Kathy Freston Shatters Meat Myth: Our Hands Weren’t Capable
Written by Vegetarian Star on June 12th, 2009 in Authors.
We’ve all probably had that jerk friend who, after learning we’re vegetarian, makes a remark like, “See these teeth. These are canines. They’re meant to cut meat.”
Author Kathy Freston has blogged at the Huffington Post and cites several authoritative sources that give wonderful explanations why our friends are full of baloney-literally!
It’s all in the hands, as Kathy explains early humans would not have been able to handle ripping an animal apart for dinner. Our pretty fingers were just too delicate.
“…Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine President Dr. Neal Barnard says in his book, The Power of Your Plate, in which he explains that “early humans had diets very much like other great apes, which is to say a largely plant-based diet, drawing on foods we can pick with our hands”
“There is no more authoritative source on anthropological issues than paleontologist Dr. Richard Leakey, who explains what anyone who has taken an introductory physiology course might have discerned intuitively–that humans are herbivores. Leakey notes that “[y]ou can’t tear flesh by hand, you can’t tear hide by hand…. We wouldn’t have been able to deal with food source that required those large canines” (although we have teeth that are called “canines,” they bear little resemblance to the canines of carnivores).”
“We don’t have sharp claws to seize and hold down prey. And most of us (hopefully) lack the instinct that would drive us to chase and then kill animals and devour their raw carcasses. Dr. Milton Mills builds on these points and offers dozens more in his essay, “A Comparative Anatomy of Eating.””
If you know anyone with sharp claws, you probably should make up an excuse to get out of the relationship. Read Kathy’s entire blog at the HuffingtonPost.com.
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