ELEPHANT MEAT?

Though not strictly a meat fact, this is consistent with the mentality: Abuse animals routinely, continually, institutionally, and you'll be fine as long as the mainstream public doesn't see it. But more people are noticing the no-brainer that elephants do not want to perform circus tricks and only physical violence, combined with intense psychological trauma, can force them to do so. And more people will be exposed to this as the previously dismissed suit against Ringling Bros., for just those activities, was restored this week by a federal appeals court.
UPDATE 2/24: Portland Press Herald says "Performing circus pachyderms make for bad showmanship" and calls for the entire state of Maine to outlaw elephants in circuses.

POISSON / POISON

In a remarkable admonition that few health-conscious yuppies have probably noticed, the state of New Jersey has now added to its previous warnings about tainted fish by listing types that are so contaminated with PCBs that they can't be safely eaten more than ONCE A YEAR, and NEVER by pregnant women or small children. Well, at least this time it's PCBs and not more mercury... oh wait, though, here comes - yep, more mercury. Hope you're not "hooked"... hyuk, hyuk

THE WHITE STUFF

It's funny how here in America, milk is nature's perfect food, while people elsewhere seem to have a lot of trouble ingesting it. Maybe the death of a 5-month-old in England - due to cow's milk allergy, one of the commonest kid's allergies - can be written off as an isolated incident. But it's also odd that in Thailand this week, 50 students fell ill after drinking school milk. "We can't say what went wrong," an administrator said. "The milk was fresh. It's pasteurized, refrigerated all the time and was days away from the expiry date," he said. Well, yeah... but it's COW'S MILK! Could this be a clue that maybe Thai kids aren't built the same as cows? Oh, and the same might go for New Zealanders, where dairy products have been clearly linked to heart disease and diabetes. Yeesh, what are they putting in the stuff down there? Oh yeah, just the proteins that come with all cow's milk. Hmmmmmm.