John Robbins at the Longevity Now Conference 2010
This clip had me in tears...I'm glad I'm a Vegetarian
When I first became a Vegetarian it was mainly just for health reasons...but since then it has become so much more to me, due to everything I have become aware of from all the research I have done.
Factory Farming: A Report Card
We have a huge health and environmental scandal in our modern industrial system of meat and poultry production. The damage documented in today's factory farms far exceeds the damage that was depicted in Upton Sinclair's novel, The Jungle, a book written over 100 years ago. Some scientists have gone so far as to call the condemned current factory farm practices as "mini Chernobyls."
The European Union stands virtually alone in establishing strong health and environmental standards for the industry. In the U.S and elsewhere, the meat and poultry industry is dominated by dangerous uses of arsenic, antibiotics, growth hormones and by the dumping of massive amounts of sewage in fragile waterways and environments. This video documents the vast catastrophic impact on the environment and public health.
As one observer noted, if terrorists did this, we would be up in arms, but when it is a fortune 500 company, it is just "business as usual."
In 1906, public outrage at the scandal exposed by Sinclair led to major reforms that cleaned up a corrupt and dangerous system.
CAFO / Confined Animal Feed Operations
Drug-resistant infections lurk in meat we eat
Animals routinely fed antibiotics harbour virulent germs that jump to people
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34614380/ns/health-infectious_diseases/
Recent news...8/4/2011
USDA suspected maker of tainted turkey two weeks ago
Cargill recalled 36 millionpounds of ground turkey tied to deadly salmonella outbreak
Factory Farming: A Report Card
We have a huge health and environmental scandal in our modern industrial system of meat and poultry production. The damage documented in today's factory farms far exceeds the damage that was depicted in Upton Sinclair's novel, The Jungle, a book written over 100 years ago. Some scientists have gone so far as to call the condemned current factory farm practices as "mini Chernobyls."
The European Union stands virtually alone in establishing strong health and environmental standards for the industry. In the U.S and elsewhere, the meat and poultry industry is dominated by dangerous uses of arsenic, antibiotics, growth hormones and by the dumping of massive amounts of sewage in fragile waterways and environments. This video documents the vast catastrophic impact on the environment and public health.
As one observer noted, if terrorists did this, we would be up in arms, but when it is a fortune 500 company, it is just "business as usual."
In 1906, public outrage at the scandal exposed by Sinclair led to major reforms that cleaned up a corrupt and dangerous system.
CAFO / Confined Animal Feed Operations
Drug-resistant infections lurk in meat we eat
Animals routinely fed antibiotics harbour virulent germs that jump to people
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34614380/ns/health-infectious_diseases/
Recent news...8/4/2011
USDA suspected maker of tainted turkey two weeks ago
Cargill recalled 36 millionpounds of ground turkey tied to deadly salmonella outbreak
U.S. Department of Agriculture officials suspected as early as July 18 that samples of ground turkey tied to nationwide salmonella infections came from meat giant Cargill Inc., but it took two weeks to gather enough information to urge a recall, an expert said Thursday.
"We need to be sure everything has lined up in a way that we're convinced," said Dr. David Goldman, assistant administrator for the Office of Public Health Science for the Agriculture Department's Food Safety and Inspection Service.
Cargill issued a voluntary recall of 36 million pounds of fresh and frozen ground turkey on Wednesday after evidence showed the company's Springdale, Ark., plant products were tied to a death and 77 other salmonella infections nationwide.
Cargill officials said the firm was suspending production of ground turkey at the Sprindale plant until it could identify the source of contamination and fix it.
The outbreak bacteria, salmonella Heidelberg, are resistant to three common drugs, ampicillin, tetracycline and streptomycin. But they do respond to some other antibiotics, including Bactrim, health officials said.
The outbreak began in March, with sporadic cases of salmonella Heidelberg detected by the nation's foodborne illness monitoring system, said Dr. Chris Braden, director of foodborne, waterborne and environmental diseases for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But an investigation didn't begin in earnest until May 23, when it became apparent that there was an increase in that particular strain of the bacteria.
"There was an aggressive and thorough investigation," Braden said.
However, the investigation was complicated because some people became ill from ground turkey that didn't come from Cargill, or they didn't eat ground turkey at all, he added.
Information from consumers' shopper cards was key to tying ground turkey from meat giant Cargill to an outbreak of salmonella linked to one death and dozens of illnesses nationwide, said officials. The card data helped trace back three retail purchases to the Cargill facility, said Braden.
Four ground turkey samples from retail stores tested positive for salmonella Heidelberg, including three from a single manufacturing plant, CDC officials found. Two of those three were confirmed to come from Cargill on July 18, Goldman said. The third was confirmed on July 26.
USDA first met with Cargill legal representatives last Friday to discuss the issue. They met Wednesday with corporate officials, who agreed to announce the massive recall.
Agency officials refuted suggestions that USDA dragged its feet in urging Cargill to issue a recall.
"There was no waiting," said an agency spokesman who asked not to be named. He added that USDA must make sure allegations of contamination are "iron-clad" before approaching a large producer such as Cargill.
Braden warned consumers that ground turkey has a long shelf life and that contaminated product may remain in home refrigerators and freezers. He urged consumers to check the products against the recall list on Cargill's site and to return or discard any affected product.
Products include "chubs" of fresh and frozen ground turkey meat, retail trays of ground turkey and ground turkey patties sold at grocery stores including Kroger, Safeway and Giant Eagle, according to company's recall list.
The recall, believed to be the third largest of its kind on record, was announced by Cargill Value Added Meats Retail, a subsidiary of the Wichita-based Cargill Meat Solutions Corporation. The company said it was recalling ground turkey produced at the Arkansas plant from Feb. 20 through Aug. 2.
All of the packages recalled include the code "Est. P-963" on the label, the USDA said. The packages were labeled with many different brands, including Cargill's Honeysuckle White and Kroger.
Cargill is contacting its customers to make sure they know which ground turkey products are affected by the recall. Consumers are urged to return any opened or unopened packages of ground turkey items listed on the company's recall site: www.cargill.com/turkey-recall.
Health officials said even contaminated turkey meat is safe to eat if it is properly cooked, to 165 degrees Fahrenheit, with temperature confirmed by a meat thermometer. But they also urged consumers to follow good food safety practices when using ground turkey, including washing hands with warm, soapy water for at least 20 seconds before and after handling raw meat and cleaning all cutting boards and other surfaces well.
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