Drinking cow's milk is immoral.
Affrimative
Side Score: 10
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Negative
Side Score: 7
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First, I want to compliment you on one of the more complete debate cases ever presented on this site. Thank you. Second, I want to agree. We primarily consume dairy because the practice is an artifact of human history. Desperate hungry people looked for every possible sustenance and milk became one of those. But indeed it is using animals to obtain something meant for them for our own use, and the value of that use is questionable to some people. But third, despite all the reasons it is immoral, I will still consume dairy. Quite frankly I love dairy. Especially cheeses and ice creams. Additionally, I still have infants and after 1 year old its sooo much cheaper to give them milk than formula. Plus, I highly doubt society, even if it acknowledges as a whole that milk is immoral, is going to do anything to stand in the way of the dairy industry and the availability of its products. So basically, even after voting affirmative, nothing is going to change (at least in my lifetime anyway). And if you're coming from a typical academic debate background that might actually be enough of a slam against significance that a person could vote against if they wanted to. Anyway, well done. Cheers. And "Got Milk?" Side: Affrimative
Drinking cow's milk is usually immoral. Exceptions, people with rare medical conditions, and extraordinary circumstances. For example, stranded on a desert island and/or about to go into a diabetic coma. Outline I. Intro II. Animal ethics III. Health IV. Environment V. Conclusion VI. Sources I. Intro We shouldn't drink bovine milk because it encourages the slavery, exploitation, and mistreatment of cows. Not only that, but slavery, exploitation, and mistreatment of one animal paves the way for this same treatment towards other animals. Cows milk is unhealthy nor environmentally sustainable. II. Animal ethics "A factory farm is a large, industrial operation that raises large numbers of animals for food. Over 99% of farm animals in the U.S. are raised in factory farms, which focus on profit and efficiency at the expense of animal welfare." [0] Animals on so called "humane" farms don't fare much better. [1][2] "Even under the best circumstances, the incentive to treat animals “humanely” is limited to the extent to which it is necessary to raise them to market weight (which is just a fraction of their natural lifespan). Any humane practice beyond this would be seen as inefficient and unsustainable by today’s business standards." [3] Between the inherit conflict of interest between animal welfare and profit. and the brutal realities there is no moral justification for humans drinking bovine milk. III. Health Milk causes osteoporosis and increases chances of hip fractures. Contains, IGF-1, cholesterol, casein, lactose, high in fat, high in saturated fat, and high in dead bacteria endotoxins. "These results support the hypothesis that dairy products and calcium are associated with a greater risk of prostate cancer. " [4] " Studies have shown that IGFs are potent mitogens for a variety of cancer cells including prostate cancer since they stimulate cancer cell growth and suppress programmed cell death. " [5] "Naturally occurring milk IGF-1 levels were recorded in 5777 random milk samples from the Bavarian dairy cow population." [6] As you can see from above, milk increases cancer risk. IGF-1 is found in cow's milk and is associated with increased cancer risk. "These findings suggest that even small intakes of foods of animal origin are associated with significant increases in plasma cholesterol concentrations, which are associated, in turn, with significant increases in chronic degenerative disease mortality rates." [7] Casein is a protein that can cause an immune system response which can lead to type I diabetes.
“Total protein consumption did not correlate with diabetes incidence (r = +0.402), but consumption of the beta-casein A1 variant did (r = +0.726). Even more pronounced was the relation between beta-casein (A1+B) consumption and diabetes (r = +0.982). These latter two cow caseins yield a bioactive peptide beta-casomorphin-7 after in vitro digestion with intestinal enzymes whereas the common A2 variant or the corresponding human or goat caseins do not. beta-casomorphin-7 has opioid properties including immunosuppression, which could account for the specificity of the relation between the consumption of some but not all beta-casein variants and diabetes incidence. “ [8]
“" Women who drank three glasses of milk or more every day had a nearly doubled risk of death and cardiovascular disease, and a 44 percent increased risk of cancer compared to women who drank less than one glass per day, the researchers found. Men's overall risk of death increased about 10 percent when they drank three or more glasses of milk daily, said the study, published online Oct. 28 in BMJ."” [9] “The risk of any bone fracture increased 16 percent in women who drank three or more glasses daily, and the risk of a broken hip increased 60 percent, the findings indicated. “ [10] Fat is not only the densest of the three macro nutrients at 9 calories per gram as opposed to 4 for carbohydrates and proteins. This can lead to obesity and intramyocellular lipid build up. Saturated fat increases blood viscosity which makes the heart work harder. Lactose is a sugar that many people are intolerant towards. IV. Environment Inherently due to trophic levels milk must be worse for the environment. From the American Journal of Clinical nutrition we can see that lupine, a vegan alternative, is better for the environment than cow's milk. [11] V. Conclusion In conclusion, there is only one ethical choice, and that is to stop drinking bovine milk. Thanks for the debate. VI. Sources 0. http://www.aspca.org/animal-cruelty/farm-animal-welfare 2. http://humanemyth.org/happycows.htm 4. http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/74/4/ 5. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/ 6. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/ 7. http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/59/5/ 8. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/ 9. http://www.webmd.com/osteoporosis/news/ 10. http://www.webmd.com/osteoporosis/news/ Side: Affrimative
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If you're a fan of subjective morality, then I suppose you can arbitrarily call anything "immoral" if you want - and anyone else can say the opposite. The one thing you can't do, however, is call another person's actions immoral - based upon your own subjective moral code - since your subjective morality would necessarily have to end with your person. If you're saying drinking milk is objectively immoral, then you'll need to cite your objective moral authority, since I can't think of one that would grant you that premise. Side: Negative
Thinking morals are subjective in the way you present means person A could think crime x was moral and person B immoral. Even if crime x was an atrocity. That would result in an ineffective society. As for an objective moral authority, I don't think one is needed for objective morals. Humans by their very nature are bias, yet we can perform very objective tasks like mathematics. Therefore, any ordinary human can be a source of objective morality. I have to admit you made me think sceathers. Side: Affrimative
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Making love to your neighbour's wife is immoral, but it's a pleasant experience. Eating foie gras is indeed immoral but it's a delightful hors d'oeuvre. Bullfighting is immoral but it's an exciting spectator sport with the prospect of the Matador being gored to death by the bull. Milk is the only form of protein as well as many other essential nutrients available for millions of those in third world countries. As a primary school child in Northern Ireland in the 1940s and 50s the free 1/3rd bottle of milk in the mornings was probably the reason I survived into adulthood. Few other food sources are as nutritious and readily available as milk. Before criticising anything, offer a realistic alternative. Side: Negative
How about soy milk? As for being available in third world countries, what proof do you have of that? 1940-50 is not the same as 2016. Oats have adequate protein and would have been a cheap substitute for milk in the 1940-50s. Humans only need 10% protein from calories. "Adults in the U.S. are encouraged to get 10% to 35% of their day's calories from protein foods. That's about 46 grams of protein for women, and 56 grams of protein for men." http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/ http://www.webmd.com/diet/ Side: Affrimative
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Don't ask me about the viability of providing soy milk as an alternative to dairy milk' It is you who has come up with the emotionally driven rant about the unacceptability of cow's milk, so it is therefore up to you to provide a detailed report on how your proposed substitute products could ''seamlessly'' replace dairy milk and how a distribution network could be established' Don't come across with the juvenile, ''WHATABOUTERY'' argument. Maybe the state of our economies and social services in the west are not in the 40s'50s but many developing countries haven't even reached that point yet and we note with horror that 2 million, yes 2 million, children and babies die ''EVERY DAY'' in Africa from malnutrition. That's not including, nor considering those countless 1000s in the so called developed nations of the west who still cannot afford to buy foods necessary to promote the health of their children and find milk an affordable wholesome lifesaver. But hey, don't you give such problems a second thought, just continue on mindlessly with your 'ban cow's milk'' crusade and wallow in your uncaring ignorance by rationalizing that after a few million deaths or so someone will think of an alternative. Side: Negative
There is nothing immoral or even amoral about consuming dairy cow milk. Personally, I never liked the stuff. Except maybe up till I was around 13 years old or so. I had a H.S. hockey coach in Calgary, Canada who forbid us to drink it. Claimed that it "cut your wind" and also increased phlegm production. (His former claim has never been verified, scientifically, although much evidence has been cited by many people for the latter claim.) So...I bought into my coach's warnings, and found that stopping milk DID improve my stamina. After a year or so I didn't miss milk anymore at all, save the occasional glass of chocolate Yoo-Hoo after a workout, sometimes mixed with Creatine powder to add protein. Nowadays I hardly ever drink cow milk. My wife turned my on to Almond milk a couple years ago, and I drink a bit of that. I like the chocolate. The only time I use regular Soy or Almond milk is with my cereal in the morning. Dairy milk is one of the biggest scams ever perpetuated on the American people. It's not nearly as healthy as its advocates (like the Dairy farmers association) claim it to be. It's got a ton of sugar, in the form of Lactose. A 12-oz glass of cow milk has almost half the sugar as a can of coke! Also,,,dig this: there is likely a bit of udder pus in every glass of milk you drink. The FDA allows it! A certain amount per carton. I think they refer to it as so many parts-per-thousand. I did the math once, and reckoned it out to be an average of two to three ounces of pus in every half gallon of milk you drink! Enjoy your pus, amigos! LOL SS Side: Negative
"There is nothing immoral or even amoral about consuming dairy cow milk." slapshot So, its moral to endorse a business that enslaves other sentient beings for profit? The conflict of interest alone between animal welfare and profit makes it immoral. Take into account many cows are factory farmed, and the only conclusion that can be made is that drinking cow's milk is usually immoral. Side: Affrimative
I much prefer to discuss the topic of the pros and cons and myths of dairy cow milk as a healthy drink, than to hear veg-heads yammer on about enslaving the poor bovines. The biological and nutritional aspects of milk are far more interesting to me. This is why my OP was built on that aspect. But I find the whole "I am a vegan because I am more compassionate than you cruel immoral carnivores" to be mind-numbingly boring. And mundane. It simply does not interest me. Your bit about enslaving cows DID hand me a laugh, though. As if they were people! Or even smart animals like dolphins are cats or dogs. As if they would be better off if they were free? LOL. To do what, exactly, Prance and play in the meadows? Cows are cows. They have it as good being used for milk as they would have if they were on their own and had to find their own food. In fact, they ARE and always HAVE been a domesticated and bred animal. Freedom to them would be a detriment. Besides: who cares? A cow's brain is unable to have emotions. They do not posses the ability to "care" or to "grieve" and, indeed, are barely sentient beings. If you want to think otherwise and come on here and parade your veganism because you think it makes you morally superior to us callous and cruel omnivores, go right ahead. Just know this: we laugh at your ilk. And we really really don't give two shits that you don't eat meat or drink dairy milk. Hope this helps! SS Side: Affrimative
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