 disenchantedcitizen says: Given the number of times that beef has been recalled due to contamination in just the past few years, doesn’t it make sense to stop eating it? How many of you have stopped? Stephanie Smith didn’t stop. She is currently in a coma, near death, and paralyzed from eating a single hamburger. E. coli O157 got into industrial beef in the first place because the meat industry insists on feeding cows corn—something they cannot easily digest—instead of grass. Among other things, corn feeding requires cows to be fed a steady dose of antibiotics, which has led to the rise of antibiotic resistance among various pathogens. But more importantly, it has caused very real changes in the cow’s gut which has allowed this toxic strain of E. coli to take hold, a strain that research suggests cannot survive in the gut of cows that eat only grass. The simple solution would be to feed cows grass. But, that solution cannot fatten cattle quickly enough to suit our current appetite for it. Beef, raised properly and fed their natural diet is perfectly healthy to eat, in moderation. But the way in which our food handlers are currently forcing cattle to fatten up and the way they are overloading them with antibiotics and growth hormones, no one can say for certain that this link in our food chain is safe to eat. E. coli didn’t just “happen” to the meat industry—it’s a consequence of industrial practices. Is the USDA looking for a solution to stamp out E. coli 0157? No. They are only giving vague assurances that they aren’t “standing still” on the issue. In reality, the industry focuses exclusively on “managing” the ongoing presence of E. coli O157 though the development of an ... There is also the moral aspect to eating meat...the cruelty to sentient beings. Cows are only semi-sentient, and not the least bit sapient. Cows raised on free-range farms live good lives and are slaughtered mercifully (unless they are taken to Kosher or Halal butchers, who kill the cows by torturing them to death), so in that case, there is no moral issue to eating beef, at the very least — unless your PETA and think that animals should have more rights than human beings. Funny thing about E. coli... proper cooking techniques kills it completely. I blame the cook in that case, not the butcher. Anyone who says that cows are sentient have never spent time with them (as a kid, I spent a couple summers on a counsin's farm). I spend half my childhood on my second cousin's dairy farm. They're marginally sentient (as dumb as bricks, actually), but definitely not sapient (make sure you're using the right words — "sentient" means that something has senses and can react to the input of those senses. Most animals are sentient. "Sapient" means self-aware. Cows are most definitely not sapient, by any stretch of the imagination.) |
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