FW: cause of E.coli spinach care 9/21/06

[Guest guest]

 

 

 

NY Times op-ed points to cattle farming as cause of E.coli spinach

care 9/21/06

 

This week, America shunned spinach after some was found to carry a deadly strain

of E.coli bacteria. The Thursday, September 21, New York Times, however,

included an op-ed, by Nina Planck, author of ''Real Food: What to Eat and Why, "

who suggests that the spinach farmers are not the culprits.

 

In the piece titled, " Leafy Green Sewage " (pg A31)Planck writes:

" Indeed, this epidemic, which has infected more than 100 people and resulted in

at least one death, probably has little do with the folks who grow and package

your greens. The detective trail ultimately leads back to a seemingly unrelated

food industry -- beef and dairy cattle.

 

She explains that E. coli O157:H7 is different from most E.coli which is

harmless to humans. She writes:

 

" Where does this particularly virulent strain come from? It's not found in the

intestinal tracts of cattle raised on their natural diet of grass, hay and other

fibrous forage. No, O157 thrives in a new -- that is, recent in the history of

animal diets -- biological niche: the unnaturally acidic stomachs of beef and

dairy cattle fed on grain, the typical ration on most industrial farms. It's the

infected manure from these grain-fed cattle that contaminates the groundwater

and spreads the bacteria to produce, like spinach, growing on neighboring

farms. "

 

And she discusses " the contamination of ground water, flood water and rivers --

all irrigation sources on spinach farms -- by the E-coli-infected manure from

cattle farms. "

 

She writes:

 

" The United States Department of Agriculture does recognize the threat from

these huge lagoons of waste, and so pays 75 percent of the cost for a

confinement cattle farmer to make manure pits watertight, either by lining them

with concrete or building them above ground. But taxpayers are financing a

policy that only treats the symptom, not the disease, and at great expense.

There remains only one long-term remedy, and it's still the simplest one: stop

feeding grain to cattle. "

 

And she concludes

" California's spinach industry is now the financial victim of an outbreak it

probably did not cause, and meanwhile, thousands of acres of other produce are

still downstream from these lakes of E. coli-ridden cattle manure. So give the

spinach growers a break, and direct your attention to the people in our

agricultural community who just might be able to solve this deadly problem: the

beef and dairy farmers. "

 

You'll find the full piece on line at

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/21/opinion/21planck.html . It addresses a danger

of factory farming from the standpoint of public health but does not mention

animal welfare. Most cattle, fed on corn, live pathetic lives. Contrary to the

images we remember from childhood of animals grazing in meadows, those raised

for beef and milk today live in disgusting feedlots, often knee-deep in their

own manure, with no protection from the elements. In 2002 the New York Times

Magazine ran a cover story, 'This Steer's Life,' in which Michael Pollan

documented the life of a steer from birth to death. That piece is available on

Pollan's website at

http://www.michaelpollan.com/article.php?id=14 . It is well worth reading.

 

Planck's op-ed deserves some appreciative letters to the editor against factory

farming. Feel free to sing the praises of a veggie diet.

 

The New York Times takes letters at letters

 

Always include your full name, address, and daytime phone number when sending a

letter to the editor. Remember that shorter letters are more likely to be

published. And please be careful not to use any exact phrases from this alert in

your letters; the editors wish to receive original reactions from their readers.

 

Yours and the animals',

Karen Dawn

 

(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

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You are d to DawnWatch using the following address:

 

marilynw

 

Fri Sep 22 16:33:28 2006

 

 

Compassion for all animals, both human and non human.

 

 

 

 

 

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Spring Muller

(813) 774-2840

 

" I am in favor of animal rights as well as human rights. That is the way of

the whole human being " . ~Abraham Lincoln

 

" If slaughterhouses had glass walls everyone would be a vegetarian " Paul

McCartney

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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