DO FISH FEEL PAIN?

It's another jab in the seemingly endless back-and-forth of fish do/don't/do/don't feel pain, as scientists now say fish exhibit behavior indicating pain when they're hurt. But critics will pull out the different structure of the piscine nervous system to say we can't tell whether it means the same to them as it would to us, and on and on. All of which simply obscures the basic issue of removing fish from their daily lives to hurt and/or kill them: Why does it need to be done at all? If your answer is "for food," you may be as surprised as I was that trout farmers are complaining that Allowing fish to suffocate is cruel. With fish, I guess, it's a verrrry slippery slope.

UPDATE 5/16: Heh. Slippery slope indeed: Now the same question is being asked, again by the fishermen themselves, about lobsters.

PILGRIM'S SHAME

That massive listeria recall from late last summer lives on in a new "wrongful death" lawsuit filed by a widow whose husband ate Pilgrim's Pride deli meat and died with the same strain of listeria as that found in the "Wampler" plant. Here's hoping the negligence and apathy of the USDA, which played such a huge part in this story, is a casualty of the spotlight, bringing a semblance of a silver lining to this egregious tragedy.

LETTUCE SPRAY

Some commentators are gleefully recounting the story of lettuce contaminated with Perchlorate (courtesy of Lockheed Martin) and possibly causing trouble for people who eat it. Oddly, there hasn't been so much talk about the 42 children at Laraway Elementary School in Joliet who were rushed to a hospital after eating chicken with 133 times the accepted level of ammonia because the schools weren't informed of the ammonia contamination. Either way, it's worth remarking here that any food can be contaminated by an external source. Animal foods, though, bring their own potentially-fatal-disease-causing bacteria right there in their own package.

UPDATE 5/6: More on the Perchlorate/Lockheed Martin issue - the Bush Administration imposes a gag order. "BUSH ADMINISTRATION IS IGNORING POSSIBILITY OF SERIOUS HEALTH EFFECTS," sez The San Jose Mercury News. So, refreshingly, it's not just dangerous meat companies these folks will step in to protect, it's also dangerous defense contractors.

HEALTHY ALTERNATIVES? NO NEED TO SEARCH

Is it a coincidence that one of our culture's most powerful, cutting-edge companies has, at its cafeteria, at least one entree per meal (and a salad, and a side) that's vegetarian, usually vegan, often explicitly identified as such? Man, now even I wanna work there! No wonder these folks are takin' over the world! (via Iconomy)

GOOD NEWS FOR A CHANGE

It's not all gloom and doom, folks - turns out that certain types of tea, long known to protect against cancer, also boost the immune system. Plus, eating oatmeal regularly keeps kids from getting obese, says "the first study to use a large national sample of children and analyse the role of fibre in obesity." And it's just been found that "peanuts lower triglycerides and improve total diet quality by increasing a number of nutrients associated with the prevention of heart disease." Additionally, more benefits are being found for vitamin E, an antioxidant that protects the body from oxygen damage and may help fight against certain cancers. Here's where you can get it: "Great sources: Total and Product 19 cereals; whole-grain hot and cold cereals; sunflower seeds; almonds; cottonseed and soybean oil; margarine; and strawberries, amaranth, farro, kasha and quinoa. Good sources: vegetable-oil based salad dressings; corn oil; margarine; peanuts and peanut butter; tomato juice and processed tomatoes, such as tomato puree and tomato paste; and leafy green vegetables, such as spinach, beet, mustard greens, collard greens, Swiss chard, kale and Romaine lettuce." Gosh... what do all these foods in this post have in common?

ANOTHER BIG STINK

A scientific panel, the Institute of Medicine, says lawsuits against the government are "casting doubt on its authority to enforce food safety laws." But what to do about the problem? Um, gosh, er... ENFORCE FOOD SAFETY LAWS, maybe? Nope, that would be too simple. Instead let's have more laws to stop people from filing lawsuits against manure-spewing farms that destroy area residents' quality of life ("Bryan Burgess of St. Clair County has fainted from the stink of a hog farm near his home, and the creek he pictured full of children instead swims with E. coli."). But for the animal-abuse industry, that's still not enough: A county board has asked Minnesota to make all the state's feedlot locations top secret. The article notes that if this happens, "someone looking to buy a farm house, for instance, wouldn't have an automatic right to check records to see how close feedlots were or where the resulting manure is spread" (gee, wonder what they'll do once they find out? Hello, lawsuits!). The whole thing is supposedly predicated on fighting "terrorists," but the County Commissioner "wondered whether the county was labeling [animal-rights] activists as terrorists simply because they don't support animal agriculture." And the concept of hiding huge livestock operations from real terrorists is laughable. Even if they were too lazy to research the location info in other ways, they could, as one activist points out, simply "follow their noses."

SHAC TACTICS LTD.?

I've had a problem with reports of Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty using aggressive, terroristic tactics in an attempt to bully Huntingdon's employees and investors out of what they're doing (animal experimentation) and the injunction barring them from getting anywhere near employees' homes shows how far (too far) the group has pushed its luck. In the meanwhile, a different group, Uncaged Campaigns, has achieved a stunning victory with a non-bullying courtroom approach, forcing the release of a huge volume of confidential documents that detail how, once again, the experimentation was rife with fraud, illegality, and government collusion.

"In total," reports The Observer, "the documents reveal at least 520 errors and omissions," many of which resulted in needless and painful animal deaths. "The documents show that a quarter of the primates died from 'technical failures'." The paper continues, "Many of the 1,274 pages of documents reveal a litany of failings that will serve to ignite further controversy over HLS ... Fundamental questions over the value of vivisection itself will also be asked." Yes, let's hope so.

THE GREENING OF AMERICA

The California assembly has approved a resolution on vegetarian options in school lunches (it now goes to the state senate). And not a moment too soon: Veggie-oriented students are multiplying, from USC college kids all the way down to vegan preschoolers, and many in between, like this college-graduating 13-year-old. Even in traditonal lunchrooms, regular-kid trends are interesting: "We looked at what foods kids are actually taking and actually throwing away,' school board member Bob Stranger said. "We found they ate a lot of peas,' Stranger said. "Peaches and peas were a heavily consumed item -- whereas often with the corndogs and hotdogs -- that's another story."

POULTRY EMERGENCY WRIT LARGE

The bird flu that's hammering the California poultry industry and causing Poultry Emergencies in neighboring states has now spread to Texas. And in Europe, an outbreak in the Netherlands has spilled into Belgium, which just announced two more cases, and is nearing Germany. A quarter of a million birds in Belgium are being slaughtered, while the Dutch have already killed eleven million - 10% of the country's entire flock - yet new cases of the disease are still being found. News stories are careful to note that the flu isn't dangerous to humans - at least they were until this weekend, when a veterinarian "died of pneumonia after catching the bird flu, raising fears that a mutated version of the avian virus could cause a SARS-type human epidemic." Great. All this so some people can enjoy their KFC and McNuggets.

UPDATE 5/13: It's now spread to Germany.

ORGANIC FIGHTS BACK

Consumers want organic foods, and are willing to pay, even though they're constantly being told (falsely) that such foods are no more nutritious or less harmful than conventional. The only major obstacle is the credibility of the "organic" designation. Last week, that obstacle was flattened - at least for now. A rider to the 2003 spending bill, "Written for the benefit of a Georgia poultry farm, would have allowed farmers to label meat and dairy products as organic without using 100 percent organic feed if the price of organic feed was more than twice that of conventional feed." Thanks to Patrick Leahy and Sam Farr, this BS was eliminated from the bill. As to the anti-organic rider, "it was just such a sleazy way of going about it because consumers wouldn't know what they were buying," said Barbara Haumann, spokeswoman for the Organic Trade Association. Yep, sleazy - the meat industry's middle name.

WHERE THE DEER AND THE ANTELOPE...?

Chronic Wasting Disease is on the rise in Wyoming. In the Billings Gazette: The number of documented cases of chronic wasting disease continued to increase in Wyoming in 2002, say. "This tells us that it's spreading," said [one wildlife researcher]. "There are a lot of folks that haven't wanted to buy into it spreading, but this clearly shows it has extended its range where we didn't expect it to be, which really isn't good news."

FILTHY LUCRE

Although communities are increasingly organizing to take on filth-and-misery-generating livestock farms in their back yards, the hog lobby has friends in more powerful places, namely the state legislature. In Indiana's Senate bill, animal-based farms won't need the building permits all other farming operations (and, in fact everybody) has to get from the state. And the bill's sponsor is - guess what? - a hog farmer himself! How neat & tidy is that!

Meanwhile in South Carolina, a bill to "limit the ability of local government to regulate hog and chicken farms" has already gotten far enough that it's appalling, even if its enemies manage to shoot it down. Instrumental in pushing it through the SC House were House Speaker David Wilkins, R-Greenville, and Majority Leader Rick Quinn, R-Columbia (wow, both from the same party! What're the odds?...) Note that "Wilkins has received at least $5,500 in campaign contributions from farm interests, while Quinn has received at least $2,900." Pork, anyone?

I'LL JUST SWITCH TO LAWSUITS

California is suing restaurants over seafood, says the AP. And why? Because chains like Benihana, Red Lobster, Bennigan's and Outback "were not following guidelines requiring businesses to post warnings when they expose people to carcinogens" - namely, harmful levels of mercury. While downplaying the notion that people should avoid fish if they possibly can, Attorney General Bill Lockyer pointed out that "the fish listed in this lawsuit contain high levels of substances known to cause cancer, birth defects and reproductive harm." And that's when you're eating seafood that's not tainted with deadly botulism or listeria! A lawsuit about disclosing health risks, eh? Did somebody say "McDonalds?"

CO-INCIDENTS?

I've avoided making any mention of Dr. Atkins' unfortunate accident nearly a week ago, which has left him in a coma, on life support, because the cause seems unrelated to his irresponsible diet advice. I assume it is in fact unrelated, even though his surgery was to remove a blood clot, which we know can be exacerbated by poor cholesterol and/or high blood pressure, so sure, it's just a coincidence, and so was his cardiac arrest (not a heart attack!) at this time last year. But in another coincidence, the Governor of Alaska, who's been on the Atkins diet for a month or so, just underwent extreme heart surgery to open a blocked heart artery - and didn't even tell his own spokesman what he was going in for. I'm still holding out the benefit of the doubt, but coincidences make you wonder: How many non-famous Atkins dieters are in the hospital every day?
UPDATE 4/23: Another famous Atkins dieter is in the hospital today, having suffered a massive stroke. At present, popular crooner Luther Vandross in critical condition. News reports mention his having been on a liquid diet some 13 years ago, but not the fact that high-protein was his latest yo-yo of choice, as detailed in this ABCNews story from 2001: "In his recent dieting success, Vandross says he has discovered the secret to weight loss. Using a high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet, he shed 120 pounds. 'I deleted carbohydrates, I deleted starches ... no bread, no rice, no pasta, no potatoes,' he explains. Breakfast, for example, is usually Egg Beaters or a turkey burger." Lest you think he was a couch potato, the story claims that "Along with his diet, Vandross is working out three or four times a week," and points out how "it can still be a struggle for him to stick to his diet. Just weeks ago, he suffered food poisoning..." Yep, that's one of the hazards of a meat-based diet. But not necessarily the worst.

BAD LUCK OR BAD KARMA?

The slump continues: "McDonald's Corp. reported lower same-store sales Thursday for a 13th consecutive month," CBS Marketwatch reports, calling it "a trend analysts expect to continue." Awwwwwwwwwww. You mean the company's much-ballyhooed WiFi access hasn't changed everybody's mind yet?

MONKEY SEE, MONKEY DOO

Heh. Next time someone starts a "veganism is unnatural" tirade and brings up those prehistoric meat-eaters, just say, "Yeah, we should be eating other humans, like they did! That would be more 'natural!'" After all, a BBC article quotes an expert's opinion that "widespread cannibalism among ancient humans" may be behind our species' general resistance to CJD. "Although some anthropologists believe that the argument for human cannibalism is not yet proven," the article continues, "evidence that it did happen includes human bones with human teeth marks on them, and fossilised human faeces which includes human proteins." It always comes back to the feces, doesn't it?

THREE FACES OF THE U.S.D.A.

STERN PUBLIC FACE Standing firm at a Meat Safety conference and essentially declaring War on E. Coli yet again, the agency said federal inspectors have started regularly taking meat samples from all meatpacking plants, not just those that lacked testing programs.

TYRANNICAL PRIVATE FACE Meanwhile, when those inspectors do anything about non-compliant plants they're likely to be retaliated against and suspended by the USDA, as were two federal meat inspectors in the New York area - they were suspended for reporting possible misconduct by other inspectors, according to a ruling by an administrative judge made public yesterday.

As the New York Times notes, "Inspectors in California and Arkansas have made similar claims of harsh treatment." And "an inspector in Pennsylvania said in December that safety officials had brushed aside his concerns about a plant linked to an outbreak of food-poisoning by the listeria bacteria that killed eight people.
(FRIDAY AFTERNOON ALERT: Explain this one to me, will you? "Judge Ruggiero issued the decision on Tuesday, but it was not made public until [Friday]." Uh..........huh.)

BACKSLAPPING CRONY FACE Topping off all of last year's drought-connected bailouts for livestock producers, the agency announced "Additional Livestock Assistance" to many states, in the form of "surplus USDA stocks of non-fat dry milk." Oh, good. So the USDA finally found a way to get rid of all that "nonfat milk powder that it bought over the past three years to prop up the prices paid to dairy farmers." Am I really the only one who connects these dots?
P.M. UPDATE 4/10: No, I'm not the only one, apparently. So howcum this bit of info wasn't in any of the other sources I had found?

MORE FRIVOLITY IN THE COURTS?

Here's an interesting British legal action that looks destined to go the way of the first McDonalds lawsuit - being tarred "frivolous" and losing the verdict but winning great changes from the company in the long run, both legally and socioeconomically. The Independent reports that the legality of 'broiler' chicken farming is being challenged over there: "Compassion in World Farming lodged papers in the High Court this week [asking] the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to ban fast-growing broiler chickens, which make up the majority of the market." The charity cited "leg deformities and heart failure" in the chickens as forms of (banned) cruelty.

ANOTHER BIG FAT LIE

The Center for Science in the Public Interest is all bent out of shape about Laura’s Lean Beef, which apparently has been voluntarily labeling its meat to give fraudulent nutritional info - namely, carrying three or four times the amount of saturated fat as claimed. Worse, many cuts have the American Heart Association’s "heart-check" logo even though the product may have three times the amount allowed by AHA guidelines. Well, this is funny, but not in the least surprising - hello, you expected a) BEEF to be HEALTHY, and b) MEAT producers to tell consumers the TRUTH? What reality is CSPI living in? I wondered why they concentrated all their energy on "Laura's Lean," until the last sentence, where it's explained that Laura's steaks are at least "leaner than the average supermarket steaks." So, in other words, this is the best-case scenario.

BIG FAT LIE TAKES A HIT

In case you've been on Mars without a working satellite dish, you'll remember Gary Taubes's "Big Fat Lie" article in The New York Times Magazine last summer, as everybody's been talking about it. Taubes's thesis - if that word can be applied to a screed of "Atkins was right, you were wrong" - was that the Atkins diet made people lose weight not because they were consuming less calories, but because of some magico-mystical process he tagged "endocrinology 101," whereby increasing fat intake proportionate to carb intake simply melted the pounds away. (That Taubes was forced to misrepresent, misquote or utterly ignore many of his own sources and most of the relevant data is a side issue here.) Well, a team of doctors from Stanford and Yale begs to differ, after analyzing more than 100 diet studies involving more than 3,000 people. Turns out that "any weight loss achieved on a low-carb diet comes from consuming fewer calories, the crucial factor in a standard weight-loss diet. Carbohydrate restriction had nothing to do with it." Don't worry, I'm sure it won't impact Taubes's book deal - he'll just have to move on to the even-more-mysterious "endocrinology 102."