March 2007
March 20 is the 23rd annual Great 'American' Meatout

In this edition...

Health
  Health Canada advises moms, kids to limit tuna
  Report blames factory farms for bird flu
  Low fat intake reduces risk of breast cancer recurrence
  Dr. Ornish: A new comparison of four diets is misleading and dangerous

Environment
  Humans' beef with livestock: a warmer planet
  Milk thirst threatens rare desert oasis in Mexico
  Australian government foes attack anti-dairy activist
  Overfishing imperils fish in deep waters

Lifestyles and Trends
  One bite at a time: A beginner's guide to conscious eating
  One possible future: A roadmap to animal liberation
  Veggie experiences: Ex-cattle farmer says no to meat
  Now this is reality TV: Schoolkids weep as pig is butchered, skinned & eaten
  Stricken whaler foils Japanese propaganda plans

Animal Issues and Advocacy
  Exposing the beast: factory farming must be called to task
  Cruelty at monastery's egg farm revealed
  Animal lovers rescue 400 Chinese cats destined for dinnerplates
  Victory for veal calves
  Meatpacking injuries spawn union drive

Are They Serious? Unfortunately Yes
  China: Factory farmed tigers being turned into wine

Books and Perspectives
  Dr. Neal Barnard on reversing diabetes
 
  Health    

Health Canada advises moms, kids to limit tuna
Full story: National Post, Canada

Health Canada has for the first time recommended that pregnant or breastfeeding women and children up to age 11 restrict how much canned Albacore tuna they eat to limit their intake of mercury. But as it released the new guidelines, the department took pains to stress that no one else need restrict how much Albacore they consume and that other types of canned tuna are no worry at all. The dual message reflects the balancing act faced by health regulators who must pay heed to the dangers of mercury while also encouraging consumption of fish generally, as more and more research underlines seafood's rich health benefits. [Not so fast - see related article.]

The new recommendations reflect findings of a government review on tuna and mercury that began in 2004, said Dr. Samuel Godefroy, director of chemical safety at Health Canada. Mercury in large enough quantities can attack the central nervous system, causing mental retardation and other neurological problems in fetuses and in babies who ingest it through breast milk. Health Canada has recommended since 2002 that pregnant women limit their consumption of fresh tuna, swordfish and shark to once a month. All Canadians should restrict themselves to one serving a week of such fresh fish, according to the earlier guidelines.

National Post, Canada - February 20, 2007
Related:
Alternative to a rock and a hard place
McDougall Newsletter (October, 2006)
Quote: The well-informed consumers will put the “good fat-bad mercury controversy” behind them and conclude fish-eating has an overall negative impact on human health when it replaces low-contamination, low-fat, no-cholesterol, starches, vegetables and fruits.


Report blames factory farms for bird flu
Full story: IPS, Italy

Factory farms are responsible for both the bird flu and emissions of greenhouse gases that now top those of cars and sport utility vehicles, according to a report released [February 19]. Sixty percent of global livestock production, including chicken and pig "confined animal feedlot operations" (CAFOs), now occur in the developing world. Unregulated zoning and subsidies that encourage these CAFOs or factory farms are moving closer to major urban areas in China, Bangladesh, India, and many countries in Africa, said the report, "Vital Signs 2007-2008" by the Worldwatch Institute. Those farms are very likely where avian or bird flu started and will continue to be responsible for new outbreaks, said the author of the report, Danielle Nierenberg.

Rising incomes, populations and demand for meat has resulted in the global poultry population quadrupling since the 1960s to about 18 billion birds today. Once mostly raised under free-range conditions or in backyards by very small producers, most poultry are now kept in large flocks numbering several hundred thousand. Cramming 100,000 chickens into a single facility to produce low-cost meat also creates the perfect atmosphere for the spread of disease. For that very reason intensive livestock production systems in Europe and North America feed large volumes of antibiotics to chickens, pigs and cows to control diseases. This widespread use of antibiotics has created bacteria that are now resistant to antibiotics and pose yet another human health threat.

IPS, Italy - February 20, 2007


Low fat intake reduces risk of breast cancer recurrence
Full story: foodconsumer

Reducing fat intake means reducing risk of breast cancer recurrence, according to a large clinical study published in the December 20 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. [The study was a] randomized trial of 2,400 postmenopausal women who had received standard conventional therapies for their breast cancer such as surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, hormone therapy or some combination of these treatments. In the study, one group of women were asked to use less than 20 percent of total calories (33 grams of total fat) per day while the other was allowed to continue using their standard diet comprised of 51 grams of fat.

Five years later, those who were asked to use the low fat diet experienced a significantly lower rate of breast cancer recurrence than the control group, 9.8 percent versus 12.4 percent. The benefit of low fat diet was even greater in those whose breast cancer was not sensitive to hormone estrogen; the risk of breast cancer recurrence was reduced by 41 percent among this particular group compared to the control. Preliminary results from the study observed for longer than five years indicated that the reduction of risk of breast cancer recurrence was much better than that observed during the five-year period of study in women with the estrogen-receptor-negative breast cancer.

foodconsumer - February 4, 2007
Related:
Eating red meat may increase risk of hormone-positive breast cancer in premenopausal women
Cancer Consultants (March 7, 2007)
Low-fat diets may help some dodge cancer
Phillyburbs.com/AP (February 19, 2007)
Quote: "That's as great or better than any treatment intervention that we've given for this type of cancer, which is notoriously hard to treat."

 

Dr. Ornish: A new comparison of four diets is misleading and dangerous
Full story: MSNBC

A study came out [March 6] in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) claiming that you can lose more weight on an Atkins diet than an Ornish, Zone, or LEARN (Lifestyle, Exercise, Attitudes, Relationships and Nutrition) diet and - ta dah! - it's even better for your heart! The authors concluded, "Women assigned to follow the Atkins diet, which had the lowest carbohydrate intake, lost more weight and experienced more favorable overall metabolic effects at 12 months than those assigned to follow the Zone, Ornish, or LEARN diets." This is simply not true. If you read the study carefully, you will find that the authors found that there was no significant difference in weight loss between the Atkins and Ornish or LEARN diets after one year!

This new JAMA study is seriously flawed and its conclusions misleading for other reasons. Most study participants weren't following an Ornish diet, which is 10 percent fat. When people adhere to an Ornish diet, they have striking improvements. Studies show that heart disease worsens on the Atkins diet. It's important to lose weight in a way that enhances health rather than ones that may harm it. Having spent the past 30 years of my life conducting research showing what a powerful difference changes in diet and lifestyle can make, I'm concerned that this study may cause some people to forego eating a healthy diet in favor of one that may be harmful to them. I'm tired of these diet wars. It's not low fat vs. low carb. It's both. An optimal diet is low in total fat and low in refined carbohydrates, emphasizing whole foods such as fruits, vegetables and whole grains.

MSNBC - March 6, 2007
Related:
Dr. Ornish's Program for Reversing Heart Disease
From Amazon Books
Deadly Dietary Myths: Premature death is too high a price to pay for bad advice!
Warning about the Weston Price Foundation dietary recommendations - Vegsource

 
  Environment    

Humans' beef with livestock: a warmer planet
Full story: Christian Science Monitor

American meat eaters are responsible for 1.5 more tons of carbon dioxide per person than vegetarians every year. As Congress begins to tackle the causes and cures of global warming, the action focuses on gas-guzzling vehicles and coal-fired power plants, not on lowly bovines. Yet livestock are a major emitter of greenhouse gases that cause climate change. And as meat becomes a growing mainstay of human diet around the world, changing what we eat may prove as hard as changing what we drive. "Livestock are one of the most significant contributors to today's most serious environmental problems," Henning Steinfeld, senior author of the report, said when the FAO findings were released in November.

Animal-rights activists and those advocating vegetarianism have been quick to pick up on the implications of the FAO report. "Arguably the best way to reduce global warming in our lifetimes is to reduce or eliminate our consumption of animal products," writes Noam Mohr in a report for EarthSave International. Changing one's diet can lower greenhouse gas emissions quicker than shifts away from fossil fuel burning technologies, Mr. Mohr writes, because the turnover rate for farm animals is shorter than that for cars and power plants. "It doesn't have to be all the way to the extreme end of vegan," says [one researcher], whose family raised beef cattle in Israel. "If you simply cut down from two burgers a week to one, you've already made a substantial difference."

Christian Science Monitor - February 20, 2007
Related:
Change your eating habits and help the planet
Common Ground (March, 2007)
PeTA to Al Gore: The best way to combat the threat of global warming is to go vegan
M & C, UK (March 7, 2007)
Warming as dangerous as war, U.N. chief says
MSNBC (March 1, 2007)
Global warming myths and facts
Environmental Defense



Milk thirst threatens rare desert oasis in Mexico
Full story: Environmental News Network/Reuters

Mexican dairy farming is endangering an ancient oasis in the Great Chihuahuan Desert that scientists say can help them understand earth's beginnings, global warming and the chances of life on Mars. Farmers could dry up the warm water Cuatro Cienegas pools in northern Mexico by the end of the decade if they keep tapping underground water supplies to grow green alfalfa leaves to feed dairy cows, international biologists say. "The turtles are dying, the fish will soon be gone," said Benigno Vasquez, a farmer turned activist striving to contain the proliferation of alfalfa in Coahuila state, near the border with Texas.

A loophole in Mexican legislation means anyone can dig a well and extract water in the Cuatro Cienegas area, which lies on a huge underground water table. Scientists and locals in Cuatro Cienegas blame big dairy groups in the nearby city of Torreon, northern Mexico's main milk-producing center, for drilling wells to grow alfalfa and buying milk from producers who feed the crop to their cows. Mexico's federal government and wealthy landowners deny Cuatro Cienegas is at risk. Coahuila state's government is urging federal authorities to ban the opening of more wells but has no plans to prohibit alfalfa production.

Environmental News Network/Reuters - February 23, 2007

Australian government foes attack anti-dairy activist
Full story: Herald Sun, Australia

Politicians from the two major parties have criticised Victoria's Australian of the Year Philip Wollen for his "odd views" on the dairy industry. The vegan merchant banker-turned-philanthropist was awarded the 2007 title last year for his work through his Winsome Constance Kindness Trust. Mr Wollen, who received an Order of Australia Medal in 2005, said the dairy industry was cruel and dairy products were "bad for human health, the atmosphere, and our dwindling water resources".

Mr Wollen made the comments in support of Animal Liberation Victoria's Milk Sucks campaign, which urges Victorians to become vegans. "It takes as much water to grow one cow as it does to float a battleship ... every unsuspecting consumer is subsidising the massive costs of a cruel, unnecessary and unsustainable industry." Mr Wollen said he had the interests of dairy farmers at heart. "Indeed the dairy industry is providing a lot of employment at the moment, but I'm thinking long-term and I'm suggesting we diversify before we run out of water," Mr Wollen said. "The livestock industry should get in line with the energy industry, which has already taken its fair share of criticism for global warming."

Herald Sun, Australia - March 2, 2007
Related:
When Friends Ask: Where Do You Get Your Calcium?
Dr. McDougall Newsletter (February, 2007)

 

Overfishing imperils fish in deep waters
Full story: Environmental News Network/AP

With declining catches close to shore, commercial fishing is turning to deeper waters, threatening species that live in the cold and gloom of the deep oceans, according to researchers. A panel at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science said that overfishing in deep waters is putting at risk the least sustainable of all fish stocks. "We're not really fishing there. We're mining there. We're taking what appears to be a renewable resource and turning it into a nonrenewable one," said Elliott Norse of the Marine Conservation Biology Institute in Bellevue, Wash.

Selina Heppell of Oregon State University said slow growth and reproduction makes deep-living species particularly vulnerable because they are slow to replenish their stocks. Some deep species don't mature until they are 40 years old and then may live 240 years, Norse said. In addition, Heppell said, rising market value of fish has led to marketing campaigns to increase sales, such as renaming the slimehead fish orange roughy. Krista Baker, a graduate student at Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada, reported that about 40 percent of deep sea species in Canadian waters are either endangered or show significant decline. She estimated that it would take 12 to 90 years for stocks of roughead grenadier fish to recover if fishing were halted. Grenadiers have a lifespan of over 60 years, she said, and they are still being fished.

Environmental News Network/AP - February 19, 2007
Related:
European Union wants to speed up protection of "sushi-threatened" bluefin tuna
Environmental Network News/AP (February 28, 2007)
Quote: Globally, Atlantic bluefin tuna stocks have dropped by some 80 percent over the past 30 years.

 
  Lifestyles and Trends    

One bite at a time: A beginner's guide to conscious eating
Full story: Huffington Post

Let's face it: If you've been eating meat all your life, this sort of a change can be daunting even just to think about, let alone act on. Happily, it's easier than ever today to make the transition from meat-eater to vegetarian, and the following suggestions should help even the most die-hard carnivores make the switch. First: Transition - If you're not ready to give up meat completely, start by eating meatless meals one or two days a week. Second: Give Up the Little Animals First - Although many people tend to stop eating red meat before they give up chicken, turkey, or fish, from a humane standpoint, this is backwards. Birds are arguably the most abused animals on the planet, and birds and fish yield less flesh than cows or pigs, so farmers and fishers kill more of them to satisfy America's meat habit.

Third: If You Can't Give Up One Particular Animal Product, Give Up All the Other Ones - That's a huge step forward. Fourth: Examine Your Diet, and Substitute - Take a look at the meals that you and your family already enjoy, and you'll probably notice that many of them can be made without any meat or with mock meats. Fifth: Eating Out - If you're eating out, there are countless restaurants that cater to vegetarians and vegans. Sixth: Don't Sweat the Small Stuff - [Don't] be too concerned about ingredients that make up less than 2 percent of your meal. When you consider your choices - heart disease, colon cancer, plus-size pants, melting ice caps, gale force storms, and animal suffering vs. good health, energy, a trim physique, a livable planet, compassion, and tasty, diverse foods - it's clear that going vegetarian is an excellent choice as we move toward living a more conscious life. [The full post expands on these suggestions.]

Huffington Post - February 27, 2007
Related:
The Veggie Challenge: Go meat-free for a week
Support for the transition - Toronto Vegetarian Association
Free vegetarian starter kit
PeTA's GoVeg.com
Free guide to cruelty-free living
Vegan Outreach



One possible future: A roadmap to animal liberation
Full story: Vegan Outreach

With cruelty rampant in factory farms, and vegetarians currently a small minority, it is easy to dismiss as naive the hope for a vegetarian world. However, it is nevertheless possible to achieve our goals - and much more quickly than we imagine. If we look at the long arc of history, we see how very much society has advanced in just the last few centuries... In all of human history, only in the last 100 years was child labor abolished in the developed word, child abuse criminalized, women given the vote, and minorities given equal rights. Today the vast majority of people are now opposed to cruelty to animals; thus, the discussion now must focus on helping people see that eating meat violates their own principles

... Despite all the current horror and continued suffering, if we take the long view and are willing to commit to the work that needs to be done, we should be deeply optimistic. Animal liberation can be the future; as The Economist concluded, "Historically, man has expanded the reach of his ethical calculations, as ignorance and want have receded, first beyond family and tribe, later beyond religion, race, and nation. To bring other species more fully into the range of these decisions may seem unthinkable to moderate opinion now. One day, decades or centuries hence, it may seem no more than 'civilized' behavior requires." [The full essay by Matt Ball is highly recommended.]

Vegan Outreach - March, 2007
 

Veggie experiences: Ex-cattle farmer says no to meat
Full story: Dartmouth College Newspaper, NH, US

Former beef cattle farmer and mechanic Harold Brown decided to become a vegetarian after learning the word from a bumper sticker on the back of a car that he repaired. The slogan read, "I don't eat my friends," and after asking the vehicle's owner what the sticker meant, Brown further investigated and gained an appreciation for the concept of vegetarianism. "I had gone four years to Michigan State University. I don't think I was that stupid, but I had never heard that word. I hooked up with some people in Cleveland, found out what these funny v-words meant, and started making changes in my diet. My health improved," Brown said.

Brown first began making changes to his diet after learning that his blood pressure and family history dictated a need for an alteration in his lifestyle. Without a change in his diet, doctors predicted that he would need bypass surgery by the time he turned 35. Brown responded by giving up red meat [and] cutting back on dairy products. Brown's decision to stop eating beef while still working and eating on his grandfather's cattle farm caused a tension between him and his family members. Life became so stressful that Brown and his wife moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where he saw the bumper sticker that drastically changed his habits. He became a vegetarian, and after one year, switched to a completely vegan diet. After a few years on this regime, Brown is virtually safe from heart attacks. [Brown is featured in the documentary "Peaceable Kingdom," a film that chronicles the stories of farmers who left the agricultural industry to pursue the ethical treatment of animals.]

Dartmouth College Newspaper, NH, US - March 6, 2007
More veggie experiences:
Vegetarians becoming more accepted at home, in restaurants
AZ Central, AZ, US (March 13, 2007)
There was no meat for one week
Excalibar, York University, Canada (February 28, 2007)


Now this is reality TV: Schoolkids weep as pig is butchered, skinned & eaten
Full story: Sunday Mirror, UK

Live animals are slaughtered in front of horrified school-children in a new TV shocker. Graphic scenes from BBC's Kill It, Cook It, Eat It show smoke coming out of a pig's head as it collapses after being electrocuted. Abattoir staff then hang the twitching animal up by its legs and cut its throat, sending blood gushing to the floor. Audience members including schoolkids watch behind a glass screen and some weep as the pig is thrown into boiling water and skinned. Earlier a film showed the same animal as a cute piglet.

After the animal is dead, a butcher carves it up and cooks it - and guests tuck into meat they saw alive only minutes before. In other episodes a cow is sawn in half and a lamb's head is cut off, in an effort to "reconnect" us with the meat we buy. Kids' TV presenter and vegetarian Rani Smith burst into tears as she saw blood gush from a cow's neck. Vegetarian Society spokeswoman Liz O'Neill said: "It was upsetting." Beef farmer Ken Howie told presenter Richard Johnson: "I do question whether the general public needs to see that."

Sunday Mirror, UK - March 4, 2007

Stricken whaler foils Japanese propaganda plans
Full story: IPS, Italy

The stranding of a Japanese whaler off the Antarctic coast may wreck plans by the government to promote whale meat as part of the country's traditional diet and resume commercial whaling on that basis. "The ship will have to return minus its full catch which will cause a blow to Japan's plans to renew commercial whaling that is partly based on increasing the public sale of whale meat," Junichi Sato, a volunteer with Greenpeace Japan, told IPS. The Nisshin Maru left Japan's Shimonoseki port in mid-November with plans to hunt down 850 minke whales and 10 fin whales, approved by the International Whaling Commission (IWC), as a 'scientific expedition'.

Sato said the ship, that caught fire and is refusing international help, will have to undergo extensive repairs - a situation that will further delay its return. Questions are now being raised at home about continuing government subsidies for a programme that already has dwindling public support. Officials also insist that whale meat is a traditional diet of the Japanese people and that they have been forced to forgo this only because of the IWC ban. But such a stance, argue conservationists, has only kindled nationalistic sentiment and isolated Japan internationally.

IPS, Italy - February 21, 2007
Related:
Whaling: A Japanese obsession with American roots
New York Times (March 14, 2007)
Key to ending Japanese whaling
Greenpeace

 
  Animal Issues and Advocacy    

Exposing the beast: factory farming must be called to task
Full story: Sydney Morning Herald, Australia

To any thinking person, it must be obvious there is something terribly wrong with relations between human beings and the animals they rely on for food. It must also be obvious that in the past 100 or 150 years, whatever is wrong has become wrong on a huge scale, as traditional animal husbandry has been turned into an industry using industrial methods of production. There are many other ways in which our relationship with animals is wrong but the food industry, which turns living animals into what it euphemistically calls animal products and by-products, dwarfs all others in the number of individual animal lives it affects.

The vast majority of the public has an equivocal attitude to the industrial use of animals: they make use of the products of that industry, but are nevertheless a little sickened, a little queasy, when they think of what happens on factory farms and abattoirs. Therefore they arrange their lives in such a way that they need be reminded of farms and abattoirs as little as possible, and they do their best to ensure their children are kept in the dark too, because children have tender hearts and are easily moved. It would be a mistake to idealise traditional animal husbandry as the standard by which the animal products industry falls short. A better standard by which to judge both practices would be the simple standard of humanity: is this truly the best that humans are capable of? [The author of this article, J.M. Coetzee, won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2003.]

Sydney Morning Herald, Australia - February 22, 2007

Cruelty at monastery's egg farm revealed
Full story: Jacksonville Times-Union, FL, US/AP

A national animal-welfare group that has said trappist monks mistreat animals at their South Carolina chicken farm has now filed formal complaints accusing the group of unfair trade practices. In the complaints, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals says the Mepkin Abbey is misleading customers that it is home to "happy" animals. "More than 20,000 debeaked hens are packed four or five to a cage the size of a file drawer," PETA said in a news release. The conditions were irreconcilable with the abbey's claim that it "comes from centuries-old tradition of gardening and animal husbandry which cherishes a deep respect for the environment," PETA said.

In addition to lying to customers about how its animals are treated, Mepkin Abbey is also violating Catholic principles, PETA said, citing comments by Pope Benedict XVI condemning industrial situations in which "hens live so packed together that they become just caricatures of birds." PETA said it filed the complaints after the Rev. Stanislaus Gumula, abbot of Mepkin Abbey, refused to discuss the issue. At the time, Mepkin Abbey stood by their product on a response on their Web site, saying the operation had been certified in October 2006 by the United Egg Producers, the country's largest trade group for commercial egg farmers.

Jacksonville Times-Union, FL, US/AP - March 7, 2007
Related:
Read more and watch the video
PeTA's GoVeg.com
Chicken advertising competition winners
PeTA



Animal lovers rescue 400 Chinese cats destined for dinnerplates
Full story: Guardian Unlimited, UK

China's nascent animal rights movement claimed a rare and bloody victory after rescuing more than 400 cats that were about to be slaughtered for their fur and meat. The felines were saved from a market in Tianjin after a standoff last week between 100 pet lovers and police that left one protester hospitalised. Until recent years, respect for animal rights was almost non-existent in China, where dogs, cats, birds, lizards and turtles are often displayed in cramped market cages, before being slaughtered - sometimes by being beaten to death.

But the country's rising affluence has brought with it a pet-pampering middle class, many of whom think of dogs as man's best friend rather than a popular item on a restaurant menu. Activists are becoming bolder, posting video footage of cruel treatment on Youtube and staging protests. In the latest confrontation, 100 supporters of the "Love Kitty" group in Tianjin surrounded a market, where cats and dogs were being slaughtered. The police refused to support the animal protection group because there is no law in China against killing cats and dogs, and all the animal traders were licensed. "This is unacceptable. We are petitioning the National People's Congress to make new legislation," [said Zhang Dan, of the Small Animal Protection Association. See full story for photo.]

Guardian Unlimited, UK - February 12, 2007

Victory for veal calves
Full story: Factory Farming Campaign, HSUS

In a landmark announcement destined to move American animal agribusiness further away from intensive confinement systems, two of the nation's largest veal producers have recently committed to phasing out the use of tiny crates to confine veal calves. Strauss Veal, the leading U.S. veal producer, and Marcho Farms both pledged in January to convert their operations to crate-free group housing systems within two to three years. Strauss Veal has also expressed interest in moving to free-range systems after it converts its crate operations to group housing.

In a written statement, Randy Strauss, co-president and CEO of Strauss Veal, said veal crates are "inhumane and archaic" and "do nothing more than subject a calf to stress, fear, physical harm and pain." Paul Shapiro, director of The HSUS' Factory Farming Campaign, said "the decisions these companies have made are historic and will help end one of the most cruel and inhumane practices associated with factory farming: the veal crate." The Strauss Veal and Marcho Farms announcements are the latest in a growing tide of opposition to the use of crates and cages to intensively confine farm animals in the United States. The veal crate is notorious for its cruelty, and with good reason. In fact, the entire European Union has already banned veal crates.

Factory Farming Campaign, HSUS - February 22, 2007
 

Meatpacking injuries spawn union drive
Full story: MSNBC/AP

Each day 150 semitrailers loaded with cattle arrive at Tyson Food Inc.'s Holcomb plant for slaughter. Each day workers here butcher 5,700 head of cattle. And each day at least one meatpacker at the plant gets hurt on the job. On the killing room floor, beef carcasses dangling from an overhead conveyor belt constantly stream past blood-splattered workers - each with a very specific job to do.

A worker slits the throats of one cow as its blood rushes down to the pit below him. One man skins the animal. Another worker disembowels it. On the processing floor, hundreds more meatpackers working in near freezing temperatures carve the meat into the cuts that will land on grocery store shelves. And they do the same thing cow after cow until their eight-hour shift is done. "We are fighting for justice, dignity and respect," [a worker] said.

MSNBC/AP - February 18, 2007
 
  Are They Serious? Unfortunately Yes    

China: Factory farmed tigers being turned into wine
Full story: Daily Mail, UK

Cruel almost beyond belief, this Chinese farm breeds hundreds of tigers in rows of battery cages ... so they can be killed and turned into wine. King, the Siberian tiger, stares at me through the bars of his cage. His two beautiful, graceful companions pace back and forth across their tiny compound. In row upon row of sheds, hundreds of tigers are incarcerated in battery-like cages which they never leave until they are slaughtered. Visitors to the park can dine on strips of stir-fried tiger with ginger and Chinese vegetables. Also on the menu are tiger soup and a spicy red curry made with tenderised strips of the big cat. Visitors can wash it all down with a glass or two of wine made from Siberian tiger bones.

A waitress at the farm's restaurant tells me proudly: "The tiger meat is produced here. It's our business. When Government officials come here, we kill a tiger for them so they have fresh meat. We also sell lion meat, bear's paw, crocodile and snake. The bear's paw has to be ordered in advance as it takes a long time to cook." They are not the only animals killed. For entertainment, visitors to the animal park can watch the 'live killing exhibition', a sick spectacle in which animals are 'hunted' and torn to pieces by tigers while onlookers cheer. Tiger farmers also have their eyes on the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. They hope that a huge influx of tourists will lead to increased demand for tiger wine. Although it is illegal to trade internationally in such tiger products as wine, the Chinese are lobbying hard to get the law relaxed.

Daily Mail, UK - March 12, 2007
Related:
Primate hunting reaches crisis point in Latin America
Spiegel (March 13, 2007)
Quote: Smoked and salted primate meat is increasingly being sold at local markets to feed a rising human population in the Amazon basin.

 
  Books and Perspectives    

Dr. Neal Barnard on reversing diabetes
Full story: Jacksonville Times-Union, FL, US

One of the leading advocates for good nutrition recently visited Jacksonville to discuss how diet can reduce diabetes. The physician also discussed his latest book, Dr. Neal Barnard's Program for Reversing Diabetes. Barnard said he got interested in healthy eating when he worked as an autopsy assistant and saw the effects of heart disease and bad diet firsthand. The experience was especially poignant to Barnard since he grew up in North Dakota, the son of a cattle rancher. "We had beef for almost every meal," he said. "It seemed we had roast beef and baked potatoes every day." The nutritionist recommends a low-fat vegan diet, [and] proudly proclaims, "Carbs are back - good carbs, that is."

While his diet recommends against white bread, sugar and other foods that can cause blood sugar spikes, the diet allows unlimited quantities of low-glycemic carbs such as rye bread, pumpernickel, sweet potatoes, rice and even pasta. Barnard said diabetes is at epidemic levels around the world. More than 20 million Americans have Type 2 diabetes, and worldwide about 200 million people suffer from it, he said. "In recent years, because of terrible eating habits, a surprising number of our nation's young children are being diagnosed with it," he said. He says the foundation of his dietary program is what he calls the "new four food groups" - grains, legumes, vegetables and fruit.

Jacksonville Times-Union, FL, US - March 3, 2007
Dr. Barnard's book and more available at:
The VegE-Store
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