Technically, isnt it impossible to be vegan?

Here in the US, it's absolutely impossible to be a true vegan. Animal slaughter byproducts are in dozens of things we all use every day: glues in book bindings, in car tires, in roads and streets, they're used in electrical transmission, the latex gloves your dentist uses....and on and on.

IMO, it's the height of hypocrisy for vegans to go on and on about wearing leather while they set comfortably in a wooden chair, held together by animal based glues, in front of their computer, run by electricity, in a comfortable room, with animal slaughter byproducts in the walls, paint and maybe the carpet! What's the difference? Wear leather or not, everyone benefits from animal slaughter.

Then there are the tens of thousands of small animals that die in the fields every year during the planting and harvesting of grains and veggies that vegans eat. Why is it ok to chop up a field mice in a harvester, but wrong to kill a cow, in the most humane manner possible?

http://oregonstate.edu/ua/ncs/archives/2002/mar/os...

Contrary to misinformaton here

1) B12 cannot be gotten from soil or plants, it is in an analogous form that is not utilised by the body. Kind of like atmospheric Nitrogen N2 which is converted by bacteria into ammonia NH3 which plants can use to get nitrogen then

2) Cooking does not destroy B12 unless at extreme temperatures. Intrinsic factor is a reason for B12 deficiency & can occur in both omnivores & vegans

3) Whilst our gut flora does produce B12, it is too far down to be absorbed.

Lastly you are wrong, supplementation is no problem. The chirality & stereochemistry of the molecule is the exact same, the body cannot tell the difference between say iron gotten from food vs a supplement. Our body only recognises nutrients, NOT food groups.

Bacteria, microbes, and mushrooms are not sentient beings. They feel no emotions or pain and have no interest in living. Chemical response doesn't mean sentient response.

B12 is added to a lot of vegan foods. I don't take B12 pills, I get B12 from fortified soy milk, soy meats, and Red Star Nutritional Yeast.

I've never heard of supplements causing you to "become immune" to them. Where did you get this information?

these microbes are not in the animal kingdom (yes, I know they changed the biological classification system a few years ago, but you get the idea). Indeed, out bodies are in a symbiotic relationship with many microbes, and it's very important to allow the beneficial ones to thrive through good diet, and limit the harmful ones, which thrive on unhealthy food. The foods which feed our healthy bacteria are all vegan foods.

Mushrooms have characteristics of animals and plants, but it's a moot point as to which they are closer to, as they are in a separate kingdom to plants and animals, and don't have central nervous systems or brains or minds. Nor emotions. Biochemical responses, but not intellect.

B12 - what does this have to do with veganism??? Either you eat animals who have been fed supplements so you eat the supplements which have been recycled through an animal's body, or you take the supplements directly, or you eat foods which have it, such as organic fruits, and vegetables, raw almonds and other organic raw nuts, nutritional yeast, algae and seaweed, mushrooms or drink water from a natural source which has not been chlorinated and treated in order to pass safety standards for the public to drink. Eating animal proteins such as meat, dairy and eggs destroys our body's ability to absorb B12, so it's recommended all people over 50 supplement as the Framingham Heart Study showed vegans are at no more risk of the deficiency than meat-eaters, as do many other studies on the issue. The vitamin is produced by the microbes which reside in our appendix. Keep them alive and thriving through good nutrition, and they'll pump out the vitamin, and our livers store any excess. Yes, vegans get diagnosed with the deficiency, but currently vegans are the only people who get TESTED for the deficiency. Meat-eaters are instead misdiagnosed with dementia.

1. Mushrooms are fungi, and are therefore plants. They are not "closely related to animals", and they certainly don't have a central nervous system.

2. B12 has been depleted from the soil by conventional agriculture. Additionally, our bodies require very little B12, and there is no such thing as B12 "immunity". Eating seaweed and kelp provides enough B12 for our bodies to survive.

3. Bacteria thrive in our bodies because that is its natural environment. Furthermore, bacteria have no central nervous system.

4. Veganism is a path towards an ideal. Even if perfection is unattainable, we all strive towards our ideals, at least those of us who choose to live an examined life.

First of all, as to the B12 issue: humans only need trace amounts of this and B12 is easily obtained through organically grown root vegetables.

And to the bulk of your statement: Questions like this are just ridiculous. Contrary to what you might think, you are not proving any point by barking out threadbare and childish rhetoric along the lines of, "What about the microbes? What about bugs hitting your car? What about insects and small animals that get accidentally killed in vegetable farming? What if I get head lice? Should I raise them as pets?"...*YAWN* ...If you really want to find out about about the positive things being a vegan does for your health, the environment and animals, I suggest you READ about the subject (Books - heard of those?) and find out the truth. Or you can just remain weak and lazy and keep eating meat because it's easier to conform to what others do, and just come to these forums occasionally to hassle vegans to appease your latent guilt - the choice is yours.

Vegans don't eat animals because animals feel pain/suffering. Bacteria and microbes do not feel pain. Neither do mushrooms. So yes, veganism is possible.

Speaking about B12 - please consult a doctor, not make silly stuff up from ''facts'' that you've heard from other teens or commercials. Veg*ns have existed for centuries and somehow they managed to live healthy lives without pharmacies supplying them with buckets of pills.

I am vegetarian if youy do not want to eat mushrooms dont. I can eat enough for us both.

as for what is in your stomach you did not eat it. Your food was washed. They are there and are escential for life. I do not know how they get b 12 from vegetable scorce but nutritional yeast or brewers yeast has it.

Vegan is what you do not eat meat:beef, chicken,poultry, fish, unclean meats. clean meats that are kosher or not.

they do not eat dairy of any kind.

they do not eat honey.

so what is left

Fruit, Nuts Grains Vegetables Seeds Beans. If you are afraid of germs wash them good and eat without fear.

well if you want to look at it that way then i guess it's impossible to become vegan!

ok but mushrooms are not animals, and even if they were you don't have to eat them.

oh i didn't know that about b12 supplements. but b12 is naturally synthesised in our bodies, and if you're really healthy, and your body is functioning totally properly, you should be able to absorb the b12 this way.

At the end of the day you have to kill something to sustain yourself. I figure... when you can sit in the sun and synthesize your own food ..... you give me a hollar. Otherwise... what you're preaching is only a matter of degree. And if you're still using fossil fuels... you're totally kidding yourself.

" Bacteria and microbes do not feel pain. Neither do mushrooms. "

Facts not in evidence. The simple fact of the matter is that you have no idea. And isn't that more or less the exact same argument you're making to meat eaters?