Question: Why are you vegetarian?

Franco Falcone answered on 11 Jun 2016:

I stopped eating meat after I left home, for ethical reasons. As a University student I became aware of how much suffering was and still is is inflicted worldwide on animals, and how their short existence between birth and the slaughterhouse is often a cruel one. Later on, when I was a PhD student, I had to go to slaughterhouses several times to get a fresh supply of (pig) parasites that I needed for my work, whioch I obtained from freshly slaughtered animals. I was able to see the whole prcess of slaughtering, from the whole animal walking up a ramp to the animal being killed and cut into pieces. And I didn’t like what I saw.

I decided that as a principle I would not eat any animal that I would not be prepared to kill myself with my own hands. Which doesn’t leave many – mainly fish. I do however eat dairy products and eggs as well, so I am not a vegan. Also I think that it is a matter of personal choice – I am not militant in any way, I just try to keep the amount of death and destruction which I will have caused during my life as small as possible.