Shocking news for meat-eaters

"...So the end result is, when you are eating beef that is filled with steroids, antibiotics, and that are fed on genetically engineered corn, how can we be surprised at this obesity level, and heart failure in our meat eaters?  So with every juicy bite of a typical hamburger or steak, you are eating artificial concoction of vaccines, steroids, pesticides, herbicides, and GMO grains (genetically modified). Long-term, high-dose antibiotics use in cattle (and in people who eat the antibiotic-laden meat) contributes to the formation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, commonly known as “super bugs...”

"...The bottom-line conclusion of the latest research conference sponsored by the American Institute for Cancer Research does not bode well for meat-eaters. This year's conference focused on phytochemicals, a wide variety of substances that occur naturally in plant foods: fruits, vegetables, legumes (dried beans) and grains..."

[It's a long essay, but has some great background info on food-borne diseases, our gov't's response to food emergencies, global issues, and more.  Well worth the read, and useful for the vegan or vegetarian who gets into a debate about diet.  Full article here and below.]

FROM:
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=8697

"SHOCKING NEWS FOR MEAT EATERS
Peter Knopfler

(Peter Knopfler. Born Vienna, Austria 1949. Immigrated and educated in Canada from 1956 to 1971. Moved to Honolulu. In 1984 visited Mexico and in 1986, moved to Puerto Vallarta. From 1991 to presently in Cancun, Mexico. Peter and his wife Lucia own the Cancun Wellness center and Kabbalah Gym.)

April 26, 2006

PUTTING THE HEAT ON MEAT

Meat is still a prime source of protein, and of course with 6 million folks on Dr. Atkins diet, meat consumption has gone up quite significantly in the past 12 years. Most people shopping in America, and large food vendors abroad, like SAM’s club or COSTCO. In Mexico these large distributors all rely on the USDA stamp or seal of inspected approval. As a kid, we all trusted blindly the government inspection process and never gave it much thought. This news was brought to my attention, and it just rendered me speechless, and that’s not easy to do.

Remember the 1993 out break of E. coli 0157:H7 at Jack in a Box restaurants in the Pacific Northwest sickened 700 people? The Clinton Administration told the USDA to start testing the public meat for the E. coli. The American Meat Institute and six other meat packers sued the USDA in Federal court. The Federal Court wisely upheld the ruling, but the meatpackers never backed away from the central argument.

Since 2000, America’s agribusiness firms have donated over 140 million dollars to candidates running for Congress and the Presidency. In 2004 alone, the McDonald’s Corporation gave 77% of its political donations to Republicans; the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, 81%; National Restaurant Association, 90%. In return the Bush administration and the Republican majority in Congress have worked hard to serve these private interests at the expense of public health.

At the time the when the newly emerged pathogens such as E. coli and mad-cow disease threatened the nation’s food supply, the USDA failed to adopt effective measures to test for contaminated meat, trace it, and recall it, even after the last Canadian mad-cow scare.

Even as far back as the Regan administration, they introduced the “Streamlined Inspection System,” where meatpackers slowly lobbied to inspect themselves with little to no Government involvement. The meatpacking industry opposed any government testing. “If you don’t know about a problem, then you don’t have to deal with it,” so said the fast food industry. G.W. Bush received $600,000 to start off his campaign, with more to come along the way.

In December 2001, the meatpacking industry won an important victory when a federal appeals court upheld an earlier ruling that the USDA could no longer shut down a ground-beef plant because of Salmonella contamination. The Federal court decided that Salmonella is not an adulterant because cooking destroys the Salmonella.

ConAgra’s slaughter houses, one of the largest meatpackers tested for E. coli in June 17 2002, puts out 354,000 pounds of meat daily, possibly contaminated. According to media reports, ConAgra -- because of a few deaths and more sick -- was pressured to recall 19 million pounds of beef; however, only 3 million pounds were returned. Further investigation found that The Greeley slaughter house of ConAgra had produced meat tainted with E.coli for nearly two years. ConAgra conducted their own testing but was never required to disclose the results. Even though the USDA inspectors repeatedly cited the plant for visible fecal contamination of the meat, they imposed no punishments and demanded no corrections. ConAgra, now owned by Swift & Co, everyday turns roughly 5,000 heads of cattle into about 2 million pounds of boxed beef and 800,000 pounds of trim, which is used for making ground beef. Nearby feedlots hold about 200,000 cows.

Another example, Supreme Beef Processors, had tested positive three times for Salmonella while selling tons of meat to the National School Lunch Program. Thanks to the previous Federal ruling, tons of contaminated meat were legally sold with the USDA seal of approval. So let’s infect the kids; yes build up their immunity. What a crock! Selling garbage meat to the kids. As a result, questionable meat was routinely sold to the general public.

We really don’t learn from other people’s mistakes.

Xmas 2003, Yakima, Washington: Infected mad-cow disease (bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or B.S.E.) is one more pathogen whose recent emergence has been possible by a centralized and industrialized system for producing meat. The infective agent that causes B.S.E. isn’t a virus or a bacterium but a malformed protein know as prion, that accumulates in the brain, riddling it with small holes.

Mad-cow disease first appeared in Great Britain during the 1980’s and its spread was soon linked to a wide-spread common practice of using cattle brains and spinal material, and other potentially infectious body parts, in cattle feed. The British government suspected that the B.S.E. could jump the species barrier and infect people, causing an incurable new ailment, variant Crreutzfeldt-Jakob disease. It strikes mainly young people, inflicts horrible suffering, and kills all those infected by destroying their brains. Six years went by until something was done, but in the mean time delicious beef was sold all over Britain and abroad. A mass slaughter of British cattle had to be done; roughly 4 million with B.S.E. had already been eaten by the public. Almost the entire British population born before 1996 was exposed to mad-cow disease, primarily through the consumption of ground beef and cheap processed meats. What about all those tourists who ate the London broil? Or the cruise ships out of Britain!

This is not the worst of it. Very little is known about Prion diseases, but what is known is that they can have incubation periods of as long as forty years. So twenty years later this disease could surface in many people making the sickness a time bomb. The Bush Administration’s response to the discovery of mad-cow disease in the United States has been a familiar and predictable much like the British; it immediately downplayed the threat to human health.

September 2003: the USDA failed to disclose the true size of the B.S.E. recall and refused to tell the public-health officials in Oregon and Washington where the contaminated recalled beef was shipped. Also, cattle blood may contain infective prions, and poultry is being fed with so much waste from the beef slaughterhouses that the poultry may also be infected. The National Cattlemen’s association strongly opposed any widespread testing for B.S.E., arguing it’s just not necessary. The USDA’s testing program is voluntary, which raises serious questions about its findings.

Dr. Stanley Prusiner has urgently warned public health officials. Prusiner is a neurologist who’s been studying prion diseases for more than 30 years. He coined the the term prion and won a Nobel Prize in 1997 for his pioneering work. He says, “The bottom line is, if we don’t tightly control these prion diseases, we’re going to regret it big time.” Professor Giuseppe Legname, at San Francisco’s Institute of Neuro-degenerative diseases shares the same concern.

The National Cattleman’s Beef Association, the National Restaurant Association, the Grocery manufacturers of America, the MacDonald’s Corporation, and other pillars of the food industry have gone out of their way lately to promote the idea that “there are no good or bad foods.” And if you don’t agree with that idea, there are powerful legal tools at their disposal to persuade you. Opra Winfrey was sued under such a law in Texas after suggesting that mad-cow might pose a threat in the USA, and though she won her case the law still remains on the books. The food industry likes to keep you in fear of lawsuits. Over the years MacDonald’s has threatened legal action against vegetarian groups, The Sunday Times of London, and many student publications, anyone who has negative opinions about Big Mac’s.

Personal Comments:

Let’s see now, where to begin? The vast majority of USDA beef is primarily fed on corn. The corn is genetically engineered to withstand weather and bugs and to yield more per acre. Genetically engineered food crops have been around for years; corn and soybean are the main cattle and poultry feed. The beef, like chickens, are individually penned or kept in very crowded facilities. This keeps the animals from moving and exercising, therefore fattening the up faster so they get to market sooner. Then the beef is injected with steroids to make them larger for the same reasons. Steroids in the beef have a side effect of compromising the animal’s immune system and making them more vulnerable to sickness. So this is remedied by giving the beef large doses of antibiotics. So the end result is, when you are eating beef that is filled with steroids, antibiotics, and that are fed on genetically engineered corn, how can we be surprised at this obesity level, and heart failure in our meat eaters?. So with every juicy bite of a typical hamburger or steak, you are eating artificial concoction of vaccines, steroids, pesticides, herbicides, and GMO grains (genetically modified). Long-term, high-dose antibiotics use in cattle (and in people who eat the antibiotic-laden meat) contributes to the formation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, commonly known as “super bugs.”

It’s hard to trust anyone; blind faith just doesn’t make it. Self-responsibility continues to be the path of health. In answer to all the meat eater’s questions I added the solution to the problem of a carnivorous diet.

GLOBAL RESEARCH SUPPORTS PLANT BASED DIET

Research continues to support the importance of a balanced, plant-based diet, even though science is not yet able to identify with certainty how each specific component of such a diet works.

The bottom-line conclusion of the latest research conference sponsored by the American Institute for Cancer Research does not bode well for meat-eaters. This year's conference focused on phytochemicals, a wide variety of substances that occur naturally in plant foods: fruits, vegetables, legumes (dried beans) and grains. Several presentations focused on phytochemicals in onions and garlic. In test tube studies, some of the compounds were able to block the formation of a major cancer-causing substance, and helped maintain normal cell growth and structure that are important to prevent the cells from developing into cancer.

But many conference speakers expressed concern that selectively boosting intake of individual phytochemicals based on laboratory research like this is inappropriate until we know how they work in people.

Research presented at the conference also suggests that onion and garlic may help people lower their risk of cancer if consumed daily or perhaps weekly. But other findings presented on phytochemicals in these and other vegetables and fruits demonstrated that the effect of these substances cannot be simply related to the amount consumed. Rather, it is influenced by how they are processed and by interactions with the rest of what we eat.

For example, several researchers reported on lycopene, found in dark red fruits and vegetables, such as tomatoes, red grapefruit and watermelon. Lycopene may help in prevention of prostate cancer and other cancers.

Contrary to some popular assertions that vegetables are always most valuable when eaten raw, lycopene from tomatoes is most usable by the body when it comes in processed products like tomato juice, soup and sauce. Other reports at the conference related to antioxidants, compounds that prevent or repair damage to cells caused by highly reactive substances produced in our bodies by pollution, sunlight, and normal body processes. While some consumers are familiar with the antioxidant capabilities of nutrients such as vitamins C and E, research has identified many phytochemicals that are potent antioxidants, including those found in large amounts in raisins, plums, most berries and whole grains

Throughout the two-day conference, scientists repeatedly emphasized the need for additional research to accurately identify which phytochemicals (and in which forms) can actually help prevent cancer or slow its growth. In the meantime, researchers underscored the distinction between the need for further study before isolated phytochemical supplements are used and the strong support that already exists for the cancer preventive potential of a predominantly plant-based diet. Researchers continued to support the conclusions of the American Institute for Cancer Research's report on diet and cancer prevention - that a balanced, plant-based diet could bring about a major drop in cancer rates. The key, they say, is to make a wide variety of vegetables, fruits and whole grains the major part of what we eat each day.

Personal Comments:

Hippocrates said “let your medicine be your food and your food be your medicine.” Hippocrates came from the island of Cos in the Greek Isles where a community of fruitarians have been known to live over a hundred years. Chinese physicians for 4000 years have been using herbs, plants and spices for healing and cleansing. A plant based diet has been correct for thousands of years and only now science confirms what we already know. The problem as I see it is marketing with the greed for money. The Buddha said “In the search of wealth we destroy our health” 600 BC.

Instead of trying to emulate western bad habits, looking into one’s own cultural past could lead to a more harmonious lifestyle. Here is an example.

CHINESE STUDY LINKS WESTERN DIET AND HEART DISEASE

Chinese researchers have presented more evidence that the standard Western diet can cause heart disease.

They said people who ate a traditional Chinese diet, based on rice, vegetables and green tea, were much less likely to suffer the physical symptoms of heart disease -- even though they have high rates of smoking.

But when Chinese people moved to Western cities such as San Francisco or Sydney, their arteries started to make the changes that herald heart disease, Dr. Kam Woo of the University of Hong Kong told a meeting of the American Heart Association.

"Both Chinese and non-Chinese should recognize the potential effects of the traditional Chinese diet," Woo told a news conference.

More green tea

"They should think about drinking more green tea, eating more vegetables and eating less meat and dairy products."

Woo started with villagers in Pan Yu, a town in Guangdong province about 100 miles from Hong Kong in southern China, who have one of the lowest rates of heart disease in the world.

He used ultrasound, which uses sound waves, to measure the thickness of the inner walls of the carotid arteries that feed blood to the brains of some of the villagers, and asked them about their dietary habits.

Woo then compared these measurements to westernized Chinese living in Hong Kong, Sydney, and San Francisco. In all, he studied 116 people aged 20 to 60.

The combined thickness of the lining and middle muscle layers of the carotid artery are considered a good indicator of heart disease.

The average carotid inner wall thickness was about one-fifth thinner among the Pan Yu villagers than in the Westernized Chinese, Woo reported.

Half the meat

The Pan Yu villagers ate just under half as much meat and just a tiny fraction of the amount of dairy food as the Western-living Chinese. They ate more vegetables, tofu and drank much more green tea.

For breakfast the villagers would eat congee, or rice porridge, steamed buns containing a small amount of meat and plenty of tea.

"Hardly any ham, bacon, sausage or scrambled egg is eaten in the typical Pan Yu breakfast meal," Woo said.

Other meals included stir-fried or steamed vegetables, a little meat and fish or tofu.

"That is in contrast to fried chicken or fish fillet" in the West, he said.

He said Westerners should not only eat more vegetables and less fatty meat, but should cook Chinese-style more often, steaming or stir-frying foods.

A healthy lifestyle -- including a low-fat, high-fiber diet, exercise, and moderate alcohol intake -- can dramatically reduce the risk of heart disease, report Massachusetts researchers. A large study conducted in nurses suggests that a healthy lifestyle can cut heart risk by as much as 80%.

Dr. Frank B. Hu of Harvard University in Boston presented the latest findings from the Nurses' Health Study Monday at the 72nd Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association. The ongoing study involves more than 84,000 women. Hu and colleagues surveyed the study participants about eating habits and lifestyle during a 14-year period. The investigators then categorized the women, aged 34 to 59 and free of heart disease at the beginning of the study, according to their risk of heart disease.

Hu reported that 1,129 cases of heart disease occurred in this group of women during the 14-year study period. There were 296 fatal and 833 nonfatal heart attacks. About half of these occurred in current smokers.

Women with the healthiest lifestyles and who had the lowest risk of heart disease were those who did not smoke, were not overweight, had about one drink of alcohol a day, exercised vigorously for 30 minutes or more a day, and had a relatively high intake of cereal fiber and omega 3 fatty acids, found in fish and flaxseed. In addition, healthy diets featured low levels of saturated fat and limited amounts of sugar.

After the researchers adjusted for other heart risks, including age, family history, high blood pressure and menopausal status, a healthy lifestyle reduced risk of heart disease by 82% -- approaching half the risk of women with poorer eating and exercise habits. Hu described the impact of the lifestyle on heart disease as “profound”, and he speculated that the effects of diet and exercise on heart disease could be even greater. He pointed out that the nurses in the lowest risk category followed guidelines for moderate risk reduction. With stricter guidelines, including an even lower fat intake and eating more fruits and vegetables, risk could drop even lower, the researcher predicted.

Personal Comments:

This reminds me of Dr. Spock.

Dr. Spock studied a lifetime: 50 years researching babies. It’s a well known fact among the medical field that the last words he spoke at his deathbed were “Don’t feed the children meat and dairy products.” Now I did not believe everything Dr. Spock wrote or said however he believed in his own research, to his last breath. To start children on a plant based diet as early as possible will give the children a foundation that will carry them the rest of their lives.

I am not a 100% vegetarian because I eat chicken, fish and eggs; however, my last steak, my last prime rib and London broil was in 1979, and I know the difference.

Peter Knopfle"