FW: DawnWatch: Front Page Article and Poll on Beef Eating in San Francisco Chronicle

[Guest guest]

Dear Friends,

 

I'm forwarding this on behalf on Karen Dawn, a wonderful L.A.-based activist

who sends out media-based animal-related alerts. This one is from our own

" backyard " : the San Francisco Chronicle. As Karen details below, on the

front page of today' Chronicle is an article on grass-fed beef (touted by

many to be more humane and better for the environment). There's an

interesting poll as well (please see link below) asking for reader feedback.

Asking the question, " Is grass-fed beef healthier to eat than grain fed? " ,

the preferred response of heads is out on TOP: " Best choice - don't

eat any. "

 

Karen has the details on how to submit letters to the editor.

 

Best,

Alka

 

 

 

DawnWatch [KarenDawn]

Wednesday, June 19, 2002 11:51 AM

Chandna, Alka

DawnWatch: Front Page Article and Poll on Beef Eating in San

Francisco Chronicle

 

 

 

 

Front page, center, of the Wednesday, June 19, San Francisco Chronicle is an

article by Kim Severson, headed, " High Stakes: Bay Area at the forefront of

the big-bucks battle between proponents of grass-fed beef and traditional

cattlemen. "

 

The article is about the Bay area's increase in interest in grass fed beef

which proponents say " is better for your health, easier on the environment

and tastes better than what most Americans eat -- beef fattened on corn and

soy in huge feedlots in the Midwest. "

 

Severson writes,

" What's more, culinary trendsetters say the local beef battle feeds into a

growing national debate about the safety and health of the nation's $80

billion-a-year beef industry. It's an industry that relies on cattle bulked

up on hormones, daily doses of antibiotics and feed that can contain chicken

manure, feathers, rendered animal protein and cardboard fiber -- all of

which is allowed by current federal regulations. "

 

From an animal welfare standpoint, grass fed beef is certainly preferable -

incomparable. Grass fed animals spend their lives grazing instead of

standing packed together in swamps of excrement in feedlots. But the

article also presents information interesting from the vegetarian

perspective - a move towards grass fed beef would mean the slaughter of

fewer cows (or steers).

 

The owner of Niman ranch, fearing the move says,

" People want to imagine a beautiful vision of a chicken out there eating

earwigs and cows roaming free around the pasture. To feed millions of people

every day? No way. If they want to eat grass-fed, they have to think of this

as a seasonal thing like a peach or a tomato. Eat it in May or June 'cause

that is when it is peaking. "

 

Of interest to us all is a poll on the Chronicle website asking, " Is grass

fed beef healthier to eat than grain fed? " One of the options is " Best

choice - don't eat any. "

 

You'll find the article and the poll at:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2002/06/19/MN155187.DTL

 

Here's a link for AOLers:

<A

HREF= " http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2002/06/19/MN15518

7.DTL " >High Stakes</A>

 

Please vote for " don't eat any " and consider sending a letter to the editor

making that point.

The Chronicle takes letters at: letters

(Link for some: letters )

 

and tells us,

 

" Please limit your letters to 200 or fewer words ... shorter letters have a

better chance of being selected for publication. "

 

Yours and the animals',

Karen Dawn

www.DawnWatch.com

 

(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in

the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets.

You can learn more about it at www.DawnWatch.com. To to DawnWatch,

email KarenDawn and tell me you'd like to receive alerts. If

at any time you find DawnWatch is not for you, just let me know via email

and I'll take you off the r list immediately. If you forward or

reprint DawnWatch alerts, please do so unedited and include this tag line.)