Although Joanne is not able to respond to additional questions at this time, your concerns may have already been addressed in a previous column. Please check the Ask Joanne! Archive, which contains all the Q&As that have appeared here.

I have seen many of the reasons for being a vegetarian. However, I am trying to research both positions, and I cannot find anything that promotes reasons not to be a vegetarian -- such as health, relationships between animals and humans, or any thoughts on why we should eat meat. I cannot decide what to do without seeing the other side of the coin. People who eat meat don't research it. So, if you have any information about arguments against vegetarianism, I would be very grateful.

There are no moral, ethical, philosophical, or biological reasons for humans to eat other animals. Therefore, justifying meat consumption is akin to defending murder. Certainly there are murderers who might try to rationalize their actions, but no explanation could exonerate such unconscionable behavior.

There can be no reasonable argument in favor of eating meat because meat is unnecessary for human survival and causes widespread suffering and needless death (of both animals and humans). Furthermore, there are innumerable health-supporting, cost-efficient, environmentally-sound alternatives readily available.

For most nonvegetarians, the excuse for eating meat is that they like the taste. In the United States, a pervasive cultural assumption is that adults should not sacrifice pleasure or sublimate any desire as long as what they want to do is legal. Yet there are many behaviors that might be enjoyable and are not illegal that most of us do not engage in because they go against our individual moral code. It does not follow that simply because an activity is legal it is right.

People who promote meat consumption have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. They either want to maintain their current dietary habits or they profit from the production and sale of animal flesh. Vegetarians, on the other hand, do not benefit personally or financially by encouraging others to adopt a meat-free lifestyle. They have no self-serving agenda to champion or lucrative product to peddle. When pursuing truth, it is wise to be skeptical of research conducted by or for the very group that stands to gain the most from a particular outcome.

Vegetarians are proponents of life -- not just their own life but the lives of others. From a vegetarian standpoint, there is no logical reasoning that could defend the senseless continuation of unwarranted suffering and death.