Well, I was the one that said about societal issues, I will elaborate...

1) Obesity in this country is a direct atribute to the fact that we are also consume more meat per capita than any other country.

2) Raising cattle is very a very inefficient use of natural resources... the amount of crop pastureland that is needed to feed one cow to maturity could produce 500 times the amount of grain yielded in proportion to beef produced.

3) Since Upton Sinclair wrote "The Jungle", it's been evident that beef production is SHADY!

4) The conditions within slaughter houses are inhumane... documented cases of Purdue's chickens squeezed into pens so closely that their feet grow into the mesh floor below due to their inability to move.

5) My personal attachment to the issue is dealing with the civility of humankind and eating meat... the following quotes should illustrate this point...

When a man has pity on all living creatures then only is he noble.
--Buddha (563? - 483? B.C.)

Not to hurt our humble brethren (the animals) is our first duty to them, but to stop there is not enough. We have a higher mission--to be of service to them whenever they require it... If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men.
--Saint Francis of Assisi (mystic and preacher)

"Until he extends the circle of compassion to all living things, man will not himself find peace."
--Albert Schweitzer

We are the living graves of murdered beasts, slaughtered to satisfy our appetites. How can we hope in this world to attain the peace we say we are so anxious for?
--George Bernard Shaw (Living Graves, published 1951)

Nothing more strongly arouses our disgust than cannibalism, yet we make the same impression on Buddhists and vegetarians, for we feed on babies, though not our own.
--Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)

Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.
--Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

there are plenty more, but I think I made my point.