"And it isn't only cows that are eating corn. There is also evidence of a corn diet in chicken sandwiches, and even French fries get a good slathering of the fat that makes them so tasty from being fried in corn oil"
The SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN story summarizes that no health concerns have been raised related to the overabundance of corn (yet) but the environment has seen some less that positive affects with humans relying more on corn.. Ethanol use has been criticized in various quarters recently due to environmental problems and food shortage fears across the globe..
This part of the story struck me:
It's also hard on cows, whose stomachs are specially designed to break down the cellulose in grass, leading to an epidemic of antibiotic use. Also, humans may lose out on beneficial omega-3 fatty acids—important for development of the nervous system and heart health—when they consume corn-fed as opposed to grass-fed beef.
"Instead of eating a predominantly whole grains, fruits and vegetables, we are diverting the grain supply to feeding the animals," Lawrence says, arguing for a diet that treats meat as a garnish rather than the main course and corn for human consumption rather than cows. "Corn-finished beef does add to what has become a preferred taste for the American palate. We've acquired that taste at our own peril."
A video worth watching from the summer of '08
PHOTO ABOVE: Cattle hang in a slaughterhouse on the outskirts of Montevideo, Monday, Oct. 27, 2008. The price of beef in Uruguay's domestic market fell 10% as a consequence of the fall in beef exports due to the world economic crisis, according to local news reports. Russia and the E.U. suspended shipments.
(AP Photo/Matilde Campodonico)
PETA officials say a move to breast milk would lessen the suffering of dairy cows and their calves on factory farms and benefit human health
Forget the cows! You want to do this to women? If it's torture to you to do this to livestock, why would it be any kinder to get human women to herd together and get milked?
Can't we go back to PETA's old fashioned argument of just stopping milk and dairy consumption?
Ben and Jerry came to the rescue in a statement:
Ben & Jerry's said: "We applaud PETA's novel approach to bringing attention to an issue, but we believe a mother's milk is best used for her child."
schmuck -shmuhk- a noun Slang. an obnoxious or contemptible person.
Origin:
1890-95; Yiddish shmok (vulgar) lit., penis of uncert. orig.
MUCKRAKER: A muckraker seeks to expose corruption of businesses or government to the public
Origin:
Theodore Roosevelt used the term muckrake in a 1906 speech in which he agreed with the
accusations of muckrakers, but questioned their methods
Schmuckraker: A website dedicated to expanding knowledge of readers by muckraking and
focusing on schmucks of society Origin: 1998 school newspaper
in Northeastern Pennsylvania
