Is being vegan the most humane way to live? "Bones" actress Emily Deschanel thinks so, as the star recently dished to Yahoo! News on her crime-solving mystery show and strict, no-meat, no-animal product diet.
Deschanel became a vegan in high school after reading the bestselling book "Diet for a New America."
"It started a whole debate about whether it was ethical to eat meat or not. Which engaged me, and I felt the arguments for not eating meat were much stronger than the arguments for eating meat, when I saw the reality of how our food gets to our plates," the star told Yahoo! News.
"Not only the cruelty to the animals but also the detriment to the environment and also our health. It was kind of a win-win-win situation when I decided to become vegetarian after that. I wanted to become vegan, but I did that slowly. I became vegetarian for two years, then became vegan. I do think it's the most humane and environmentally sound way to live, as long as you are good about your nutrition, because like any diet you have to be careful."
As for whether or not seeing people around her eat meat, Deschanel tries to be understanding, though it does have an effect on her. "Yeah, it grosses me out on a certain level, but I have become used to that, I guess you could say," she said.
When it comes to equating animal suffering with the suffering of humans, the 36-year old actress admitted she wasn't sure, but maintained her belief that animals are "not ours to use or to harm," as like humans, they feel pain.
"There are people who might not be as intelligent, but they feel pain. And I don't think we should feel OK or ethically sound hurting them, just as I don't think it's ethically sound to hurt an animal, when it's perfectly healthy and doable to survive on non-animal sources of food," said Deschanel. "If there's a hierarchy, humans I might value more than animals on some level, but to me, that doesn't give me a right to hurt an animal. There's a real gray area. If you say you need to kill these 10 rats to cure cancer and save all these people, that's wonderful. But that said, a lot of times it's not about saving people's lives or curing cancer. There's lots of people experimenting on animals for cosmetics that I don't think any of us would agree are ethically sound or justified."
Deschanel's love of animals extends to her dream location as well, as the actress admitted that having grown up in L.A., she could use a change of scenery.
"There's lots I love about Los Angeles," she admitted. "But I fantasize about getting away somewhere, to a country farm where lots of animals are free to roam. That would be wonderful. But I don't know if that will ever be a reality for me."
You can catch the ninth season of "Bones" on Mondays at 8 p.m. on FOX.
