This diet made it possible to remove cattle from their natural environment and encourage the efficiency of mass confinement and slaughter. But it causes enough health problems that administration of antibiotics is routine, so much so that it can result in antibiotic-resistant bacteria that threaten the usefulness of medicines that treat people" (Bittman 2008, p.1).

Beef mass production also releases methane gas into the atmosphere because of the sheer volume of cows that are used to sate America's unending desire for beef. Bittman who is a non-vegetarian but an advocate of radically cutting America's beef consumption notes: "Americans eat about the same amount of meat as we have for some time, about eight ounces a day, roughly twice the global average. At about 5% of the world's population, we 'process' (that is, grow and kill) nearly 10 billion animals a year, more than 15% of the world's total. Growing meat...
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