Random useless anecdote time:

I met a guy once who became vegan in order to lower his cholesterol. (It worked, too: he went from a cholesterol count of 300 to 116, and lost 40 pounds as well). He consumed no animal products whatsoever except for honey, on the grounds that it didn't really hurt the bees, and he was most emphatically not an asshole.

That said, I love me some dead beasties, which I happily consumed yesterday in probably unwise amounts.