I was a little surprised by the response that the first one received and decided to write a second one to clarify and to list sources for everything that was said in the original blog.
First of all, I would like to mention that by no means did I mean to stir the pot or cause any kind of controversy. I have clients who ask me if animal protein is good or bad, and it honestly comes down to how it makes you personally feel. Some people feel sluggish or have problems digesting when they eat it, others feel grounded and strong, and some people feel the need to eat it seasonally. The government, media, etc, tends to tell us what we should or shouldn't be eating. Now we don't even know what to put at the end of our fork! I think its best for the individual to decide what is good for them.
Now, with that being said, if people decide to eat animal protein, it is wise to buy the highest quality possible. Some key words to see on the label are: organic, grass fed, free range, hormone free, and sustainable. If the quality of the animal protein that one consumes is poor, and filled with antibiotics, steroids, etc, then they run the risk of causing damage to their health. Buying cheap meat helps fund factory farms. The more meat people will buy, the more fast food that is consumed, adds to the overcrowding, antibiotic fed, inhumane treatment of animals.
Now, here are the sources from my original blog:
1. Cloning: Source link: (most recent) TAKE ACTION: Citizens for Health Criticizes FDA Decision to Allow Cloned Foods Washington, DC, January 15, 2008-
http://www.citizens.org/action-alerts/take-action-citizens-for-health-criticizes-fda-decision-to-allow-cloned-foods
"Today the Food and Drug Administration announced its determination that milk and meat from cloned animals are safe for sale to the public. In addition, the FDA is requiring no tracking system for clones or labeling of products produced from clones or their offspring." (If you would like to read more, I encourage you to visit the source link listed above.)
www.sustainabletable.org/issues/cloning
www.sustainabletable.org/issues/dairy
More on cloning from Howard Lyman ( all sources can be found at, www.madcowboy.com):
A little on Howard first......
Howard Lyman is a fourth-generation family farmer in Montana, president and founder of Voice for a Viable Future, and the activist that turned Oprah Winfrey against hamburgers. He has become a spokesperson for family farmers. Howard Lyman is co-author of two books, Mad Cowboy: Plain Truth from the Cattle Rancher Who Won't Eat Meat and No More Bull!: The Mad Cowboy Targets America's Worst Enemy: Our Diet
When asked what percentage of commercial meat contains meat from cloned livestock, he reported that as of today, only one thousands of one percent.
2. Rendering: "The City of Los Angeles sends 200 tons of euthanized cats and dogs to West Coast Rendering plant every month. This is just from the city's animal shelters and does not include animals from private veterinarians." -- Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph. D.
more from Howard:
A few questions that were asked, and his reply:
1. you were saying that ground up sick animals were being fed to other animals but was banned by the FDA and USDA. Have they since passed a law against feeding dead animals to cows, pigs, etc, or is this still happening today?
reply: "USDA only banned feeding cows, sheep and goats back to cows, sheep and goats. All other forms of dead animal feeding is legal and continues today."
Question 2: Is it only in the US or all over the world?
Reply: "Worldwide there are some countries that have banned the feeding of animals to animals, the EU for example."
Question 3: I wondered if you had any thoughts on the pet food recalls in the recent past. I am beginning to suspect our pet foods are now being made with GMO's and still being made with perished cats/dogs. Do you have any information on this?
Reply: "I believe most pet food sold today is not fit to be served to our companions. I have information on this issue on my website as well. Reading the ingredients on the label will show how many dead animals are in the product, if you know what the terminology means that they use to disguise the true source such as "bypass protein" which is dead animal remains."
More sources can be found at www.madcowboy.com
3. (cheap ham. contains 1000 different cows, 5 different countries. )
http://www.depauw.edu/news/index.asp?id=13057
http://www.answers.com/topic/hamburger
--A fast food hamburger sold in 1965 and one today might look the same, but 38 years ago the meat from the burger likely came from one cow or steer. In today's burger, you'll find 1,000 or more pieces of a thousand or more cattle from as many as five different countries ground up into one little hamburger patty.---Eric Schlosser
(mad cow disease)
www.madcowboy.com
www.sustainabletable.org/issues/madcowdisease
(amazon rain forest)
http://news.mongabay.com/2005/0827-brazil.html
4. slaughterhouse in chino
http://downercattle.blogspot.com/2008/03/recalled-beef-from-chino-slaughterhouse.html
http://highboldtage.wordpress.com/2008/03/24/recalled-beef-from-chino-slaughterhouse-was-used-in-466-food-products/
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world/2008/02/18/2008-02-18_bad_beef_sparks_alert_in_school_recall.html
5. (food poisening) 76 million am. food pois. 5, 000 die from something they ate.
http://www.depauw.edu/news/index.asp?id=13057
Over the past quarter century, Schlosser says America has seen a "huge" increase in food borne illnesses, and "this is connected to the centralization and industrialization of our food systems that serve the fast food chains." The author and investigative journalist cited government figures that 76 million Americans suffered food poisoning last year; 325,000 were hospitalized because of food poisening; and that 5,000 Americans "were killed by something they ate." This gigantic system has played a leading role in making big outbreaks possible. It used to be that if you got your food from a small butcher shop or processing plant, there was a limit to how big an outbreak could be. But today, when one plant produces 1 million pounds of ground beef and ships it throughout the United States and overseas, the potential for widespread contamination is huge.--
6. livestock.. 125, 000 live in one pen, fed growth hormones, etc
www.sustainabletable.org/issues/animalwelfare
www.sustainabletable.org/issues/antibiotics
www.sustainabletable.org/issues/factoryfarming
www.sustainabletable.org/issues/hormones
www.sustainabletable.org/issues/slaughterhousesandprocessing
www.sustainabletable.org/issues/feed
www.sustainabletable.org/issues/rBGH
7. growth hormones/steroids in the ear
www.madcowboy.com
www.sustainabletable.org/issues (click on above links..)
even my father knows how harmful this can be as it makes any heifer he wants to keep back in the herd sterile!
8. chickens antibiotics /grain
www.sustainabletable.org/issues (click on above links)
www.madcowboy.com
9. fish--deformities
http://www.trout.forprod.vt.edu/fishpubs/lemly1999_04.pdf
http://www.biology-online.org/articles/selenium_insidious_persistent_toxin.html
www.madcowboy.com
10. one major feedlot produces more waste than 5 major cities put together
http://www.webofcreation.org/Earth%20Problems/water.htm
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Health/Cogs_Machine_FFN.html
11. cancer, sterile men, etc.
http://sexualhealth.e-healthsource.com/index.php?p=news1&id=603160
http://marcussharpe.com/diet.shtml
www.sustainabletable.org/issues
www.madcowboy.com
Question given to Howard Lyman:
What are the most common health problems proven to be linked to the chemicals and hormones used in commercial meat?
His reply: "Cancer has been shown to be directly related to the chemicals in meat."
12. chemical farming, mistreatment of animals, how it has changed food.
www.sustainabletable.org/issues (click on any of the links to the left)
Another great website to visit is www.themeatrix.com (cartoon form, describing how factory farms came about)
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