But veganism kills animals too

[IndianVegan]

This was ChatGPT's answer to my question: Does veganism really reduce animal suffering if pesticides and insecticides are used during the production of vegan food?

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Yes. The existence of pesticide use is a genuine ethical challenge for veganism, but it does not negate the fact that a vegan diet generally reduces animal suffering overall.

Here's why:

• Most crops are not eaten directly by humans. A large proportion of the world's soy, maize, wheat, and other crops is fed to livestock. That means raising animals for food requires growing crops first, and those crops also involve pesticides. Eating plants directly usually requires fewer crops than feeding them to animals and then eating the animals.
• Animal agriculture causes additional harms beyond crop production. Farmed animals are bred into existence, confined, transported, and slaughtered. These harms occur in addition to the insects and other wildlife affected by growing their feed.
• Land use is much greater for animal products. Producing meat, dairy, and eggs generally requires more land than producing an equivalent amount of plant food. More land use often means more habitat loss and more encounters with pesticides and other agricultural impacts.

That said, veganism is not a claim that one can live without causing any harm to animals. Rather, it is an attempt to avoid animal exploitation and reduce suffering as far as is practicable and possible. Modern agriculture—whether it produces plants or animal feed—does harm wildlife, and many vegans acknowledge this openly.

So the question is not "Does veganism eliminate animal suffering?" The answer is no.

The more relevant question is "Does veganism, on average, reduce animal suffering compared with a typical diet containing animal products?" Based on the best available evidence about food production, land use, and livestock farming, the answer is yes.