The year 2012 has not been a banner one for the meat industry. Extreme drought has doubled the cost of animal feedstuffs. Undercover investigations documented male chicks suffocated in plastic garbage bags or ground to death, their female counterparts crammed for life in tiny wire-mesh cages, pigs clobbered with metal pipes, and assorted farm animals skinned and dismembered at the slaughterhouse while still conscious. A study of more than 120,000 people by the Harvard School of Public Health confirmed once again that meat consumption raises the risk of cancer and cardiovascular diseases. Director General of the World Health Organization Margaret …