summer news briefs
Publication Date:
August 31, 2006
Antibiotic use will be curbed by law, states Jim Romahn in the Manitoba Cooperator. Here’s why: the most recent report from the Canadian Integrated Program for Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance revealed there is some degree of antimicrobial resistance in 80% of pigs, 78% of chickens and 31% of cattle being slaughtered at packing plants; 25% of chickens had bacteria resistant to one of the most valuable antibiotics in human medicine; salmonella resistant to antimicrobials were found in 40% of chickens and 45% of pigs; nationally, 28% of chicken had some E. coli resistant to antibiotics and sampling at rendering plants found antimicrobial resistance in 83% of turkeys, 77% of pigs, 57% of cattle and 40% of chickens. (Manitoba Cooperator, July 27, 2006)
Managing diabetes can be easy on a low-fat vegan diet , suggests a study by the American Diabetes Association. A low-fat diet that shuns all animal foods does a better job at helping Type 2 diabetics shed excess pounds than the standard diabetic diet, and it’s an easier diet to follow. (Globe & Mail, August 2, 2006)
The 50-month-old dairy cow from Alberta that tested positive for BSE in August showed no symptoms of the disease, a development that Bill Bullard, chief executive of Ranchers’ Cattlemen Action legal fund described as “groundbreaking news.” USDA and other experts contend that prion formation dangerous to humans takes place only shortly before the onset of BSE symptoms, thus testing has concentrated on animals exhibiting symptoms and elderly cattle. However, other experts have argued that infectivity could be present much longer before the onset of symptoms. (Ed. Note: Dairy cows, a high percentage of whom are lame at slaughter, are most often killed at 5-6 years, and their remains are used to produce ground beef. (Meatingplace.com, 31.aug.06)
55% of uncooked chicken and 100% of fast-food brand chicken contains detectable levels of arsenic, some well over the Environmental Protection Agency’s standard allowable in public drinking water, according to a study by the Institute of Agriculture and Trade Policy. Arsenic is a known carcinogen and is linked to neurological, cardiovascular and immune problems. It is commonly added to chicken feed to improve feed efficiency, improve pigmentation, promote faster weight gain or prevent intestinal infection caused by parasites. (Good Medicine, Summer, 2006)
Chicago has become the first US city to prohibit the sale of foie gras (French for ‘fatty liver’. To produce foie gras, geese are force-fed with steel pipes shoved down their throats, in order to cause their livers to expand 10 times their normal size. (Farm Sanctuary News, summer, 2006)
