Off topic; Factory-farming = O157:H7

[Guest guest]

The media is buzzing over the spinach crisis, caused by an outbreak

of the potentially lethal bacterium E. coli O157:H7. A curious yet

widespread claim is that, because some of the spinach so far

identified as contaminated came from organic farms, organic farming

is unsafe. It's a curious claim, because scientists understand pretty

well where the O157:H7 is coming from: the bellies of factory-farmed

cows. Their manure, as it turns out, is now crawling with the

critters. As this NYT op-ed puts it:

 

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.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/21/opinion/21planck.html?

ex=1316491200 & en=80e5e464fa1c6fb0 & ei=5090 & partner=rssuserland & emc=rss

[Guest guest]

Good to be a vegetarian, isn't it! At least we're not contributing to the meat

part of the problem. You'd really think it'd occur to people that what they're

doing is dangerous! Money rules, though, and we all have to pay the price for

others' greed.

 

Kadee Sedtal

 

" Cuthbert J. Twillie " <jdsears669 wrote:

The media is buzzing over the spinach crisis, caused by an outbreak

of the potentially lethal bacterium E. coli O157:H7. A curious yet

widespread claim is that, because some of the spinach so far

identified as contaminated came from organic farms, organic farming

is unsafe. It's a curious claim, because scientists understand pretty

well where the O157:H7 is coming from: the bellies of factory-farmed

cows. Their manure, as it turns out, is now crawling with the

critters. As this NYT op-ed puts it:

 

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.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/21/opinion/21planck.html?

ex=1316491200 & en=80e5e464fa1c6fb0 & ei=5090 & partner=rssuserland & emc=rss

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Get your own web address for just $1.99/1st yr. We'll help. Small

Business.

 

 

[Guest guest]

when i learned about factory farming i became an instant vegetarian. that was

a quarter of a century ago. i can't grasp how people can continue to eat

animals even knowing how they suffer. not to mention what it does to the

environment, etc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Get your email and more, right on the new .com

 

 

[Guest guest]

The thing is, most people still believe that cows spend their days out in

pastures eating nice grass and the friendly farmer drives out every day to give

them fresh hay, chickens peck at bugs on the ground and raise their chicks, pigs

play in the mud and get a yummy trough full of the family's leftover supper,

that they're all killed humanely, all that garbage. They don't know that these

animals suffer their whole lives, that mothers have their babies taken away,

that they're killed with no concern as to the amount of pain they experience. If

more people knew, there would be more vegetarians and more meat-eaters who only

bought meat from free-ranging animals. But the meat industry is such an enormous

source of money the government has no reason to expose them. Remember back when

Oprah said something about mad cow disease, and that after hearing that she'd

never eat another hamburger, and someone sued her? No one's going to air

something that goes against the meat industry,

no one can without being sued to hell. People simply do not know, and until we

tell them the truth they will stay there in the dark. My mom was surprised to

learn that no, those milk cows aren't happy. They produce milk because they're

kept pregnant all the time just to have their babies taken and sold for veal,

and are fed hormones that make them produce more milk than they should. She just

didn't know.

 

Kadee Sedtal

 

donnola bitemya <redairzeke wrote:

when i learned about factory farming i became an instant vegetarian. that

was a quarter of a century ago. i can't grasp how people can continue to eat

animals even knowing how they suffer. not to mention what it does to the

environment, etc.

 

 

Get your email and more, right on the new .com

 

[Guest guest]

donnola bitemya <redairzeke wrote:

when i learned about factory farming i became an instant vegetarian.

that

was a quarter of a century ago. i can't grasp how people can continue

to eat

animals even knowing how they suffer. not to mention what it does to the

environment, etc.

 

Not to mention the people who scream to have the ten commandments

plastered all over but when it comes to " Thou shall not kill " well,

that's all I need to say on that subject...

[Guest guest]

--- " Cuthbert J. Twillie " <jdsears669

wrote:

 

> donnola bitemya <redairzeke wrote:

> when i learned about factory farming i became an

> instant vegetarian. that was a quarter of a c

> entury ago. i can't grasp how people can continue

> to eat animals even knowing how they suffer. not

> to mention what it does to the

> environment, etc.

 

I don't understand how they continue either.

Of course, even without factory farming I

don't understand how they eat veal. How

can they wear furs?

 

Gary

 

gsmattingly