I am not scared of all the witches, zombies and assorted goblins wandering about on Halloween. What really scares me is the meat industry.

According to many online sources, that is the industry that:

— Mutilates, cages and butchers billions of cows, pigs and other sentient animals;

— Feeds carcasses of cats and dogs killed in pounds to chickens;

— Exposes undocumented workers to chronic workplace injuries at slave wages;

— Exploits farmers and ranchers by dictating wholesale market prices;

— Punishes documentation of its abuses through unconstitutional “ag-gag” laws;

— Promotes world hunger by feeding nutritious corn and soybeans to animals;

— Generates more greenhouse gases than any other human activity;

— Generates more water pollution than any other human activity;

— Has created a permanent “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico that dwarfs the BP oil spill;

—Creates deadly antibiotic-resistant pathogens by feeding antibiotics to animals;

—Creates epidemics of salmonella, listeria and other infectious diseases;

— And promotes mortality from diabetes, heart failure, stroke, cancer and other diseases.

Now, that is really scary, and that is why I am dropping animal products from my menu.

Louis Corrigan, Lewiston