Dear Editor:

2012 has not been a banner year for the meat industry. Extreme drought has doubled the cost of animal foodstuffs. Undercover investigations documented male chicks suffocated in plastic garbage bags or ground to death, their female counterparts crammed for life in tiny, wire-mesh cages, pigs clobbered with metal pipes and assorted farm animals skinned and dismembered at the slaughterhouse while still conscious.

A study of more than 120,000 people by the Harvard School of Public Health confirmed once again that meat consumption raises the risk of cancer and cardiovascular diseases. Margaret Chan, director general of the World Health Organization, warned that routine use of antibiotics to promote animal growth in factory farms is causing “the end of modern medicine.”

No wonder per-capita U.S. meat consumption has been dropping by nearly 4 percent annually!

October offers excellent opportunities for dropping animal products from our diet. The month kicks off with World Vegetarian Day and World Farm Animals Day on Oct. 1 and 2, respectively. It continues with World Food Day on Oct. 16 and Food Day on Oct. 24.

Entering “live vegan” in a search engine brings lots of useful transition tips.

Andrew Torelli

Aspen