides an interesting fact, "If American countries alone would reduce their meat consumption by just 10% that would save enough grain to feed 60 million people." According to Mercy for Animals for every one gram of protein from beef it takes 29.6 gallons of water to produce that beef. On the other hand, for one gram of protein from black beans it only requires five gallons of water (Mercy for Animals). Obviously, animals consume an enormous amount of water compared to what it takes to grow vegetables. The inefficient use of this water has precipitated the rapid vanishing of the world's freshwater supplies. Circle of Blue says that seventy percent of the world's freshwater is used for agriculture. Given the substantial amount of water required to raise cattle, it is obvious that when Circle of Blue says "agriculture", most of that is slaughterhouses and factory farms. Even the amount of growing vegetables that is a part of that "agriculture" to which Circle of Blue refers is mostly used for feeding livestock. So directly and indirectly, slaughterhouses and factory farms are diminishing the world's freshwater. So as the price of water inflates, slaughterhouses and factory farms are to blame, not the lack thereof. To sum it all up, Jayson Lusk and J. Norwood explain it best, "it is much more costly to produce energy and protein from animal-based sources than from some plant-based sources,that sizable demand shifts away from meat consumption and would result in significantly lower corn prices and production." In conclusion, the freshwater deficiency in the world would be either non-existent or less worrying if slaughterhouses and factory farms did not exist. 

An element that most people do not think of is how slaughterhouses and factory farms effect the environment that we live and that our grandchildren will live in. Raising animals on factory farms takes a ridiculous amount of land and also emits unwanted greenhouse gases. All Creatures provides the statistic that "1/2 an acre of land 10,000lbs of apples and 20,000lbs of potatoes can be grown successfully into food. Only 100lbs of beef can be raised on that." If the world only grew food and did not harvest animals there would not be as much wasted land. Animals have to defecate, as we all know, but because of the huge amounts of farm animals bred every year to keep up with demand there is an outrageous amount of fecal matter. Mercy for Animals reports that 377 million tons of feces is produced in the United States alone. This is important because with that amount of feces being generated there is not enough time to just let it go away on its own so slaughterhouses and factory farms have to dispose of it somewhere. Obviously, no one has to deal with that problem when growing fruits and vegetables. Raising animals also produces a lot more greenhouse gases than growing food does. Beef produces fifteen kg of carbon dioxide while black beans produce 0.56 kg of carbon dioxide (Mercy for Animals). Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that slowly destroys the ozone layer which protects humans from the sun's harmful rays. 

If none of these reasons had any effect on someone than I would hope this last reason makes more of an impact. Lastly, the meat slaughterhouses produce and meat in general is not healthy for the human body. Chef Marcus Guiliano discusses the nutritional values of meat and black beans in a video on YouTube. Chef Guiliano committed to a challenge to feed his entire family on a food stamp budget for a week, but the catch was to do vegetarian and organically. Guiliano said it would be easy and he did it. During the video Guiliano references back to a picture that post the nutrition facts of beans and beef. The picture shows that per 100 grams beef is 270 calories when beans are 130. Beans have zero grams of fat and beef has 18 grams. Beef has seven grams of saturated fat which is very bad for you. Eighty milligrams of cholesterol in beef and zero in beans; high cholesterol can lead to heart disease. Fiber is a very important part of someone's diet and should not be forgotten; beef has no fiber when there is 8 grams of fiber for every 100 grams of beans. Meat eaters tend to argue that they would have trouble getting iron if they were vegetarian but black beans actually have more iron per 100 grams than beef (Guiliano). There is also more protein in black beans than beef for those that do not believe there is enough sustenance in a vegetarian diet (Mercy for Animals). Beyond the basic nutrition facts, the way black beans are grown is far more beneficial for the body than beef. Beef contains unwanted carcinogens and hormones whereas beans do not have either (Mercy for Animals). Superbugs are terrifying strains of bacteria that have learned to resist most antibiotics and kill millions of people nationwide every year, beef contains super bugs and beans do not (Mercy for Animals). 

To address the argument against my claims I tried to find an article arguing for slaughterhouses. An article like that was not available so I found the next best thing: an article arguing against vegetarianism. The online magazine Ask Men supplied an article name "How To Argue Against Vegetarians." Their opening statement was a quote from homer Simpson, "You don't win friends with salad." I am guessing that they did not understand that Homer Simpson is a character that is supposed to be hysterically idiotic and wrong about everything. Their first key point was that an omnivorous diet is far healthier than an herbivorous one, claiming that if you are vegetarian you are likely to become anemic because of the lack of iron in your diet. As we just previously discussed, black beans actually offer more iron than beef does. Chef Guiliano also informs the audience that the human body actually cannot process the type of iron provided by beef. Also, if vegetarians and vegans are skipping out on the vegetables somehow and missing the iron than they could always take vitamin supplements to restore the iron, Vitamin D and Vitamin B12 levels. However, meat eaters cannot take vitamins to lower their level of fat intake when then consume beef. The articles second argument pertains to morals of eating meat. Davis argues that if vegetarians are worried about the animals feeling pain than we should worry about plants too because he claims that plants can feel pain. Immediately, anyone can dismantle this argument simply by stating that plants do not have central nervous systems and therefore cannot feel pain. Secondly, slaughterhouses and factory farms use way more fruits and vegetables to feed their livestock than the vegetarian community can consume. Davis also says "This Swiss group recently came out in defense of our leafy green friends in a report on 'the dignity of the creature in the plant world.' They argued that plants deserve respect and that killing them arbitrarily is morally wrong." This is actually something I agree with but I do not think Davis understands what he is getting at here. He uses the word arbitrarily which implies unlimited and unrestricted which I would agree with, no one should use any living creatures without restriction because that is just like deforestation which is wrong. Slaughterhouses, factory farms and the meat industry in general allow and advocate for arbitrarily killing animals which is morally wrong like Lyle Davis says. Next, Davis says that "the cultivation of vegetables requires vast amounts of it, which in turn can cause water shortages and, in extreme cases, drought." Not only do cattle require up fifteen gallons of water a day but most of the vegetables grown are for feeding these same cattle. He also claims that the nitrogen in the fertilizer used for growing the food is bad because of the oxide emissions. Considering the fact if there is too much nitrogen in the fertilizer that it will burn and destroy the plants I highly doubt that the fertilizer is producing nearly as much greenhouse gases as the slaughterhouses and factory farms. 

Slaughterhouses and factory farms need to be abandoned for the sake of our morals, economy, environment, and our own bodies. We should not allow the abuse of these animals' rights and the greed of the meat industry to continue. If we do not want to start paying more and more for fresh drinking water, we need to stop supporting these establishments. We could save millions of lives by taking the grain we feed to livestock to fatten them up and feeding it to the hungry people around the world. Unless we want to ruin our earth greenhouse gases need to be limited by relinquishing the meat industry. We need to use our land and resources more efficiently. Lastly, people need to take care of their own bodies and become vegetarian and leave slaughterhouses and factory farms behind as they better themselves. Slaughterhouses and factory farms are outdated and need to eradicated in today's society in order to keep this world moving forward. 

