Food For Thought

Andy Ponders Eating Spinach, Horsemeat And Vegetarianism

(CBS)  The following is a weekly 60 Minutes commentary by CBS News correspondent Andy Rooney.

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Someone is always warning us not to eat something. We're warned about fast food all the time. Farm raised salmon is a threat because it may contain mercury. You could become a thermometer. Beef was suspect a few years ago because of the mad cow disease.

Recently it's been spinach. Consumers should not eat bagged fresh spinach at this time, we were warned.

For years mothers have been telling their kids to eat their spinach. Now, all of a sudden, they're telling them not to eat their spinach. No one is supposed to eat it because it may contain the E.coli bacteria. Supermarkets threw out bags of it.

Imagine being a simple, hard-working farmer who made a living growing spinach and then waking up one day to find that your fields with a couple of acres of spinach, representing your only income, are worthless?

I read where 17,000 farmers in India committed suicide a few years ago because their crops failed. 17,000 farmers! You can imagine a lot of spinach farmers doing that here, now.

I never liked spinach much. I like it okay raw in salad and, of course, they warn you that raw spinach is the worst kind.

There are only a couple of things I won't eat. I don't care much for Brussels sprouts, liver or custard desserts. I don't like anything that shakes - you know, gelatin or Jell-O. I hated carrots when I was a kid. I've gotten over hating them. Now I eat them but I don't like them much and I doubt very much if they're any better for you than a Hershey Bar.

I like steak, lamb and pork chops but you couldn't make me eat rabbit or horse. When I was in France during World War II, horses would often be killed in the fields by artillery fire and the French farmers would wait until the shooting stopped and then rush out to carve up the dead horses for dinner.

I don't know why anyone who eats beef finds the idea of eating a horse so repulsive but I'm one of them. Horses seem so friendly and I don't like to be reminded of the animal I'm eating. I often pass a farm with cows grazing in the field and I think to myself how terrible it is that human beings grow other animals just to kill them and eat them.

Most of us think of vegetarians as nuts and I'm not a vegetarian but I wouldn't be surprised if we came to a time in 50 or 100 years when civilized people everywhere refused to eat animals. I could be one of them.

Of course, I'd be pretty old by then.

[marangela]

17,000 farmers? whhhhaaaat???

[amy003-2009]

It's about time someone commented on vegetarism, albeit indirectly, and tactfully done I must say, so not to have the cattle ranchers association after you. I'm not partial to pets and yet to all you hypocrites out there I am more of an animal lover than most - I have been a vegan for 26 years and counting, and for some reason have needed to defend this for half of my life. Thanks Andy for making it a little easier to be vegetarian!

[jylc]

Andy,

I make the best brussel sprouts in the world and carrots. I will come to your house to cook for you or you can come here in the wonderful Poconos! If a 14 year old will eat them, you will, you big sissy! You reported during WWII; that's impressive and scary; ergo, you can eat a brussel sprout or a carrot. Get over yourself and have someone tweeze your eyebrows.

JYL

East stroudsburg, PA

[mastersgwtx]

I'm one of the ones who finds eating a horse repulsive too Andy. Some cultures find eating dogs tasty, but I can't fanthom that either.

[meaganb-2009]

Until recently, nearly 100,000 horses were slaughtered every year in America and sold to foreign countries. On Spetember 7th, the U.S House passed the Permanent Horse Slaughter Ban.

Clearly, humans have created a hierarchy of animals, deeming some food and some friend.

I believe that eventually we'll realize that msny Americans can afford to eat a healthy and vegetarian diet and move away from killing helpless animals.

[garthree]

Andy,
This whole ecoli situation has been very bad for everyone. I am sad for the loss of at least one life as the result of another situation out of Salinas, Ca.
I am also sad for loss of my business after over 50 years. We are processors of fresh produce here in Miami, Florida. My number one item is Savoy Spinach for cooking. It comes from Colorado and Texas year round. WE HAVE NEVER HAD ONE RECALL ON ANY OF OUR ITEMS!
Because of the FDA's blanket "do not eat bagged spinach" every consumer is scared to eat any spinach. I failed in my efforts to get in touch with Commissioner Bronson from Florida. He never returned my emails. I also never got a response from Dr.David Acheson the chief medical officer for the FDA.When this new's first hit.
I will always take pride in how we process our products and how we treat the consumer. It's truly sad that companies like mine have to suffer as a result of what happens out West. I value your response...
Andrew Garcia III
Ruskin Packaging, Inc.
Miami, Fl 33127
305-773-3358

[maggie60-2009]

Thank you for saying you wouldn't eat a horse. Over 100,000 horses will be slaughtered this year for foreign markets, mostly Europe and Japan. The slaughter is very inhumane. Horses are given medications and vaccinations that could cause cancer in humans. In a few years, people in Europe and Japan could be dying of cancer. The slaughter houses are foreign-owned and ignore American laws, paying almost no taxes ($5.00 last year in Kaufman, Texas). I wouldn't eat my horse or my dog. Those who do will answer to God someday after they die of cancer. Thanks again, I knew I liked you for a reason.
Maggie60

[joyatri]

Thank you, Andy, for asking people to think about where their dinner comes from. Not only are horses friendly, but so are cows, pigs, chickens, sheep and all the other animals considered "food." Visit a farm sanctuary and you%u2019ll see that these animals are thinking, feeling beings with personalities.

Each year, over 10 billion land animals are killed to satisfy human taste buds. And worse than that, these creatures are treated as commodities, forced to suffer in deplorable conditions for their entire lives. Going vegetarian (or, even better, vegan) is the only ethical choice for compassionate humans.

Vegetarians, like myself, are only considered nuts by those who choose what to eat based on habit and tradition. As you state, as more people actually give some thought to what they are eating and how it got on their plates, vegetarianism will become the norm.

[seakestrel]

Dear Mr. Rooney,
I would not be at all surprised to see you state in your next commentary that your inbox was full to overflowing regarding your recent reflections during your story "Food For Thought".

Your statements regarding vegetarians and the change of heart you experienced during your episodes in the field during WWII and witnessing rabbits and horses being killed, reflects the views of the many vegetarians and a growing number of citizens and their felt beliefs. No meal is worth the immense suffering, exploitation and absolute misery billions of animals have to endure every year for our ever increasing and careless population.

I thank you for courageously acknowledging your true feelings and hope that it won't take the next 50 years as mentioned for a "full conversion."

Seeing how Oprah Winfrey was so severely criticized and subsequently intimidated then silenced by the powerful meat industry, your commentary carries that much more significance.

Thank-you again.

Kindest Regards,
Michele J. Nash

[heatherma-2009]

I am a vegetarian, and most people do think that I'm nuts. However, I do think that there is hope if Andy Rooney can see that it is terrible that people eat animals. Everyone should educate themselves about factory farming. If anyone saw the way that these poor animals live and die it would surely change many minds. Animals feel pain. This reason alone should be enough not to eat them. THANK YOU ANDY ROONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[joellena]

Dear Mr. Rooney,
I have been vegan for two years and I was delighted when I saw your 'Food for thought' commentary. It is so refreshing to finally hear someone bring up the topic of vegetarianism in a positive light. I hope that one day, the world will see that animals are not meant to be tortured for human taste buds when a perfectly healthy other option is out there. Thank you so much!

from
Joellen Anderson

[epskionline-2009]

It's plain to see that you, Mr. Rooney, are aware of the cruelty inherent in the modern diet. What's surprising to me how many people are aware of this, find it abhorrent, and still have not gone vegetarian, much like yourself. What is the catalyst? What's the tipping point that will send everyone like yourself over the edge toward a vegetarian lifestyle?

To find and *deepen* one's humanity in acknowledging our cruelty to the animals we oppress every day (and to suggest doing something about it) is quite the opposite of losing one's humanity, despite the rantings of urdump. By extending our compassion to all beings on the planet, we will grow as a civilization, and might even find peace among ourselves some day. Hey, it's no more unlikely than everyone going vegetarian.

Mr. Rooney was certainly not telling anyone what to eat. It's amazing how defensive people get about their food sometimes. One wonders how much the foundations of urdump's beliefs were rattled by this plainspoken commentary, which simply shares an unshakable truth: civilized people need not slaughter animals to enjoy their lives.

As Rooney suggests, vegetarianism may seem odd to some now, but years hence we *will* wonder at our current mores, just as we look back in horror on slavery, which to many slave owners seemed like a good business practice at the time.

[Bernard S]

Vegetables are grown alive, killed, and eaten. Vegetable are also killed and processed into beef, poultry, etc that is again killed and eaten. What is life to do in order to continue existence here on earth.

[leonardo4561]

Dear Andy Rooney,
Leonardo da Vinci (speaking for the non-human citizens of our planet in particular and ethics in general) thanks you: ""The time will come when men such as I look upon the murder of animals as they now look upon the murder of men."

- Perry Walker

[nancyinca]

Dear Mr. Rooney:

Thank you for bringing up the topic of not eating horses in your piece tonight. This is something that badly needs immediate addressing and action from the media--can you help us?

Currently over 90,000 American horses are still being slaughtered for human consumption in 3 US slaughterhouses in Texas and Illinois. A bill to prohibit further slaughter of horses is now stalled in Senate committee, having been passed by the House (and there is lots more to this aspect of the story). Powerful forces are working to keep it stalled and from coming to the Senate floor for a vote, where it is likely to pass--but first it has to get on the floor.

This issue needs all the help from the media that it can get. Americans would be horrified to know what happened to the horse that their kids rode for years and that became part of the family until the kids grew up......and the Europeans need to know what poisonous chemicals they are ingesting, given the medications routinely given to horses that were never intended to end up on anyone%u2019s table.

Your piece tonight was a great beginning--how about a follow up next week that addresses the horse slaughter issue directly...or how about 60 Minutes doing a full segment on it?

[rooneyfan123]

Thank you for your pointing out how sad it is that some animals are simply raised to be killed and eaten. I became vegetarian, and then vegan, 5 years ago when I made that connection. I always loved animals and nowadays I show that with the food choices I make. As you said, I hope that people will continue to become more compassionate towards all living things. What a better world this would be!

[forfreedom1]

1 person dies from E-coli and 100 some-odd supposedly fall sick...and AmeriKa [mis-spelling intentional] "has a cow". Get over it! I saw on the news one farmer's crop of 70,000 perfectly good plants turned-over...just one farmer. Would you figure that served 70,000 people a vegatable?
How many of those 100 sick are directly attributable to spinach? We have FEAR replacing common sense!! One news guy said the Feds will fix things...oh right!! Result: $7 Irradiated spinach with added FD&C Blue and green to make the brown irradiated color green again. Look... E-coli exists on everything but is very easily killed by the UV rays in normal sunlight...which should now be even better due to Al Gore's global warming invention.

[mweinberg7]

For me, vegan philosophy comes down to this: "Killing animals for pleasure is wrong."

With so many wonderful, healthy, plant-based foods in today's world, the only reason for eating animal products is human pleasure.

And that's just wrong.

[wmclss]

Please do a special 60 minute segment on horse abuse?

Researching American horse abuse, 70% of our horse companions & wild mustangs, totally 55,000 +,are butchered in slaughterhouses. (www.netposse.com; www.aowha.org). This multimillion dollar industry has devastated people finding their stolen horse companions killed. We were told old, unwanted, dying horses end up horsemeat but soon discovered it was primarily healthy foals & horses!

BLM's gross mismanagment practices are why
horse rustlers steal & sell up to 36,000 horses yearly to these slaughter plants. Now--25,000 are left due to GREED!

Misappropriating our tax dollars helps fuel the most inhumane disregard for intelligent life. Direct violation of Wild Horse Protection Act 1971 is just the tip of the iceberg!

Did you know these horse plants,(old cattle) slaughterhouses, violate Horse Protection Act 2005 & Humane Slaughter Act 1958 using the illegal captive bolt gun? Medical studies conclusively found stunning was "completely ineffective on horses & left them in excrutiating pain, kicking & screaming for their lives while strung up & killed alive."--former DVM, chief of the USDA Inspection Team (http://fund4horses.org).

We cannot be proud when every 4 minutes our American Icons & Companions are tortured & killed! Why won't the President take action? How can 1 USDA chairman stonewall the President, Congress, & Justice Dept.? When will this abuse stop for our horses--who made America?

[beacheshuman]

Well, Andy opened a can of worms there. Or was it a bag of spinach? Ya know, I didn't claw my way to the top of the food chain to graze with the cows. Didja ever notice, animals at the top of the food chain are carnivores? Lions and tigers, and bears OH MY! Although bears are technically omnivores, just like us. Just because we have more efficient ways of harvesting our prey in no way makes it wrong. On the contrary, it frees up our time for inventing stuff like microwaves, television, and the internet, so the vegans and vegetarians can rant and rave about how wrong we are to be eating meat. Unlike the extremist culinary-fascists who look with disdain while I carve up a slab of prime rib, I view their artfully prepared greenery spread and think, Hmmmm, nice salad. So before the meat police have a cow, lets just all agree to disagree, and eat whatever it is that pleases you, but please, don't turn your epicurean preferences into a religious crusade. There are enough of those going around already.

[karendawn1]

Thanks to Andy Rooney for his thoughtful commentary! But he spoke of animals grazing in the field! Most animals raised for food in this country live hideous lives confined in tiny crates of cages. Far better to choose a nice protein packed, cholesterol free veggie burger than support that kind of cruelty.

[jbull11]

Wow, the veggie population loved this rant.
Personally, I thought it was incredibly bland, uninsightful, and just plain hard to follow. It may have even cost me a few brain cells.

The 60 minutes procuders should be ashamed that they put this kind of garbage on network TV. Granted, I don't watch 60 minutes or Andy Rooney all that often, but this was so rediculous that I was disgusted that this rant even made its way to the airwaves.

Does someone even read over his rant before he tapes this garbage, or is this just his typical, selling to the lowest common denominator, style?

http://jamesonbull.blogspot.com/2006/10/andy-rooney-made-me-dumber.html#links

Thank you Andy, for stealing 2 minutes of my life that I'll never get back.

[lovinlife4]

Dear Mr. Rooney,
Loved your Food for Thought piece! As you pointed out, we humans are not perfect (and oftentimes downright inconsistent)when it comes to making ethical choices; however, we shouldn't let perfection be the enemy of good. I think it's wonderful that you cannot justify eating horses-you are right-they are amazingly sentient creatures. Perhaps your journey will lead you to that same conclusion about cows and other "acceptable" food animals. If it does, you might just be around in 50 years to see the evolution to vegetarianism that you spoke of since going veggie is a healthier lifestyle choice!

[monica81003]

Thank you for having the courage to acknowledge that it is only a matter of time before those of us who claim to be civilized stop the barbaric practice of eating animals. I hope that you will do more segments exploring our food and how it ends up on our plates. The horrific living conditions and abuses on factory farms and the brutality of slaughter that is the norm in slaughterhouses would be front page news if people had enough integrity to stop supporting animal abuse and if the media had the nerve to unflinchingly take on the multi-billion dollar agribusiness industry.

[monica81003]

Thank you for having the courage to acknowledge that it is only a matter of time before those of us who claim to be civilized stop the barbaric practice of eating animals. I hope that you will do more segments exploring our food and how it ends up on our plates. The horrific living conditions and abuses on factory farms and the brutality of slaughter that is the norm in slaughterhouses would be front page news if people had enough integrity to stop supporting animal abuse and if the media had the nerve to unflinchingly take on the multi-billion dollar agribusiness industry.

[vabeachhuskr]

Animals have no souls. Animals are also very tasty. Yum Yum.

You go eat your veggies, I'll go eat my steak.

[mylucie]

Dear Andy--

It's wonderful to hear someone of your stature and influence start to "get" the idea that animals shouldn't be treated like commodities by humans. Animals obviously have feelings and know fear, and factory farms are monstrous places. Humans can enjoy wonderful non-meat food (yes, including spinach!) and not cause suffering. Thanks for being so enlightened, and for saying so!

[Syndicate]

I never understood the vegan mentality. What is the differance between a cow and a carrot? Both are life forms that are grow to be consumed. Is it that the vegan can relate to the cow because it is an animal? Does a carrot feel pain? How does a carrot feel about being a salad. I think vegans are hypocrits. They never stoped to consider the feelings of the plants they are eating. Vegans should not eat other life forms or they are hypocrits. As much as I like pigs and feel for the suffering they go through I am not willing to starve for them. Cows on the other hand are very stupid and deserve to be eaten. I guess thats what they were bred for.

[rooneyrocks1]

Kudos to Andy for recognizing our double standards with regards to how we treat different animals. It takes a lot of courage to do that. I ate baby cows, lambs, ducks, rabbits, pigs, chickens, etc. for 25 years while advocating for dogs, cats, and horses before I realized my inconsistency. Going vegetarian and then vegan was the best thing I've ever done. Now I can honestly look any animal in the eye and say, "I would never hurt you."

[wmustudent]

Thank you for your kind vegetarian comment. Animals are tortured on the modern factory farm. Cows are still alive as they are dismembered body part by body part.

http://vegan.walklightly.org has more information.

[superk061]

Thank you Andy for your thought provoking story. Most of us don't give much thought to the way animals are raised for food in this country. With over 9 Billion animals being slaughtered for food in this country every year, perhaps its time to consider the teatment of the animals, the lives of the workers who slaughter them, the impact on our health and the impact on our environment.

[anand1900]

Wow...didn't expect Andy Rooney of all people to suggest the possibility that in 50 yrs we might all be vegetarian! I don't know you, but the media sure makes you sound like an old meat and potatos kinda sexist guy.

Anyway, its pretty funny to me when people have dead animals in their fridge (sometimes blood too), and yet are fanatical when it comes to everyday cleanliness.

I need to watch more Andy Rooney from now on!

[bscheldt]

I wanted to thank Andy for commenting on being unable to eat horsemeat. Horses are typically a friendly, loyal animal. Many Americans are lobbying U.S. Congress to ban horse slaughter in the United States. It has passed the House.

I too have the bad habit on eating meat, but would NEVER eat a horse. If my husband didn't require meat with his potatoes, I too could probably easily become a vegetarian. I, like you, have a problem choking meat down if I stop to think about the animal it came from.

God bless you Andy! I have always liked your commentaries, but I now have a new respect for you!



I like steak, lamb and pork chops but you couldn't make me eat rabbit or horse. When I was in France during World War II, horses would often be killed in the fields by artillery fire and the French farmers would wait until the shooting stopped and then rush out to carve up the dead horses for dinner.

I don't know why anyone who eats beef finds the idea of eating a horse so repulsive but I'm one of them. Horses seem so friendly and I don't like to be reminded of the animal I'm eating. I often pass a farm with cows grazing in the field and I think to myself how terrible it is that human beings grow other animals just to kill them and eat them.

Most of us think of vegetarians as nuts and I'm not a vegetarian but I wouldn't be surprised if we came to a time in 50 or 100 years when civilized people everywhere refused to eat animals. I could be one of them.

[jdk671]

Thank you Andy for your insightful commentary on our food choices. I'd like to encourage you to visit a farm animal sanctuary sometime so you can get to know a few cows, pigs and chickens. I think you'll find these animals to be every bit as friendly and intelligent as horses, dogs and cats. (check out www.farmsanctuary.org)

It is amazing that it is so difficult for people to make that connection between our food choices and the suffering of these animals. But you did something wonderful for the animals by encouraging people to be more thoughtful about who it is they're eating.

Please consider doing more commentaries on "food" animals and be an important voice for the 10 billion animals in the US who suffer and die each year for the habits and traditions most humans find too difficult to change.

[mila120]

Thanks Andy for your lucid comments on eating animals. I just came from a weekend event called World Vegetarian Day in San Francisco. WOW. I had no idea that vegetarian food could be so delicious and nutritious! Why kill animals when there is such bounty in the plant world? The people at this event all looked so much healthier than the people you typically see at, say, a ball game: energetic, youthful and not a pot belly in sight. We could all stand to change our diets, not only for the poor animals, but for our own health and well being.

[tanyapetrovn]

I was raised by European gourmand parents who worked in fine dining food service I can tell you I know food. From foie gras to filet of sole I've had and seen it all.

When I learned what went on in the slaughterhouse I realized that wasn't for me, yet I was still eating animals. I would eat them, but I couldn't kill them. I would then find myself holding the question in my mind,"Well isn't that like hiring a hit man?"

Through the years I realized many felt the same way and that I wasn't "nuts." I then made it my business to start a chain of vegan restaurants that even the card-carrying carnivore can enjoy. To date they are as successful as the leading publicly traded companies in their field.

With the statistics enlisting 25% of university students requesting vegan meals, it may be no surprise that it will be much sooner than 50 years that the majority of the population think it odd to eat animals.

All I know is that serving faux gras is filling my soul.

Tanya Petrovna
CEO
Native Foods Restaurant Group

[kleighe]

Andy, I appreciated your piece on vegetarianism. It was humorous, as always, as well as thoughtful and realistic.

I'm a vegetarian and I'm not nuts... (well...)

Thanks again.

Katherine Everett

[vze23mrx]

I'm a grandmother of three, have been vegan for decades, and no, I'm not nuts - I'm healthy! When most everyone my age has arthritis, or cardiavascular disease, or hypertension, or diabetes, I have none of those and take no medication for anything.

Thank you,CBS,for bringing animal issues to the public.

I would like to suggest to Mr. Tooney, since he is a civilized person, why not commit to a plant-based diet today? Why wait hundreds of years? It's good for the planet, for humans, and for animals. There are no negatives, only positives to such a decision.

[lenfrenkel]

I have watched Andy Rooney from time to time and always found him perceptive of the moods around him. His sense of present conditions for factory-farmed animals and the inconsistency of our meat-eating habits is quite correct. But of course as more and more people become aware of the horrible conditions under which animals are raised, as well as the negative health consequences of eating animal flesh,there will be more and more demand for vegetarianism. Those of us already there know the realities involved and also are beginning to know the environmental impact of raising animals for food. Andy Rooney has taken a small step toward raising the public's consciousness.

[penzelda]

Hey Andy, no apologies needed for that feeling of revulsion that so many of us experience when we think of eating other living, breathing, beings. So glad that you "get it" when it comes to horses and rabbits...hopefully you will also "get it" when it comes to veal calves, piglets and lambs, who also suffer and feel pain, as we do. As you say, maybe we'll soon see the day when everyone realizes that it's time to come out of the caves and evolve, although it may take the Neanderthals among us a while longer!

[Sweta25]

Rooney really makes a really great observation %u201CI often pass a farm with cows grazing in the field and I think to myself how terrible it is that human beings grow other animals just to kill them and eat them.%u201D It is terrible, but it can be stopped so easily by individual efforts.

[hshirley-2009]

Relative to eating, I am a flexitarian with a strong vegan bias. Soy sausage sauteed with onions and garlic is my favorite breakfast 'fake meat.' Soy beer brats and veggie burgers are my favorite fake meat lunch and dinner, respectively.

Rooney questions something that millions, including great political leaders have been questioning for thousands of years....eating other animals. With the advent of fake meat, I don't understand why society continues to eat animals.

As long as society continues this barbaric outdated practice of eating animals, then we will likely continue to see the epedemics of obesity, vascular disease, and extreme closet animal torture.

[libover30-2009]

It seems there is nothing that humans won't eat. We have been told what we can eat, yet if it moves we eat it. Doesn't matter if it once was alive and had a family, like ourselves, if it doesn't look like us, we humans will hunt it down, torture it, and then eat it. So the next time when you find yourself driving past a farm with cows, chickens, or any living, breathing creatures living there, remember, they were born free when they were first created, the same as we humans. If left to be free they would form families the same as we do. Please keep in mind, these creatures were born just like us, they are not grown, which suggests that they were grown from the ground, like veggies, and fruits. Please DO THE RIGHT THING.

[southerner8]

Well, as a small farm meat producer, raising rabbits, cattle and other meat animals, I can assure CBS that 60 minutes is off my menu of things to watch. In fact, we meat producers will now boycott the show's sponsers. Looks like it's time to give Mr. Rooney the boot.

[npvp2001]

Dear Andy,

I want to thank you for mentioning the hopeful goal that nearly 100% of "civilized" society may refuse to eat animals in another 50 to 100 years. I have been vegetarian, and now trying to be vegan, for about a year. The more I learn about the horrors of the meat and poultry industry, the more I wonder how some people continue to eat meat, chicken, pigs and other animals. Here's hoping that your comments will at least get people to start investigating the realities of mass produced meat, poultry and other animal products. Thanks again!

[jhi2006]

Thank you, Mr. Rooney, for giving public thought to the idea that the time is coming for civilized people to move towards not eating animals.

It IS cruel to raise animals for food, and today's methods of intensive farming subject nearly 10 billion animals every year to lives of isolation, suffering and pain that are unspeakable in the public dialogue. As a piece in the New York Times reported, the recent E. Coli outbreak in spinach is the direct result of bacteria from intensive factory farm waste contaminating our environment.

The consumption of animal products is bad for animals, our planet and our health.

I encourage you to follow your heart and become a vegetarian. Live a life of peace and compassion with all animals. I think the many rewards of such a choice would surprise you.

[rotrgirl]

Hey Andy:
You don,t have to wait 50 years to go Veg. I appreciate your sensitivity to animals & am glad you included it in your segment. I did an equestrian holiday in England & came across a field of young cows frolicking about. When they saw us ride by, they cme up to the fence to say hello,by mooing & kicking up their heels. It was so charming, that I decided then & there to never eat animals again. Check out www.GoVeg.com for more info.
Sincerely,
Michele Garland

[rdown1]

I love what Andy had to say about eating animals and I couldn't agree more. Factory Farming is inhumane and cruel not to mention extremely inefficient. Cattle grazing is very hard on the environment and chickens endure extreme stress living in deplorable conditions. Fruits and Veggies are so much healthier and there are plenty of ways to get enough protien. Most Americans eat far too much meat. I'm with you Andy! Thanks for your refreshing common sense!

[nwjoy]

Nuts?? Nuts?! Yes, please, soynuts, peanuts, walnuts, Brazil nuts....all a much healthier choice than dead animals. I am vegetarian and much prefer elk in the forest than on my plate. I am sincerely hoping its less than 50 years before more people thoughtfully consider their food choices. Thanks for the insightful commentary, Mr. Rooney.

[nwjoy]

Nuts?? Nuts?! Yes, please, soynuts, walnuts, peanuts, Brazil nuts....all much healthier choices than dead animals. I am vegetarian and much prefer elk in the forest to on my plate. I am sincerely hoping it is less than 50 years before more people thoughtfully consider their food choices. Thanks for the insightful commentary, Mr. Rooney.