Why We Can’t Think Straight About Animals
Psychologist Hal Herzog explores the moral confusions and contradictions in our relationships with our fellow animals (not to mention with each other!).
Love Dogs but Eat Pigs? It’s a Paradox
One of his friends calls herself a vegetarian even though she eats fish and chicken. “Well,” she says, “I don’t eat anything with a face.”
Is Veganism a Religion?
Three years ago, in December 2010, when Sakile Chenzira refused to get a flu shot, she was fired from her job at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital…
‘The End of Antibiotics – Period.’
For a long time, there have been newspaper stories and covers of magazines that talked about “The end of antibiotics? (question mark)” Well, now I would…
James Gandolfini’s Last Supper: Foie Gras
James Gandolfini’s family quoted his autopsy as saying that the 51-year-old actor had “died of a heart attack, of natural causes.”
But there’s nothing “natural” about dying of a heart attack when you’re 51 years old. Especially when you read what Gandolfini had for dinner the night he died.
Don’t Say ‘Meat’; Say ‘Protein’
Is the very notion of “meat” becoming so icky that food companies are getting worried about saying the very word itself? According to Businessweek, Taco Bell…
The $325,000 Burger
Meat cells being grown in a petri dish The inventors of the first laboratory-grown meat are gearing up to unveil their creation in a few weeks…
Soy – the Good, the Bad and the Poisonous
The Cornucopia Institute has a scorecard on some of the best-known soy products. And you may be surprised to learn that the ubiquitous Silk doesn’t even…
New Dangers from Factory Farm Bacteria and Antibiotics
Factory farms like to tell us that the increasingly antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the animals there can’t be transmitted to humans. A new study shows this to…
Slaughter Horses in U.S.? Or Export them?
We race them, ride them, take them to war, treat them as horsepower. What to do with horses when they grow old or are no longer…
The Horsemeat Taboo
The horsemeat scandal that’s eating away at Europe isn’t about bad food or labeling or criminal black markets. It’s about the violation of cultural taboos.
Every culture has its food taboos, and for some people, eating horses is one of those. But what we really need is a new set of taboos that aren’t rooted in outdated religions and will engender a new relationship with our fellow animals.
How to Save the Planet
This infographic shows how a simple change in what we eat can make an enormous difference to the warming of the planet and to how we’re…
The Old Lady Who Swallowed a Horse
The proverbial old lady who swallowed a horse and was “dead of course” is apparently no longer just a nursery rhyme character. Millions of people in…
Major Study: Plant-Based Diet Best for Heart
A vegetarian diet cuts your chance of having fatal heart disease by one third. That’s the conclusion of a major study that was launched in the…
Crustacean Rights: The Case of the "Lucky" Crabs
Is it moral to rip the “arms” off a living creature? Psychologist Dr. Hal Herzog takes a boat trip in the Florida Everglades and comes away with moral and ethical questions about our relationship to crabs.
Yes, Lobsters Do Feel Pain
For those who like to tell themselves that it’s OK to boil lobsters alive, life just got a bit more complicated. A new study offers the…
‘There’s a Horse in My Burger!’
The Brits have their knickers in a knot (“knickers” in the U.K. = panties) over the fact that bits of horses have been showing up in…
Inside the Beef Industry
* At age 84, Margaret Lamkin (photo right) went to dinner at Applebees and ordered a steak. Today she wears a colostomy bag. The E.coli bacteria…
Poland Bans Kosher and Halal Slaughter
Poland’s top court has ruled that ritual slaughter of animals according to religious requirements is illegal. Specifically this means that the kosher and halal method of slaughter, by which a conscious animal is held upside down while her throat is slit, cannot be continued.
Giving Thanks for Turkeys (just as they are)
Beautiful, affectionate, intelligent, emotional, caring animals at the Eden Farm Animal Sanctuary. [readon] Runs about 20 minutes, but you can watch as much as you like.