A Biological Absurdity!

If you drive through the west, especially western Kansas, you will often see steel-fenced, rectangular grids as far as the eye can see. The grids are called CAFOs [ Concentrated Animal Feed Lots ] in which thousands upon thousands of cattle live and lay in manure lagoons created by their own waste. This environment turns a potential source of important fertilizer [ animal manure ] into toxic waste.

The government and big agribusiness have created a hugh mass of bio energy [corn ] which provides the producers cheap animal "feed." 125,000 square miles have been devoted to growning cheap corn on combined areas equal to twice the size of New York State. They are using corn as the "magic" fattening pill so the producers can add more weight to the animals faster and cheaper. Chemicals are also used to promote fast weight gain. Since 1976, increasing use of growth-promoting feed additives have been used.

Here is absurdity number 1: We are forcing animals to live under conditions which are toxic. They are existing in polluted air and water, toxic wastes, and deadly pathogens.

Absurdity number2: We have taken animals that have been exquisitely adapted by natural selection to live on GRASS and forced them to live in an alien environment and fed alien food. 100 million cattle are consuming mountains of corn instead of their natural prairie grasses.

When we eat the flesh of the animals raised under those stressful conditions, we're eating whatever junk is in that flesh. Corn-fatted tissue, growth hormone and whatever other ingredients are in the chemical cocktail fed to the animals are likely to find their way into our tissues. Some experts say that there is compelling evidence linking the enormous growth in synthetic chemicals with the current epidemic of overweight. The same might be said of corn which is ubiquitous in commercial feed lots. If the corn can fatten the animals. Guess what? You can do the math.

Here is a good example to consider. According to the Nutrition Action Health letter, "If you had to pick a single food that inflicts the most damage on the American diet, ground beef would be a prime contender. Whether it's Tacos, meatloaf, lasagna, or the ubiquitous hamburger, Americans stuff themselves with ground beef without a second thought about its consequences. "Billions and billions served" means "billions and billions" spent"...on doctors visits and hospital bills. Cheap meat which was once eaten eaten only on special occasions is now eaten three times a day.
We have become industrial eaters and our sense of taste has been ruined by McDonalds and others while also becoming increasingly over corn fed, fat and unhealthy. The short , unhappy life of a corn-fed feedlot steer represents the ultimate triumph of industrial thinking over the logic of evolution.



Additional sources of info on this subject: The Omnivore's Dilemma-Michael Pollan

The Body Restoration Plan-Dr. Paula Baillie- Hamilton