There is more evidence than ever that a person who weighs too much is more likely to develop cancer, a landmark report said. And forget eating bacon, sausage and lunchmeat. No amount is considered completely safe, according to the analysis from the American Institute for Cancer Research and the World Cancer Research Fund. An international panel of experts reviewed more than 7,000 large-scale studies and spent five years developing the report. Excess body fat increases the risk of cancer of the colon, kidney, pancreas, esophagus and uterus as well as postmenopausal breast cancer, the report says. "This was a much larger impact than even the researchers expected," says Karen Collins, a cancer institute nutrition adviser... A separate survey of 1,022 adults, also released by the cancer institute, showed that 39 per cent say cancer is their top health concern and 49 per cent say it's highly unlikely they can do anything to prevent cancer. "Let's not be afraid anymore," Collins says. "There is something you can do about it."

Global warming is "unequivocal" and carbon dioxide already in the atmosphere commits the world to sea levels rising an average of up to 4.6 feet, the world's top climate experts warned in their most authoritative report to date. Climate change imperils "the most precious treasures of our planet," [UN head Ban Ki-Moon] said, and the effects are "so severe and so sweeping that only urgent global action will do. We are all in this together. We must work together." As early as 2020, 75 million to 250 million people in Africa will suffer water shortages, residents of Asia's large cities will be at great risk of river and coastal flooding, according to the report... "These scenes are as frightening as a science fiction movie," said Ban. "But they are even more terrifying because they are real."

When it comes to staying healthy into old age, one man seems to have the answer. He's 72 years old and buff as a 20-something. Jim Morris is a former Mr. America, and still going strong. But how does he keep the physique? He still works out for an hour a day, six days a week. And his diet is made up of nuts, beans, fruits, and vegetables. That means no meat, no chicken, no fish, and according to Jim, cheese is the worst. He shares more of the mind behind his muscle in [September's] "Iron Man" magazine. He's the oldest man ever to be featured. "People say you look so good for your age. I don't think so. I think this is the way 70 should look," said Jim. [You can also watch video coverage at the link.]

I have seen it all before but it still shocks me. The Humane Farming Association recently shot undercover video at an Ohio pig farm which shows animals living and dying in conditions far more horrifying than one finds in any torture camp. And what I am about to describe in this article is typical of the lives of the 10 billion 'food' animals raised for slaughter in America [and around the world] each year. Pigs with broken legs and broken backs; pigs with prolapsed vaginas and abscessed tumors; pigs crowded so closely together they cannot move or turn around, living in their own excrement... Like all other animals, pigs feel. Pigs are extremely aware, intelligent, conscious of their surroundings. This pile of what humans would call 'near dead meat' has watched what the men just did to one of their kind...

I want to end this piece with another undercover video, this one shot by Mercy for Animals in a North Carolina turkey slaughterhouse... From the unbearable condition under which they were raised, we see turkeys arriving at the slaughterhouse with bloody open wounds and huge infected tumors. Most don't even look like turkeys, but like grotesque monsters since they have been genetically engineered to grow too fast. Some of the birds have broken feet and wings and they desperately thrash around in blood on the floor... and when they are upside down, heading toward the blade that will slice off their heads, they struggle and struggle, for one last breath of life. No where in the slaughterhouse is there a moment of kindness, or a gentle touch, for these birds who feel so much as they die.