Clearly you are the poster child for PETA! An organization jam packed with brain washed, ignorant, suburbanites. I'm sure that not only are you clueless about farming period, but also about the fact that we live in a world where people are starving to death every day! I'm sure that the malnourished people living in remote areas of Africa are dieing (literally) to become vegans just like you and your spoiled American friends! We raise animals the way we do in this country in an attempt to feed the world, not just our taste buds. I will completely agree that animal welfare is the paramount concern of not only folks like yourself, but also the producers who raise the animals. How about instead of fighting against animal agriculture, you act tactfully and try to be part of the solution to feeding a growing world, and not trying to increase world hunger. If you feel so strongly that no one should consume meat, then start a coalition to bring veganism to third world countries. However, why is it acceptable for wild animals to consume their prey? Should we stage an intervention?

Just on a side note...the yolk color of eggs is determined by what a chicken eats (corn and more substantially, marigold petals, cause a deep yellow color) and egg whites become more water-like as the eggs age, the environment that the chicken is raised in has very little to do with either!

Thank you for dispelling some myths about animal agriculture and global warming! It's refreshing to know that some people still have a brain in California! However, I suggest checking all the facts before making rather biased comments.

Case in point, "The waste often contains the cancer-causing element arsenic, which is added to most U.S. chicken feed to promote growth." Arsenic, or rather ORGANIC arsenic is added to SOME poultry broiler (meat chicken) diets to act as an alternative dewormer. Some other dewormers used in poultry production are sythetically produced and therefore, continuing on with the common popularity of organic in today's society, many producers have turned to more "natural" forms of parasite control. Aresenic is a naturally occuring element. On a side note, most everything, natural or not, is a carcinogen at some level!

Another point, "Plus, chicken poop frequently has mercury in it, possibly from fish meal used as feed, or from vaccines." Fish meal is used in very small amounts in poultry diets for two reasons. One, it's expensive, and two, high amounts (above about 4%) will make your chicken meat and eggs taste like fish! Mercury is found in a lot of different places other than fish too, so maybe people should avoid water! And the idea that any considerably harmful level of mercury is found in chicken "poop" from vaccine is pretty ridiculous. By the way, vaccines are administered at doses of about .1 to .5 mL and most of that volume isn't mercury folks!

I will try to be succinct with this last point, "And let's be clear: The life of an industrially raised chicken is not a happy one. The growing birds are warehoused in spaces so small they can't flap their wings, turn around or preen. Breeding for maximum meat production has resulted in animals whose bodies have difficulty supporting their own weight, meaning chickens live much of their lives in pain." First of all, not all poultry are housed the same way. Let's consider broilers (meat chickens) and turkeys. They live in temperature controlled barns where it is common for them to jump, run, flap and preen! Have you ever been hit by the wing of a flapping turkey? Probably not, because you would remember it! If you have ever actually been in a broiler or turkey barn, and I don't mean seen pictures of, you would understand what I am talking about! And birds, much like humans, don't do any of the above when they are in pain! Granted, laying hens are housed in smaller quarters, but I have yet to see any space where a bird cannot turn around or preen! Birds have been selected heavily for meat production, and while there have been skeletal issues in the past, the genetics companies will no time soon go out of business since they are always improving not only growth and efficiency, but also bird health (including the ability to walk freely). The skeletal integrity of poultry today, is much more adequate than it was 10 years ago!

Again, thank you for making the very important point that not all animal agriculture is the same. And most importantly, thank you for dispelling PETAs myth that animal agriculture is the leader in global warming. But in the future, do all of us a favor and research all of your talking points. It will save those educated in the areas that you aren't a lot of headaches!