I was never scared of all the witches, zombies and assorted goblins wandering around on Halloween.

What really used to scare me was the meat industry.

This is the industry that mutilates, cages and butchers billions of cows, pigs and other feeling animals; that exposes thousands of undocumented workers to crippling workplace injuries at slave wages; that exploits farmers and ranchers by dictating wholesale prices; that jails those who document its abuses through unconstitutional “ag-gag” laws.

It’s the industry that generates more water pollution than any other human activity and more greenhouse gases than transportation, then promotes world hunger by feeding nutritious corn and soybeans to animals.

It’s the industry that threatens our public health with increased risk of killer diseases, that creates antibiotic-resistant pathogens by feeding antibiotics to animals, that bullies health authorities to remove anti-meat warnings from their public messages.

Now, that’s really scary stuff.

But, instead of being scared, I decided to fight back by dropping animal products from my menu. I am no longer scared of the meat industry, and I invite everyone to join me.

Wes Muirland

Waterville

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