|
Tact is the art of making a point without making an enemy - Isaac Newton
|
In this edition...
Featured Video |
 Dr. Greger: Uprooting the leading causes of death |
Health |
| Too much iron from red meat increases bowel cancer risk |
| 3 myths about protein and a plant-based diet |
| Big ag forces backtrack on Meatless Monday recommendation |
| Superbug dangers in chicken linked to 8 Million at-risk women |
Environment and World Hunger |
| Imagine an ocean without fish |
| Must the poor go hungry just so the rich can drive? |
| Video: How much hidden water do you use each day? |
| UN agency calls for action to promote sustainable diets and food biodiversity |
Lifestyles and Trends |
| Olympic vegetarians: The elite athletes who shun meat |
| Veganism goes viral in Israel |
| 3 vegan parenting myths, busted |
| Vegan menu on tap for astronauts flying NASA's mission to Mars |
| Veggie celebs: Footballer Arian Foster answers criticism of going vegan: 'I know what I'm doing' |
Animal Issues and Advocacy - Focus on Animal Sentience |
| Scientists finally conclude what any child with a pet knows: Nonhuman animals are conscious beings |
| Gorilla brothers overjoyed as they're reunited after three years apart |
| Young mountain gorillas destroy poachers' snares |
| Dolphin photographed carrying the broken body of its baby in heartbreaking ritual |
| African grey parrots have the reasoning skills of 3-year-olds |
More Animal Issues and Advocacy News |
| Compassionate diner orders lobster - to free it |
| Buddhist Bhutan rules female fowls can't be caged |
| Slaughtering pigs, a never-ending horror |
Of Note: Blogs, Events, More |
|
|
|
|
Don't forget to visit:
|
|
Visit us on Facebook:
|
|
(Excerpts are included from current news stories. Click on the "Full story" link to read the full article.)
Featured Video 
|
Dr. Greger: Uprooting the leading causes of death
Video source: NutritionFacts.org
 Focusing on studies published just over the last year in peer-reviewed scientific medical journals, Dr. Greger offers practical advice on how best to feed ourselves and our families to prevent, treat, and even reverse many of the top 15 killers. [58:54]
Watch video... |
NutritionFacts.org - July 26
|
|
|
| Health
|
Too much iron from red meat increases bowel cancer risk
Full story: NineMSN, Australia
Scientists know that eating too much red meat can increase people's risk of bowel cancer, but until now they've been unsure exactly why. A new Scottish study could provide some explanation. It appears that iron sparks the bowel cancer process in people with a faulty APC (Adenomatous polyposis coli) gene. The researchers studied mice with a defective APC gene and found they were two to three times more likely to develop bowel cancer. Mice without the defective gene that were fed a high-iron diet remained cancer-free, as did mice who had the defective gene but were fed a low-iron diet. [Read the comments section for a counter to the quoted doctor's ill-founded statement about the necessity of red meat for iron in the diet.]
Read more... |
NineMSN, Australia - August 10
|
3 myths about protein and a plant-based diet
Full story: VegNews
The first question I am often asked when discussing a whole-food, plant-based diet is, "Where do you get your protein?" Protein has become widely recognized as a miracle macronutrient that, apparently, is challenging to acquire in effective doses. However, this is far from accurate. Let's clear up three of plant-powered protein's three most-common misconceptions...
Read more... |
Big ag forces backtrack on Meatless Monday recommendation
Full story: Health Goes Strong
[Recently] the United States Department of Agriculture published an interoffice newsletter carrying this suggestion: "One simple way to reduce your environmental impact while dining at our cafeterias is to participate in the 'Meatless Monday' initiative." [This] enraged the meat lobby. So, the USDA removed the recommendation from its website and issued a statement saying that it "does not endorse" Meatless Monday. This little episode illustrates quite vividly how we can't possibly trust government dietary recommendations. If the USDA is so terrified of the meat lobby that it backs down on something as trivial as a suggestion that its employees eat a teensy bit less meat to help the environment, there's no way it's a reliable resource for matters of nutrition and dietary health - do you think the USDA is any less scared of the corn lobby, the soy lobby, the dairy lobby? I doubt it. [See Stephen Colbert's humorous take on the subject. No doubt government 'health' agencies in other countries are under similar pressures.]
Read more... |
Health Goes Strong - July 27
|
Superbug dangers in chicken linked to 8 Million at-risk women
Full story: ABC News Medical Unit, U.S.
 A growing number of medical researchers say more than 8 million women are at risk of difficult-to-treat bladder infections because superbugs - resistant to antibiotics and growing in chickens - are being transmitted to humans in the form of E. coli. "We're finding the same or related E. coli in human infections and in retail meat sources, specifically chicken," said Amee Manges, epidemiologist at McGill University in Montreal. If the medical researchers are right, this is compelling new evidence of a direct link between the pervasive, difficult-to-cure human disease and the antibiotic-fed chicken people buy at the grocery store.
Read more/Watch video... |
ABC News Medical Unit, U.S. - July 11
|
|
| Environment and World Hunger
|
Imagine an ocean without fish
Full story: Global Research TV
The End of the Line: How Overfishing Is Changing the World, the first major feature documentary film revealing the impact of overfishing on our oceans, had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in the World Cinema Documentary Competition. In the film we see first-hand the effects of our global love affair with fish as food. Filmed over two years, The End of the Line follows the investigative reporter Charles Clover as he confronts politicians and celebrity restaurateurs, who exhibit little regard for the damage they are doing to the oceans. [Editor's note: The film will raise awareness about the issue but, unfortunately, the solution put forward is to eat different fish, a difficult and stop-gap measure, not no fish. Hopefully, it will also educate people about the brutality involved - catch a glimpse in the trailer at the link.]
Read more... |
Global Research TV - July
|
Must the poor go hungry just so the rich can drive?
Full story: Guardian, UK
Biofuels are the means by which governments in the rich world avoid hard choices. Rather than raise fuel economy standards as far as technology allows, rather than promoting a shift from driving to public transport, walking and cycling, rather than insisting on better town planning to reduce the need to travel, they have chosen to exchange our wild overconsumption of petroleum for the wild overconsumption of fuel made from crops. No one has to drive less or make a better car: everything remains the same except the source of fuel. The result is a competition between the world's richest and poorest consumers, a contest between overconsumption and survival. There was never any doubt about which side would win.
Read more... |
Video: How much hidden water do you use each day?
Video source: AlertNet
 If you had a cup of coffee, a couple of slices of toast and an egg this morning, you also inadvertently consumed around 4000 litres of water - enough for three baths. The water embedded in products is sometimes referred as "virtual water." And guess what the worst culprits are?
Watch video... |
UN agency calls for action to promote sustainable diets and food biodiversity
Full story: UN News Centre
Countries must take immediate action to promote sustainable diets and food biodiversity to improve the health of their citizens, the United Nations food agency states in a new book, jointly published with Bioversity International, a non-governmental organization. "Regardless of the many successes of agriculture in the last three decades, it is clear that food systems and diets are not sustainable," says the Principal Officer of the Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) Nutrition and Consumer Protection Division, Barbara Burlingame, in the preface to the book, Sustainable Diets and Biodiversity.
Read more... |
UN News Centre - August 8
|
|
| Lifestyles and Trends
|
Olympic vegetarians: The elite athletes who shun meat
Full story: Guardian, UK
Lizzie Armitstead was just 10 years old when she told her parents she wanted to become a vegetarian. She won Great Britain's first medal of the Olympic Games, taking silver in the gruelling 87-mile road cycling race, no less. She follows a long line of Olympians who have managed to excel without "eating corpses", as she herself puts it. In honour of her medal, here are a few other great vegetarian Olympians [you might be surprised]...
Read more... |
Veganism goes viral in Israel
Full story: Green Prophet
 It is very unusual to find a dinner or breakfast table in Israel that doesn't include a smattering of meat and/or dairy products to choose from (depending on whether or not the family keeps kosher), which is why the revelation that tens of thousands of Israelis have embraced veganism in the last year is nothing short of revolutionary. Who or what is behind this phenomenon? In short: Gary Yourofsky and "The Best Speech You Will Ever Hear." During a charismatic hour-long speech given at Georgia Tech in 2010, the Jewish-American animals rights activist lambasts the murder of billions of animals each year. Thanks to a group of local activists who set up Gary TV and provided Hebrew subtitles, the video has been viewed 300,000 times in Israel, leaving many who watch it unable to put another animal product in their mouth. [Click the full story or read more links to read more and the video image to watch the extraordinary coverage it received on the country's most popular TV channel.]
Read more... |
Green Prophet - August 20
|
3 vegan parenting myths, busted
Full story: VegNews
After a healthy vegan pregnancy, my daughter entered the world with all 10 fingers and all 10 toes. Despite my smooth and uncomplicated journey to motherhood, I was still peppered with questions and skepticism concerning my diet along the way. It was all well and good to be vegan before, but now that a child was involved, I was going to drop this whole plant-based nonsense ... right? Set the record straight with these answers to three of vegan parenting's most common questions.
Read more... |
Vegan menu on tap for astronauts flying NASA's mission to Mars
Full story: Examiner.com
Now the popularity of veganism has spread to outer space. NASA scientists are currently working on a vegan menu for the astronauts who will blast off to Mars on a trip planned for 2030. The menu, which will feed six to eight astronauts for up to three years, must not only be healthy and nutritious, but provide enough variety and flavor to sustain the prolonged space expedition.
Read more... |
Veggie celebs: Footballer Arian Foster answers criticism of going vegan: 'I know what I'm doing'
Full story: CBS Sports
Texans running back Arian Foster isn't just a football player. He's a pretty interesting, thoughtful dude. As of this offseason, he's also a vegan. But it's not like he's going all "meat is murder!" on everyone ... he just changed his dietary habits. The decision raised the eyebrows of just about everyone (coaches, teammates, fans, fantasy footballers), but Foster recently [said] that the criticism doesn't bother him one bit. "Everybody cares what I eat now," Foster said. "They didn't care before, but they do now. Everybody is a nutritionist now and they're an expert on protein. Every day, every single day somebody knows something new to do. I just smile and say, 'OK.'"
Read more... |
|
| Animal Issues and Advocacy - Focus on Animal Sentience
|
Scientists finally conclude what any child with a pet knows: Nonhuman animals are conscious beings
Full story: Psychology Today
Every now and again I receive an email message I ignore after reading the subject line. I know I'm not alone in following this rule of thumb, but today I broke down and opened a message the subject line of which read "Scientists Declare: Nonhuman Animals Are Conscious." I honestly thought it was a joke, likely from one of my favorite newspapers, The Onion. However, it wasn't. Be that as it may, I applaud their not so surprising conclusion and now I hope it will be used to protect animals from being treated abusively and inhumanely.
Read more... |
Psychology Today - August 10
|
Gorilla brothers overjoyed as they're reunited after three years apart
Full story: Huffington Post
 It's a story of brotherly love. Alf and Kesho, two lowland Gorilla brothers, were recently reunited at a safari park in England after being separated for three years. Kesho, 13, and Alf, 9, recognized each other right away, hugging and shaking hands when they saw one another. "What you're seeing is exactly what you think you're seeing," Ian Redmond, the founder and chairman of the Ape Alliance said, according to the BBC. "Two intelligent social mammals, who were separate, are pleased to see each other again and play together." [More images at the link. Video here from ITN, UK.]
Read more... |
Huffington Post - August 17
|
Young mountain gorillas destroy poachers' snares
Full story: Africa Geographic
[Recently] in Rwanda, field staff of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund observed several young gorillas from Kuryama's group destroying snares set by poachers. We knew that gorillas do this but all of the reported cases in the past were carried out by adult gorillas, mostly silverbacks," said Veronica Vecellio, gorilla program coordinator at the Karisoke Research Center.
Read more... |
Africa Geographic - July 20
|
Dolphin photographed carrying the broken body of its baby in heartbreaking ritual
Full story: Daily Mail
It is a poignant mourning ritual that is rarely seen - and even more rarely captured on camera. Struggling against the rough seas, a dolphin carries her dead baby on its final journey. While a boat full of tourists watched the heartbreaking scene, the baby dolphin slipped from its mother's back five times as she battled against the tide. But on each occasion, she plucked it from the waves and continued her lonely voyage. The dolphin was thought to be moving her dead calf away from the shore to lay it to rest in deeper water. A large gash, approximately a foot long, was visible across the calf's belly. In the past, researchers have observed dolphins carrying or pushing stillborn calves or those that die in their infancy. They sometimes stay with their dead baby for several days. [Watch Video of the event.]
Read more... |
African grey parrots have the reasoning skills of 3-year-olds
Full story: Smithsonian
When we think about the smartest animals, chimpanzees are usually the first to come to mind. Experiments show that they can memorize sequences of numbers, learn the meaning of words and associate particular voices with specific faces. Crucially, previous studies have found that chimps and other apes are the only non-human animals capable of making abstract logical inferences based on cues from their environment. A new experiment, though, might make us recognize that an entirely different species belongs in this exclusive group: the African grey parrot.
Read more... |
|
| More Animal Issues and Advocacy News
|
Compassionate diner orders lobster - to free it
Full story: Newsday/AP
A Connecticut [U.S.] man purchased a 17-pound lobster at a restaurant, then released the crustacean back into Long Island Sound. Don MacKenzie knew the lobster, nicknamed "Lucky Larry" by local children, would have to be about 80 years old to reach his current size and felt it deserved to live. "It takes seven years for him to even become a lobster big enough to keep," MacKenzie said. "For a lobster to live this long and avoid lobster traps, nets, lobster pots ... he doesn't deserve a bib and butter."
Read more... |
Buddhist Bhutan rules female fowls can't be caged
Full story: Hispanic Business
Female fowls in the Buddhist kingdom of Bhutan can no longer be kept in cages, under a government order issued August 2. "Confining these birds in restrictive cages and using the eggs laid by them goes against our Buddhist philosophy," Tashi Dorji, chief livestock officer in the Agriculture Ministry, said. The move was also aimed at restricting large-scale poultry farming, which went against the equitable social and economic development model followed in the country, Dorji added. The country [is known for the fact that it] has supplanted the traditional benchmark measure of national wellbeing, gross national product, with what it calls Gross National Happiness (GNH).
Read more... |
Hispanic Business - August 2
|
Slaughtering pigs, a never-ending horror
Full story: Toronto Star
This specific story is about pigs. The broader story is about humans and how, when it comes right down to it, we don't care a lot. Every day, along Lake Shore Boulevard in Toronto, a parade of tractor-trailer trucks passes by carrying pigs to slaughter. What goes on inside isn't pretty. Do humans have the moral right to truck and slaughter pigs just so they can eat bacon for breakfast instead of cereal? I reckon most Canadians would answer yes to this - although I also think you'd get a different response if the word "pigs" was replaced by "dogs." Pigs are notoriously smart animals. They also have an unsettling habit of looking you directly in the eye - as if to say: "I know what you have in mind for me and I'm disappointed by your lack of character." If more people looked pigs directly in the eye, there would be more vegetarians. But they don't and there are not.
Read more... |
|
| Of Note: Blogs, Events, More
|
Blogs/Newsletters/Websites of interest:
Lani Muelrath - Lani gives us 3 tips for taking a plant-based stand.
McDougall's Moments - watch online or sign up for Dr. John McDougall's short video lessons delivered twice a week. Warning: they're addictive.
Artists for Change - a new concept in downloadable music - great listening that can help you make a difference in the world.
Events:
Farm Sanctuary's Sleep In for Farm Animals Virtual Walk
You can also join one of the real walks - taking place September 8-November 3.
International Animal Rights Conference, September 13-16 in Luxembourg
San Francisco Vegetarian Society's World Veg Festival, 10am-6pm, October 6-7 in the San Francisco Fair Building at Golden Gate Park. The event features outstanding speakers, international vegan cuisine, food demos, sample table, vegan organic dinners on Saturday and Sunday night, and more.
Healthy Lifestyle Expo, Los Angeles, October 12-14 - as always a line-up of fabulous speakers
Plus....
VegE-News recipes and tips
Support or sponsor VegE-News
Visit our VegE-Store for books and more
Thanks for your support!
|
|
|
Note:
|
Whenever possible, stories are linked to the original source. Some sites may require registration, and/or not archive the stories. All links were active at the time of publication.
|
|
|
|
| The VegE-News is prepared by: |
|
|
|
|
To ensure that you continue to receive the VegE-News, please add the sender to your address book or safe list. This will help ensure that it doesn't get zapped by your spam filter and wind up in your JUNK or TRASH folder.
|
|
