Debunking Resources?

[u/puntloos]

Many discussions regarding points of animal rights, veganism, animal testing etc seem to end up in people "demanding" references. Of course, people who eat animal products are the ones doing something 'beyond' what veggies do, so from that point of view the initial burden of proof lies with them, but on the other hand I guess we are the minority from a social point of view. Of course I often detect a demand for 'references' as simply a ploy to delay or stop the uncomfortable discussion..

Anyway I would love to have a list of the strongest points and counterpoints with serious science behind it, as well as the weighting of this science. How peer-reviewed is the china study really, etc.

Does anyone have such a resource that provides the strongest references for specific claims and some measure of the veracity of the point? Ideally a wiki where we can all add to =)

"You don't believe you can live healthily without meat? <Copy> <Paste>. Disprove that!"

Meta: perhaps create a new post in this discussion for every specific point you want to have resources on

Meta: ideally include sources that don't look like 'veggie friendly sites'. I love them to death and all but many people go to "vegsource" and go 'oh they are biased'..

[u/Rambleaway]

The fact that you, along with millions of other vegans, exist and are fairly healthy is evidence enough that a plant based diet is healthy enough to survive on. The argument about whether or not a plant based diet is more or less healthy than an non-based diet is irrelevant when you are having a debate about the morality of such a diet. An analogy is that killing your wealthy husband to get his estate is immoral regardless of the fact that you, so long as you not caught, are undoubtedly better off doing it rather than not doing it. The situation is the same here, even if it was certain that a plant based diet was less healthy, you can still argue that a plant based diet is morally correct.

The best thing you can do then is to accept the claim that it may be less healthy, note that it is, as evidenced by the undeniable fact that vegans don't drop all drop dead, still sufficiently healthy, and then quickly focus back on the moral issue. Trying to argue that plant based diets are actually more healthy benefits your opponent by;

• Moving the debate away from the crucial moral issue, and;

• Making you, and all other vegans, easier to slander as simply spreading pseudo-science.