It doesn't matter who they think you are. It matters who you think you are.

Thursday, September 06, 2007

"Eating Ourselves To Death"

Industrial Meat Production Threatens Human and Environmental Health

Well, Will and I won't be eating anymore meat from Industrial Production. And the bad part was that I didn't really realize that we were...

And with the completely un-necessary, monstrous amounts of corn syrup in EVERYTHING and then feeding so much FUCKING CORN to our livestock as well??? Is it any wonder why Americans keep getting fatter? Even our meat supply is fed filler.

They refer to them as: "Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs)"

Confined Animal Feeding Operations? CONFINED ANIMAL FEEDING OPERATIONS??? I think I'm going to be sick.

"Factory farming consumes resources at an alarming rate. One calorie of beef expends 33 percent more fossil fuels than one calorie of potatoes. And in the U.S., 70 percent of corn is fed to livestock, while worldwide, 80 percent of soybeans are used for animal feed. Livestock are meant to eat grass. But in the industrial system, their feed is not meant to nourish, but to cause animals to gain weight. As fisheries plummet and millions of people suffer from malnourishment, roughly one-third of the global fish harvest is fed to livestock,"

"The U.S. General Accounting Office states: “Antibiotic-resistant bacteria have been transferred from animals to humans, and many studies we reviewed found this transference poses significant risks for human health.” One of numerous examples of resistant bacteria linked to factory farming is the 1998 strain of salmonella that infected a Nebraska boy and was resistant to 13 antibiotics. The European Union has banned all growth-promoting uses of antibiotics in animals; the U.S. has not."

I saw a bumper sticker yesterday that said; "If you think that education is expensive, you should try ignorance."

Well, Mr. Bumpersticker, it seems as though we are trying it...and you're right...it's quite costly.

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16 Comments:

Blogger Michael said...

Ok, where do I get a banner size version of that bumper sticker so I can hang it in my office? Or better yet, forehead sized stickers that I can just slap on every ignorant person that comes across my desk. Hmmm...I'm lovin' that idea.

4:59 PM  
Blogger Open Grove Claudia said...

Here's the kicker - ever wonder where America's oil consumption happens? Feed lots are oil holes. All of the corn is created with petrochemical fertilizer. It takes something like 300 gallons of oil per cow.

Nice to know what our boys and girls are fighting for, eh?

The best article I have ever seen on this topic is at: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C06E5DB153BF932A05750C0A9649C8B63&sec=health&spon=&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

5:01 PM  
Blogger Open Grove Claudia said...

Sorry the link was cut off by blogger. Search Power Steer at NYTimes.com The article was published in April 2002

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?
res=9C06E5DB153BF932A05750C0A9649C8B63&sec=
health&spon=&partner=permalink&exprod=
permalink

5:03 PM  
Blogger kat said...

yet anothr reason to move to europe.

5:26 PM  
Blogger flutter said...

It's not just here. And it is horrendous that we all put up with it

5:40 PM  
Blogger nell said...

We have similar themes today...

It's really scary how much crap is out there when you stop to think about it, and then when you realize how infrequently you stop to think about it - yikes!

7:44 PM  
Blogger carrie said...

I'm sure you've read Fast Food Nation - it's so disgusting to know what happens behind the scenes where our food comes from.

We really try to be conscious about what we're eating, we buy a 1/4 of a cow from a farm instead of the grocery store for our beef, get eggs from our cousin's farm and have an actual milkman who delivers local, hormone-free and all that crap milk -- but it's not enough. Sadly.

Make me want to go all macro-biotic and grow all my own veggies . . .

7:58 PM  
Blogger SUEB0B said...

John Robbins has written extensively on this as well.

Which is why my protein sources are...oh, I'll never tell.

8:34 PM  
Blogger Oh, The Joys said...

Have you ever read, "Diet for New America" - it will make you a vegetarian for eight years... until your neighbor wins four free racks of ribs and invites you over. You don't know what happened to you, but you fell off the wagon for pork.

5:05 AM  
Blogger Kristin said...

No wonder we're all fat and sick...

9:50 AM  
Blogger Steve said...

well apparently I am not on the ball today. You and Nell beat me to it but I didn't notice until I was halfway through my own post. Great minds and all that I suppose. Excellent post.

4:04 PM  
Blogger Woman with kids said...

There's a fabulous book called My Year of Meats by Ruth L. Ozeki; I highly recommed it. Unless you want to eat meat or poultry again. It makes you think twice before you order that steak.

Of course, I still order it, but at least I thought about it...

9:06 AM  
Blogger Samantha said...

Vegetarianism is awesome. It annoys so many people on so many levels :D

2:50 PM  
Blogger Kelly said...

I love what Samantha said. Cracked me up.

I've been a veggie before, but when I got knocked up, I fell head over heels off the wagon, and landed in a big clearing full of delicious cheeseburgers.

Seriously though, I've been getting ground beef at our local farmer's market, organic, grass-fed, and all that jazz. Amazing how much better it tastes AND looks.

But, on so many levels, going veggie is really a good thing. For our health, for the environment, for the animals...

6:27 PM  
Blogger Holy Shit We are Getting Hitched said...

I also have to add that corn bio-diesel is crap as well and folks think it's good cause it's bio-diesel... anything with bio in front of it, right? but no. It's the damn corn lobby. Incredibly strong and crappy. Not only have they gotten us into feeding animals whose tummies are meant for grass but they are trying a sell on environmentalists. Corn bio-diesel produces more CO2 emissions than gas. And yet that's where this freaking crappy administration is hanging their hats and pretending to care about the environment.

4:26 PM  
Blogger Sayre said...

My father read "The Ominvore's Dilemma", which prompted him to buy 12 chickens, build an eggmobile, and he's going to buy cattle as soon as he gets the pasture fenced. I'm going to have to read this book to see what got him all fired up...

6:11 PM  

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