The Rights Of Animals

I don't have an issue with basic animal welfare laws nor laws agianst out and out cruelty to animals.... but please don't try to propagandize us with the "meat is bad for you" line when se clearly evolved as top predators, who eat vegtables and fruit as forage for lean hunting times. Also do not try and impose soe animals have human rights crap. Animals are animals, they have the rights that nature gives all life, submit to the strong ( get eaten?), fight the strong, flee from the strong. Thats it.

But the ALF [Animal Liberation Front] is not. A portion of Singers ''Movement'' is a portion of the FBIs Most Wanted. I was unaware that terrorism could be considered ''mainstream''unless you live in Gaza.

Augustpersonage,
Even the mainstream health professionals all now admit that eating a plant based diet is the healthiest diet for the human body. We are primates,,,we are in fact great apes. Our bodies are more aligned with that of chimps and gorillas (who are vegan in the wild). Heart disease is the number one killer in US and vegans have the lowest heart disease rate in not just this country but all over the world. This is not propaganda these are facts. Read the China Study or the most comprehensive study done in the USA which proves my case. Add to the fact that animals don't have to suffer the horrible cruelty they endure if we stop eating them and you have a pretty compelling reason to go vegan. Do some research!!!

The original and idyllic diet of man was vegan (Genesis 1:29). After the fall of man humanity began to exploit, brutalize and massace the animal kingdom. The consumtion of flesh-foods, eggs and milk perpetuates mankind's reign of violence. Veganism is idyllic for reducing pollution, global warming, deforestation, a plethora of environmental crises and cruelty to animals.
Brien Comerford

Peter Singer thinks chickens, being sentient beings, have intrinsic life rights. Yet Peter Singer also thinks disabled infants, whom he also thinks are sentient beings, may be killed by parents, if it would essentially make the parents feel better. Misanthropes by any other name are still human-haters. Perhaps there is some disability in misanthropy?

Kevin, I was merely calling attention to the ever increasing human population, loss of habitat, threats to entire ecosystems, extinction of animal + plant species. I have tried hard to try and decipher your comment, but with your bad punctuation, I'm still not sure what you are trying to say.

What about the companies that have to pay extra money to follow these new guidelines of giving comfort to future food? Aren't they going to suffer and lose tons of money trying to accomodate animal rights activists?

Eventually, the extra cost is going to trickle down to ALL of society, even though just a few activists push these ridiculous laws. If animal rights/welfare supporters want these things to happen, they need to foot the bill for the slaughterhouses and farms new expenses.

All opinion on the animal rights movement aside, it comes down to extra cost that non-vegans aren't willing to pay!!

Talexvet, you clearly didn't do your research on who wrote this article (to whom your comment was directed, I believe). Peter Singer has visited many farms in his research for books on animal agriculture, and he has seen what really happens behind closed doors. Personally, I am much more inclined to believe an outsider to the animal agriculture industry than someone such as yourself who works for them. Veterinarians working for factory farms aren't capable of looking after thousands of animals confined into small spaces, and animals with injuries often languish for days before receiving treatment, if any, and may even die before their injuries are noticed. If they do receive treatment, most likely it will be antibiotics, which are recklessly used in this industry and which endanger the safety of humans and animals alike. I'm sorry, but I just can't trust a veterinarian's opinion, especially one which sounds lockstep with industry language.

Great! The people of California give Chickens additional rights, but they just took away my right to get married. I think we are earning back our reputation as The Wacky State.

Helen Yoshikawa, San Francisco

I don't think this is as much about animal rights as it is about our rights to eat healthy food. I am positive that the quality of meat that comes from a pig that can turn around or a chicken that can spread its wings is much higher than that of chickens stuck in a cage too small to open their wings and develop lean meat.

You are kidding, right Newsweek? Unless I'm wrong and this was an opinion piece, having Peter Singer (a radical animal rights activist) write a "news story" on animal rights is like having Osama Bin Laden writing a piece on 9-11 and then calling it objective. What happend to responsible journalism? Ask Professor Singer if he still had to choose between the two, if he'd still choose to kill a mentally retarded child rather than a smart dog.