Veganism FAQ
Frequently asked questions about veganism and animal rights.
How do you know animals feel pain?
In mid-2019, a study examining 53 features related to conscious experience in 18 kinds of organisms was published. According to this research, not only vertebrates but also many invertebrates (including insects) are very likely to have conscious experiences at various levels, including pain.
For details, see Sentience table.
Plants feel pain too, so why eat them?
Occasionally, news articles report research showing that plants feel “pain” or let out “terrible screams.” But reading the original studies reveals that they describe ultrasound rather than “screams,” and responses to signals rather than “pain.” Conscious experience of pain differs from a response to external stimuli. Based on what is currently known, plants are very unlikely to feel pain.
For details, see Plant sentience.
Even if plants do feel pain, we should still avoid eating animals. Eating plants directly greatly reduces plant consumption—and therefore suffering—compared with having animals eat plants and then eating the animals. So if you believe plants feel pain and genuinely care about that suffering, you should reduce your meat consumption.
For details, see Efficiency of plant-based diet.
Aren’t plants alive?
Veganism is not a movement to prohibit killing.
- Animal advocacy based on utilitarianism aims to give equal consideration to the interests of beings who can feel (sentient beings), rather than “not eating any living thing” (principle of equal consideration).
- Animal advocacy based on deontology aims to respect the rights of beings with moral value (subjects of a life), rather than “not eating any living thing.”
Some people, such as fruitarians, do eat only fruit rather than plants themselves—or only fruit that has fallen naturally from trees—to avoid killing any living thing as far as possible. Others avoid seeds, believing they contain future plants. I do not share this perspective, but I respect it.
For details, see Animal Liberation and Animal Rights, Human Wrongs: An Introduction to Moral Philosophy.
Will raising a child vegan cause nutritional problems?
It is well established that a vegan diet alone can provide balanced nutrition for humans of all ages, and various countries and organizations officially advise this.
- The UK National Health Service’s official website advises that, provided all nutrients are supplied in balance, a vegan diet alone can support healthy children from birth at every age, as well as during pregnancy.
- The BetterHealth Channel, operated by the Australian government, also advises that a well-planned vegan or vegetarian diet can provide the nutrients needed at every age.
- The American Dietetic Association and Dietitians of Canada also published research showing that children of all ages can be raised healthily on vegan or vegetarian diets.
Meanwhile, evidence continues to accumulate linking meat consumption with heart attacks, various cancers, obesity, some autoimmune diseases, osteoporosis, kidney disease, and other conditions.
For details, see The China Study.
Isn’t forcing a child to be vegetarian abuse?
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Do you know that growing plants also kills animals and harms the environment?
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Isn’t forcing a companion animal to be vegetarian abuse?
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But God told us to eat animals?
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Isn’t hunting good for animals?
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Aren’t you doing this to feel superior?
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Won’t you even kill pests?
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Do you eat avocados? Why eat them when they harm the environment?
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So we shouldn’t kill insects either?
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Humans come first. Shouldn’t we take care of them first?
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It’s fine to do what you want on your own, but must you make a show of it and make us uncomfortable?
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Wouldn’t everyone have to die right now to achieve true cruelty-free living?
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But humans evolved to be omnivores?
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Lions eat animals too, so why don’t you criticize them?
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Aren’t you trying to go against the order of nature?
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If we didn’t eat pigs, could so many pigs exist today?
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What’s wrong with killing a happily raised pig painlessly?
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Isn’t this too extreme? You’re only putting people off.
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Will you respect everyone’s tastes?
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Why upset humans just to care for animals’ feelings?
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I need protein because I work out?
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Aren’t the materials in your shoes non-vegan too?
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How can new drugs be developed without animal testing?
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So don’t you take medicine when you’re ill?
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The experiments in your books all resulted from animal abuse, so why study them?
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Don’t you know that one person’s choices make no difference?
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Hitler was a vegetarian too, you know?
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This isn’t the time to talk about animal rights. Do you know what’s happening with politics/unemployment/North Korean nuclear weapons?
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I can’t afford veganism. Isn’t it for the well-off?
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Westerners all eat meat, so what’s the point of doing this in Korea?
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Korea doesn’t have the infrastructure(?) for it, does it?
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Doctors tell us to eat meat too?
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