ANOTHER VACATION?

No, I was just completely consumed with a particular project, which is now completed. But I was keeping track of stuff that was happening, so you'll see some backlogged stuff here over the next few days. Sorry for any inconvenience to longtime, rabid Meat Facts fans.

'WE'LL FIND MORE'

Canadians should expect to see more mad cow cases dating from after the 1997 ruminant feed ban, says a beef industry spokesman. "I was on a conference call the other day, and we were batting around the hypothetical scenario - it's November, and we've just gotten our eighth case," said Ron Axelson, general manager of the Alberta Cattle Feeders' Association. "We've got to ask ourselves what the next step's going to be at that point. Because we will find more." Whew! Good thing that's just in Canada, which our beef industry has absolutely nothing to do with.

HEISENBERG'S CAT

So even if the overall funding mechanism weren't corrupt, or if their physiology weren't way off from ours, it turns out that animal experiments are unreliable for yet another reason - one that harkens back to Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. This was a conjecture that the act of observing something for the purpose of measuring it might have an effect on the measurement itself. Now we hear from Contemporary Topics in Laboratory Animal Science that "Mice, rabbits, rats, beagles, geese, and other animals all show measurable physiological stress responses to routine laboratory procedures that have been up until now viewed as relatively benign."

"For example, a mouse who is picked up and briefly held experiences several physiological reactions. As stress-response hormones flood the bloodstream, the mouse exhibits a racing pulse and a spike in blood pressure. These symptoms can persist for up to an hour after each event. Immune response is also affected. In rats and mice, the growth of tumors is strongly influenced by how much the animals are handled.

The study's author notes that "Research on tumor development, immune function, endocrine and cardiovascular disorders, neoplasms, developmental defects, and psychological phenomena are particularly vulnerable to data being contaminated by animals' stress effects."

SECOND MCD CEO IN A YEAR TO DIE OF MEAT-RELATED DISEASE

Charlie Bell has died of cancer in his hometown of Sydney, Australia. Bell lasted less than a year on the job, having replaced Jim Cantalupo, who died suddenly in April of a heart attack after a little more than a year as CEO. Both causes of death are well-documented as illnesses related to meat consumption, but who knows? Maybe it was just the stress of trying to turn around a company that's been doing the wrong thing for so long. Either way, I believe it was David Peterson who quipped that CEO of McDonald's seems to be a more dangerous job than Iraqi policeman.

I WANT YOU... TO GO VEG!

There are many ways to interpret (read: spin) the upcoming dietary guidelines, but it's clear that the USDA is being forced to move more toward reality, and away from the meat-and-dairy-dominated "four food groups" nonsense of the previous generation. My favorite way of putting it comes from Newsday, which calls it "practically a vegetarian manifesto. Uncle Sam wants you to eat a plant-based diet."

RESCUE WORKERS TURN VEGETARIAN

I don't have anything to add to this. "The gruesome task of retrieving the bodies of tsunami victims has turned many Thai rescue workers vegetarian, the Matichon newspaper said on Friday. ...Matichon said vegetarian food was all the rage in one nearby village, where a makeshift relief kitchen produced about 1,000 boxes of meatless food a day. The newspaper quoted a survivor as saying that the smell of death had put her off meat."

BIRD FLU - WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT... AGAIN

Hey. That estimate of how many people got bird flu in the 2003 Netherlands outbreak? It was off the mark. Turns out bird flu is thirty times more dangerous than previously suspected.

Before, they reported 69 cases. But a new Dutch investigation shows it was closer to 2,000 people, meaning that this flu is much more contagious than we had understood it to be. "Even more ominous is the finding that person-to-person spread was vastly more efficient than ever before seen with bird flu. Nearly 60 percent of infected poultry workers' household contacts showed signs of infection."

Are those poultry workers lives, in addition to those of the poultry, really so worthless that an impulse buy of crispy fried chicken is more important? Then what about all the lives globally that are being put at risk? When does the obvious correlation become important enough to do act upon?

LIPS THAT TOUCH LIVER...

"People should limit eating liver to once a week and be careful about other sources of vitamin A, say food experts. Too much is toxic and increases the risk of bone fractures, according to advisers to the Food Standards Agency." That's the word from the BBC. So... liver and other sources of vitamin A are dangerous, huh? Well, no. Liver and Vitamin A supplements are. Plant sources, we discover further down in the story, are, in fact, the answer. "Preformed vitamin A, called retinol, is found only in foods of animal origin and is particularly plentiful in liver. Plant foods, such as carrots and spinach, contain compounds that are converted to vitamin A in the body, but it is unlikely that these levels can become toxic."

Vitamin A from plants: Pretty obvious, really, unless you're a Weston Price fanatic.

ANOTHER MAD COW

Three's a charm for Canada - Canadian officials have found a third animal infected with mad cow disease -- an almost 7-year-old beef cow with no known connection to the other infected cattle, reports the Washington Post. And note that "the cow was born after Canada banned the use of cattle feed that includes animal parts to try to keep the deadly infection from spreading. But officials of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said use of contaminated feed was the most likely source of infection." Gee, how would that work? If the feed was banned, how could... ? Mystifying, huh? And comically, the USDA is still standing firm in its plan to reopen the border to hihg-risk Canadian beef. Wonder how many confirmed Mad Cows would change that decision. Five? Twenty? A thousand?

CRUELTY ON THE FARM

I don't highlight each of these stories, but I've noticed they're growing more common, and it's indicatative of a general shift in perception: "Officials in Barren County are working to save the lives of more than 200 cattle today as they gather and move animals from farms owned by Tom Holmes Sr." This is the second time that Holmes has been charged with cruelty to animals relating to the condition of his cattle. What's noteworthy is that farming animals inherently involves cruelty to them, yet food animals have routinely been seen as exempt from concern, at least up to the moment they're killed. More and more, even if on a case-by-case basis, this wall of apathy is being dismantled.

RATS CAN TELL HUMAN LANGUAGES APART

A piece in New Scientist tells how rats showed they could distinguish between Dutch and Japanese. "Toro's team trained rats to recognise either Dutch or Japanese - by pressing a lever in response to a short sentence - and then exposed them to sentences they had not heard before, in both languages." Not to belabor the point, but I'm certain there are literally millions of human beings who would be unable to succeed at this task.

A COW-TIONARY TALE

Malcolm Gladwell has a book review in The New Yorker that talks about how cultures kill themselves off through short-sightedness. And what's the signal example? The Vikings in Greenland, who refused to change from their "traditional" beef-centered diet and wound up destroying themselves by burning through all their resources with animal agriculture. One entertaining quote: "The Norse needed to reduce their reliance on livestock-particularly cows, which consumed an enormous amount of agricultural resources. But cows were a sign of high status; to northern Europeans, beef was a prized food." And: "Right up until they starved to death, the Norse never lost sight of what they stood for." Boy, good thing we learned the lesson from their mistake, huh?

WANNA FEEL BETTER? GO VEGETARIAN!

That's what England's The Independent says, anyway. In the paper's frothy "100 ways to feel better" feature, under LIVE LONGER, is this item:"2. Be a vegetarian: Being vegetarian for 20 years or more adds four years to the average lifespan, according to a study based on 7,100 Adventists, who largely do not eat meat. A UK report also shows lower mortality rates among vegetarians." Also, of their ten items to add to your diet, 100% are plant foods.

HANG ON, BABY - FRIDAY'S COMIN'

Canada to Detail Mad Cow Investigation on Friday, blares this article, making the point clear in the lede (my emphasis): "Canadian officials will wait until Friday to provide an update on their search for cattle related to the country's second home-grown case of mad cow disease, a senior veterinarian said on Wednesday." Hmmmm. Why's that? "Things are changing day by day, so it becomes a little bit difficult, until the investigation is completed, to be able to come back and say, 'This is what we found'," the vet said. Anybody else find it odd that things are so fluid that they can't stop to say where things are at, yet somehow they know that on Friday they'll be at exactly the right point to provide an update?

Meanwhile: A farm in Alberta - that of Allan Degner - has been identified as the home of Canada's most recent mad cow. And back here at home, in Legislation introduced to keep ban on Canadian cattle, we hear that Representative Earl Pomeroy (D-ND) called the USDA's decision "outrageous," and said it demonstrates that the Agency "cares more about the interests of mega feed lots and processors than the interests of farmers, ranchers, and consumers." And Congressman Ron Kind sent a letter to Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman, blasting the decision to reopen the doors just after the Canadians announced another case of Mad Cow Disease.

CHRISTMAS TURKEY STUFFED WITH RODENT

What's the big deal? When John Madden eats a Turkey with a Duck stuffed inside it, it's hilarious. But if it's a different kind of animal stuffing the bird, all of a sudden people get skeeved. "Valorie J. Macy had just removed the neck and giblets and was giving the bird a second rinse when a furry little rat or mouse plopped out into the sink."

There are plenty of choice quotes in this oddball article. "Norbest [the Turkey company] bills itself as the one of the leading turkey distributors in the world. The company motto, according to its Web site, is 'Perfect turkey every time.' Not every time, Macy would argue." Heh. And though the woman ditched the turkey and thawed out a ham for the holiday dinner, she wouldn't even eat that. "I had vegetables," she said. "I don't think I'll ever eat turkey again," she said. "I'm thinking of becoming a vegetarian."

Then the piece goes over the top, as well it should. "She imagined what would have happened if the rodent was found later, say after the turkey was cooked. The discovery of a little tail sticking out of the stuffing bowl would ruin the most picture-perfect Norman Rockwell moment, she said." Yep, I guess it would do that.

VEGETABLES SAVE LIVES IN NUMEROUS WAYS

Copley News Service notes that "The same plant-rich diet that helps prevent cancer, it has been shown, also will limit your chances of obesity, heart disease and diabetes, [dietician Kim] Dalzell said. And it's also healthy for children." Not a lot of new news here, but one interesting study result: "When men in the Cancer Treatment study ate more broccoli and cauliflower -- three servings versus one -- they lowered their risk of prostate cancer by 41 percent."

KOSHER KRISIS STILL NOT OVER

"The U.S. Department of Agriculture has told federal meat inspectors that they should immediately shut down any slaughterhouse where they observe acts of cruelty similar to those surreptitiously videotaped by an animal rights group at a kosher meat plant in Iowa."

I always enjoy the willful blindness that allows officials to believe that animal cruelty isn't happening unless and until it shows up on videotape.

IT'S OFFICIAL: HUNTING CAUSES DEER-CAR COLLISIONS

This is common knowledge among many of us, but it's usually not said so clearly or authoritatively: in an article headlined, "Hunting season leads to more deer on roadways," we hear that "When the hunters go into the woods the deer come out." And Mississippi Highway Patrol Staff Sergeant Charlie Case is quoted on the causal relationship: "[T]here is more activity in the woods, with hunters, that disturbs them." Additionally, "The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reports November as the start of the fall deer activity season, increasing the number of crashes." So... what might be one realistic solution to this problem, instead of annihilating the deer? "Case tells his driving students that there are no rules to avoid deer, but some precautions can help. 'People could slow down a little bit,' he said."

ANOTHER NORTH AMERICAN MAD COW

Late to the party on this one, of course. I'll have more as this progresses, but just wanted to point out the humor of the situation, in which the Mad Cow is discovered just as the US is about to re-open the border, declaring Canadian beef safe from Mad Cow. And since that was a purely political concern, the actuality of the Mad Cow can't change that decision.

WELCOME BACK AND HAPPY NEW YEAR

All I can say about my time away is this: If you're traveling on USAir, do whatever you can to carry-on, rather than check, your bags. OK, now back to our regular subject matter.