[lbo-talk] Vegetarians become part of the problem....

[Gar Lipow]

On 5/21/05, Leigh Meyers <leighcmeyers at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> Alarming new figures show that the destruction of the Amazon 
> rainforest-the world's
> biggest tropical forest-has accelerated. Booming agriculture, especially 
> soya growing,
> is one of the main culprits
> 
> 
The title of this seems misleading though. As someone who is emphatically 
not a vegetarian,I seem to remember that the overwhelming majority of 
soybeans grown are used as animal feed. 

98% of soybean meal is used for animal feed.
http://www.ers.usda.gov/Briefing/SoybeansOilCrops/background.htm
A small amount of soy is sold whole as nuts for human consumption, seed or 
other uses - I think about 5%. So 98%of 95% goes for animal feed.

A political argument could be made that SOME vegetarians are part of a 
completely unrelated political problem. But they certainly are not 
responsible for deforestation in Brazil to plant soybeans.
-- 
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