WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR... CANCER?

"High Protein Diets May Boost Cancer Risk" blares the Washington Post, summarizing what looks like a pretty preliminary study, but one that merits at least as much hyping as any of the tiny preliminary studies that seemed to exonerate high-protein diets. Basically, the study found that physically fit people who consumed more protein (which, though it's not explicit here, is almost certainly mostly animal protein) had more IGF-I, known to spur the growth of cancer cells, as compared to those eating a lower-protein vegetarian diet. This should be followed up with more comprehensive studies, but for now it's worth noting that the old saw "where do you get your protein?" has never looked more dangerously inane.

UN: MEAT-EATING IS KILLING THE PLANET

This is a major report that spells out what we've known for years: Massive US-style livestock operations are the biggest factors driving global warming. Maybe people like Al "Inconvenient Truth" Gore will start to pay attention, even if the hardcore deniers keep ignoring it...

"Livestock are one of the most significant contributors to today’s most serious environmental problems," senior UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) official Henning Steinfeld said. "Urgent action is required to remedy the situation."

Cattle-rearing is also a major source of land and water degradation, according to the FAO report.

Even in spelling all of this out the report, from what I've read of it, shies away from the most glaringly obvious solution: Rather than tinker with animals' diets to get a certain number of ounces less methane per cow, STOP RAISING AND EATING SO MANY OF THEM. Pretty simple, really, but I guess that'll have to wait for the next pass.