Philosophy: What's wrong in meat eating?

Quotes about vegetarianism

Heart diseases cause almost half of deaths in United States and many doctors recommend people endangered in this way daily exercises and/or vegetarian diet.

"Vegetarian diet can prevent 70-90% of all heart diseases." - The Journal of the American Medical Association

"Vegetarians are characterized by longer life and significantly lower number of cancer cases in comparison with Americans who eat meat." - The American National Institute of Health

"Antibiotics like penicillin and tetracycline gradually lose their effectiveness because they are being routinely added into cattle feed and bacteria are developing resistance to them." - The New England Journal of Medicine

"Mere 10% decrease in meat production would provide an amount of grain sufficient to feed 60 000 000 people." - Jean Mayer, nutritionist, Harvard University

"Animals are my friends... and I do not eat my friends." - George Bernard Shaw

"Thou shall not kill." - Exodus 20:13

"Me him (mam sah) will eat in the next world - he whose meat I eat in this life; wise claim that this is the real meaning of the word ,meat` (mam sah)." - Manu-smriti 5.55

"A cruel and wretched person who maintains his existence at the cost of others' lives deserves to be killed for his own well-being; otherwise he will go down by his own actions." - Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.7.37

Latest study on meat-eating linked to cancer..

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/12/071210213133.htm

Srila Prabhpada on plant killing (Excerpt taken from: http://religion.krishna.org/Articles/2000/09/00107.html)

--
Father Emmanuel: Isn't the eating of plants also killing?

Srila Prabhupada: The Vaisnava philosophy teaches that we should not even kill plants unnecessarily. In the Bhagavad-gita (9.26) Krishna says:

patram puspam phalam toyam
yo me bhaktya prayacchati
tad aham bhakty-upahrtam
asnami prayatatmanah

"If someone offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, a fruit or a little water, I will accept it." We offer Krishna only the kind of food He demands, and then we eat the remnants. If offering vegetarian food to Krishna were sinful, then it would be Krishna's sin, not ours. But God is apapa-vijna -- sinful reactions are not applicable to Him. He is like the sun, which is so powerful that it can purify even urine -- something impossible for us to do. Krishna is also like a king, who may order a murderer to be hanged, but who himself is not subject to punishment because he is very powerful. Eating food first offered to the Lord is also something like a soldier's killing during wartime. In a war, when the commander orders a man to attack, the obedient soldier who kills the enemy will get a medal. But if the same soldier kills someone on his own he will be punished. Similarly when we eat only prasada [the remnants of food offered to Krishna], we do not commit any sin. This is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita (3.13):

yajna-sistasinah santo
mucyante sarva-kilbisaih
bhunjate te tu agham papa
ye pacanty atma-karanat

"The devotees of the Lord are released from all kinds of sins because they eat food that is first offered for sacrifice. Others, who prepare food for personal sense enjoyment, verily eat only sin."
--