I'LL JUST SWITCH TO FISH II

Another clue that our obsession with eating animals does damage: The big scary voracious walking fish that just got banned was imported why? To be eaten, of course! Meanwhile, if you're pregnant or live in New Jersey, you - as well as everybody else with a lick of sense - had better not eat those scaly creatures. You may as well just crack open a thermometer and guzzle it. But here's the kicker - if you're deluding yourself into thinking fish is desirable because it's rich in Omega-3 fatty acids, you have a choice of eating large amounts of toxins, as above, in wild fish, or eating the much safer farmed fish. Except farmed fish are a lousy source of Omega-3s, essentially for the same reason they're a poor source of toxins. One way or another, you gotta throw out the fish with the bathwater.

MMMMMMM...IRRADIATED FECES!

Still not convinced that the USDA is more corrupt than Enron? How 'bout this item: They convened focus groups to see if they could get away with calling irratiated food "pasteurised" and met with a resounding 'NO' - then ignored the results and pretended TO CONGRESS that the research hadn't happened, in order to get such a provision into the farm bill. Gosh, last time I heard, lying to congress was a pretty serious offense.
But the bigger joke is that we have warm, fuzzy feelings about the word "pasteurization" and don't want it debased this way, when it's basically simply a way to cook fecal matter in milk to the point that bacteria won't spread so much. As the CDC notes in its pro-irradiation pep-talk, milk ... sickened and killed consumers by the thousands a century ago, before pasteurization took hold. By what means did it sicken & kill 'em? Besides tuberculosis, it often carried Listeria, Campylobacter, Yersinia, Salmonella, Staphylococcus, and ... you guessed it ... Escherichia coli. Yeesh, let's zap that stuff!

HEAT IS BUILDING ON CORRUPT USDA

Now that the feces-laced beef has sickened 26 people in five states, newspaper editorials across the country are waking up to the plain signs of corruption in our government agency in charge of animal agriculture. In this one from the Chicago Tribune, one reform advocate says "I have never seen such clear evidence of the USDA ignoring inspectors trying to do the right thing."

MEAT & BRAIN-WASTING DISEASES LINKED

Study after study is now confirming that eating less meat and more fruits & veggies DECREASES the chance of Alzheimers. Or to put it another way, eating more meat and less fruits & veggies INCREASES that chance. (We won't go into the whole tangent on cholesterol-lowering drugs, and how you only need those if you consume cholesterol in the first place.) But it is worth noting that some commentators have suggested Mad Cow may already have struck in the U.S. and been misdiagnosed as Alzheimers. The two brain-wasting diseases have a fascinating, and scary, amount in common. Something to think about - while you're still able to think.

MEAT RECALL TURNS MASSIVE

The ConAgra beef recall already mentioned several time here has become front page news as the USDA has expanded it to 19 million pounds of beef in 21 states, the second largest recall ever. And while the public in general yawns and turns the page, some (non-vegetarian) watchdogs are finally saying enough is enough - Stop Putting Corporate Profits and Corporate Secrecy Ahead of Public Health!