You suggest that some meat eaters do so because of the “need to feel aggressive”; try telling that to the courts. You say some eat meat for “cultural reasons”; but some cultures involve cannibalism. Our tooth structure? - it’s omnivorous, not carnivorous, it gives us the choice to make moral choices, as does our brain. You say Vitamin B12 is “only available from natural sources”; the reality is that B12 is manufactured by micro-organisms, found in the guts of ruminants. These are easily cultured without using animals and B12 added to margarine etc.

The argument that meat “tastes good” is on a par with “I enjoy it”.

Hedonism is no argument if no physiological justification can be found for killing animals - and you fail to provide it. Since the entire profession of academic nutritionists is agreed that we do not need to eat animal products to stay healthy, it follows that we should not kill animals for food; to do so is utterly philosophically flawed.

James Boyle

128 Eastwoodmains Road Glasgow