"Although
cattle grazing in the West has polluted more water, eroded
more topsoil, killed more fish, displaced more wildlife, and
destroyed more vegetation than any other land use, the American
public pays ranchers to do it!"
-Ted Williams, environmental author |
| "Genetically
engineered crops were created not because they're productive
but because they're patentable. Their economic value is oriented
not toward helping subsistence farmers to feed themselves
but toward feeding more livestock for the already overfed
rich." -Amory and Hunter Loving, Founders of Rocky Mountain
Institute |
DIET
AND CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE
Drop in heart disease
risk for every 1 percent decrease in blood cholesterol: 3-4 percent
Blood cholesterol
levels of vegetarians compared to non-vegetarians: 14 percent lower
Risk of
death from heart disease for vegetarians compared to non-vegetarians:
Half
Blood cholesterol
levels of vegans ( no meat, eggs, or dairy products) compared to non-vegetarians:
35 percent lower
Intake of
cholesterol for non-vegetarians: 300-500 milligrams/day
Intake of
cholesterol for lacto-ovo vegetarians: 150-300 milligrams/day
Intake of cholesterol
for vegans: Zero
Average cholesterol
level in the United States: 210
Average
cholesterol level of U.S. vegetarians: 161
Average
cholesterol level of U.S. vegans: 133
Percentage of adult
daily value for saturated fat in one Double Whopper with cheese: 130%
Percentage
of eight-year-old child's daily value for saturated fat in one Double
Whopper with cheese: More than 200%
"A
large and convincing body of evidence from studies in humans . . .
shows that diets low in saturated fatty acids and cholesterol are
associated with low risks and rates of atherosclerotic cardiovascular
disease."
-U.S. National Research Council, in "Diet and Health, Implications
for Reducing Chronic Disease Risk" |
"In
regions where meat is scarce, cardiovascular disease is unknown."
- Time Magazine
Risk of dying during
bypass surgery: 4.6%-11.9%
Risk of permanent
brain damage from bypass surgery: 15%-44%
Recipients
of bypass surgery for whom it prolongs life: 2%
Risk of
death during angioplasty: 0.4%-2.8%
Risk of
major complication developing during angioplasty: 10%
Studies
that have found that angioplasty prolongs life or prevents heart attacks:
Zero
Number of patients
on Dr. Dean Ornish's vegan diet program that achieve reversal of atherosclerosis:
Three out of every four
Average
reduction in arterial blockage after five years on the Ornish program:
8%
Most common problem
for which people go to doctors in the U.S.: High blood pressure
Ideal blood
pressure (without medication): 110/70 or less
Average
blood pressure of vegetarians: 112/69
Average
blood pressure of non-vegetarians: 121/77
Incidence
of high blood pressure in meat eaters compared to vegetarians: Nearly
triple
Patients with high
blood pressure who achieve substantial improvement after switching to
a vegetarian diet: 30%-70%
Incidence
of high blood pressure among senior citizens in the U.S.: More than
50%
Incidence
of high blood pressure among senior citizens in countries eating traditional,
low-fat plant-based diets: Virtually none
DIET
AND CANCER
Death
rate from breast cancer in the United States:
Death rate
from breast cancer in Japan:
Death rate
from breast cancer in China: |
22.4
(per 100,000)
6.3 (per 100,000)
4.6 (per 100,000) |
Primary
reasons for difference:
People in China and Japan eat more fruits and vegetables and fewer
animal products, weigh less, drink less alcohol, and get more exercise
than people in the United States. |
Number of lives lost
to colon cancer each year in the United States: 55,000
Risk
of colon cancer for women who eat red meat daily compared to those who
eat it less than once a month: 250 percent greater
Risk of
colon cancer for people who eat red meat once a week compared to those
who abstain: 38 percent greater
Risk
of colon cancer for people who eat poultry once a week compared to those
who abstain: 55 percent greater
Risk of
colon cancer for people who eat poultry four times a week compared to
those who abstain: 200-300 percent greater
Risk of colon
cancer for people who eat beans, peas, or lentils at least twice a week
compared to people who avoid these foods: 50 percent lower
Impact on risk for
colon cancer when diets are rich in the B-vitamin folic acid: 75 percent
lower
Primary
food sources of folic acid: Dark green leafy vegetables, beans, and
peas
Most common cause
of cancer mortality worldwide: lung cancer
Number of
lives lost in the U.S. to lung cancer annually: 150,000
Impact on
risk of lung cancer for people who frequently eat green, orange and yellow
vegetables: 20%-60% reduction
Impact on
risk of lung cancer among people who consume a lot of apples, bananas
and grapes: 40% reduction
| Diet
Costs Economy More than Smoking: |
|
Annual medical
costs in the United States directly attributable to smoking:
Annual
medical costs in the United States directly attributable to meat
consumption:
|
$65 billion
$60-120
billion
|
Most common cancer
among American men: prostate cancer
Risk of
prostate cancer for men who consume high amounts of dairy products: 70%
increase
Risk of
prostate cancer for men who consume soy milk daily: 70% reduction
Risk of
prostate cancer for men whose intake of cruciferous vegetables (broccoli,
Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, collards, kale, mustard greens,
turnips) is high: 41% reduction
"Five
to ten percent of all cancers are caused by inherited genetic mutations.
By contrast, 70 to 80 percent have been linked to [diet and other]
behavioral factors."
-Karen Emmons, M.D., Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston |
"Now
some people scoff at vegetarians, but they have only 40 percent of
our cancer rate. They outlive us. On average they outlive other men
by about six years now."
-William Castelli, M.D., Director, Framingham Heart Study; National
Heart, Lung and Blood Institute |
"If
you step back and look at the data [on beef and cancer], the optimum
amount of red meat you eat should be zero."
-Walter Willett, M.D., Chairman of the Nutrition Department, Harvard
School of Public Health, and director of a study of 88,000 American
nurses that analyzed the link between diet and colon cancer |
DIET
AND OSTEOPOROSIS
Countries with the
highest consumption of dairy products: Finland, Sweden, United States,
England
Countries with the highest rates of osteoporosis: Finland, Sweden,
United States, England
Daily calcium intake
for African Americans: More than 1,000 mg
Daily calcium intake for black South Africans: 196 mg
Hip fracture rate for African Americans compared to black South Africans:
9 times greater
Calcium intake in
rural China: One-half that of people in the United States
Bone fracture rate in rural China: One-fifth that of people in the
United States
"Beyond
weaning age, children and adults of various countries and food cultures
subsist on diets differing markedly in their calcium content. These
differences in calcium intake . . . have not been demonstrated to
have any consequences for nutritional health."
-Health Canada's Nutrition Recommendations |
Foods that when eaten
produce the most calcium loss through urinary excretion: Animal protein
and coffee
Amount of calcium lost in the urine of a woman after eating a hamburger:
28 milligrams
Amount of calcium lost in the urine of a woman after drinking a cup of
coffee: 2 milligrams
Average daily calcium intake of vegans: 437mg-1,100 mg
Calcium
absorption rates
(according to the American
Journal of Clinical Nutrition): |
Brussels
sprouts
Mustard greens
Broccoli
Turnip greens
Kale
Cow's milk |
63.8 percent
57.8 percent
52.6 percent
51.6 percent
32 percent |
Other
milk facts:
Children with chronic
constipation so intractable that it can't be treated with laxatives who
are cured by switching from cow's milk to soy milk: 44%
Lactose intolerance
among people of Asian descent: 90%-100%
Lactose intolerance among Native Americans: 95%
Lactose intolerance among people of African descent: 65%-75%
Lactose
intolerance among people of Italian descent: 65%-70%
Lactose
intolerance among people of Hispanic descent: 50%-60%
Lactose
intolerance among people of Caucasian descent: 10%
Average American's
estimate when asked what percentage of adults worldwide do not drink milk:
1%
Actual number
of adults worldwide who do not drink milk: 65%
DIET
AND PROTEIN NEEDS
Protein in human mother's
breast milk (as percentage of total calories): 5%
Human protein requirement (according to World Health Organization) 5%
of total calories
Recommended protein requirement (according to Food and Nutrition Board
of the National Academy of Sciences: 6% of total calories
Recommended protein requirement, including substantial added safety margin
(according to National Research Council): 8% of total calories
Primary disease linked
to inadequate protein consumption: kwashiorkor
Number of cases of kwashiorkor in the U.S.: virtually none
Primary diseases linked
to EXCESS protein consumption: Osteoporosis and kidney disease
Number of cases of osteoporosis and kidney disease in the U.S.: tens
of millions
DIET
AND FOOD-BORNE ILLNESS
"A
report by the United States Department of Agriculture estimates that
89 percent of U.S. beef ground into patties contains traces of the
deadly E. coli strain."
- Reuters News Service |
"Year
after year the egg industry goes to [Congress] to try to turn back
public health improvements. Eggs remain at the top of the list of
foods that are causing food-borne outbreaks."
- Center for Science in the Public Interest |
"Five
to ten percent of all cancers are caused by inherited genetic mutations.
By contrast, 70 to 80 percent have been linked to [diet and other]
behavioral factors."
-Karen Emmons, M.D., Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston |
"First
it was E. coli and Salmonella poisoning, then the Mad Cow disease,
and now the Hong Kong flu…what do these growing epidemics have
in common? They are all transmitted to human consumers through chickens
and other animals raised in factory farms. And little wonder. In the
filthy, crowded pens, harmless microorganisms mutate into virulent
pathogens. Routine use of antibiotics ensures their resistance to
life-saving drugs. It makes one wax nostalgic for the good old days
when meat eating was associated only with heart disease, stroke, cancer,
diabetes, and atherosclerosis"
- WorldWatch journal. |
"Public
health is united in the conclusion. There is no controversy about
where the antibiotic resistance in food-borne pathogens comes from…(It)
is due to the heavy use of antibiotics in livestock."
- Dr. Frederick J. Angulo, epidemiologst in the food-borne and diarrheal
disease branch of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
1999. |
Primary source of
E. coli 0157:H7 infections: Hamburgers and other forms of ground beef
Potential consequence of ingestion of deadly E. coli 0157:H7 bacteria
in humans: Devastating illness with multiple organ failure and high
death rate
Long-term afflictions suffered by many survivors of E. coli 0157:H7 poisoning:
Epilepsy, blindness, lung damage, kidney failure
Leading cause of kidney
failure in U.S. and Canadian children: Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome
Cases of Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome that are caused by E. coli 0127:H7:
85%
Americans sickened
from eating Salmonella-tainted eggs every year: More than 650,000
Americans killed from eating Salmonella-tainted eggs every year: 600
Increase in Salmonella poisoning from raw or undercooked eggs between
1976 and 1986: 600 percent
Annual Salmonella
cases in Sweden: 800
Annual Salmonella cases in the United States: More than 1 million
Leading cause of food-borne
illness in the United States: Campylobacter
People in the United States who become ill with Campylobacter poisoning
every day: More than 5,000
Annual Campylobacter-related fatalities in the United States: More
than 750
Primary source of Campylobacter bacteria: Contaminated chicken flesh
American chickens sufficiently contaminated with Campylobacter to cause
illness: 70 percent
American turkeys sufficiently contaminated with Campylobacter to cause
illness: 90 percent
Number of hens in three flocks screened for Campylobacter by University
of Wisconsin researchers: 2,300
Number of hens that were NOT infected with Campylobacter: 8
Antibiotics produced
in the U.S. annually: 25,000 tons
Antibiotics administered to livestock in the U.S. annually: 10,000
tons
Antibiotics allowed
in U.S. milk: 80
Antibiotics found in soy milk: 0
FOOD CHOICES AND THE ENVIRONMENT
"The
contamination of the nations' waterways from [pork] manure run-off
is extremely serious. Twenty tons of [pork and other] livestock manure
are produced for every household in the country. We have strict laws
governing the disposal of human waste, but the regulations are lax,
or often nonexistent, for animal waste."
- Union of Concerned Scientists |
"A
report by the United States Department of Agriculture estimates that
89 percent of U.S. beef ground into patties contains traces of the
deadly E. coli strain."
- Reuters News Service |
The
impact of countless hooves and mouths over the years has done more
to alter the type of vegetation and land forms of the West than all
the water projects, strip mines, power plants, freeways, and subdivision
development combined."
- Philip Fradkin, in Audubon |
Gallons of oil spilled
by the Exxon Valdez: 12 million
Gallons of animal waste spilled into the Neuse River in North Carolina
on June 21, 1995, when a "lagoon" holding 8 acres of hog excrement
burst: 25 million
Fish killed
as an immediate result: 10-14 million
Fish whose breeding area was decimated by this disaster: Half of all
mid-east coast fish species
Acres of coastal wetlands closed to shell fishing as a result: 364,000
Amount of waste produced
by North Carolina's 7 million factory-raised hogs (stored in reeking,
open cesspools) compared to the amount produced by the state's 6.5 million
people: 4 to 1
Relative concentration of pathogens in hog waste compared to human sewage:
10 to 100 times greater
Number of poultry
operations (according to the General Accounting Office) that are of sufficient
size to be required to obtain a discharge permit under the Clean Water
Act: About 2,000
Number (according to the General Accounting Office) that have actually
done so: 39
Number of the 22 largest
animal factories in Missouri that are required to have valid operating
discharge permits, that actually have them: 2
Number one milk producing
are in the U.S.: California's Central Valley
Amount of waste produced by the 1,600 dairies in California's Central
Valley: More than the entire human population of Texas
Total number of water
quality inspectors in California's Central Valley: 4
Cities that rely on California's Central Valley as a source of drinking
water: Los Angeles, San Diego, and most cities in between.
Number of Californians whose drinking water is threatened by contamination
from dairy manure: 20 million (65% of the state's population).
Pathogen, stemming
from dairy manure, that sickened 400,000 people and killed more than 100
people in Milwaukee in 1993: Cryptosporidium
Pathogen that Los Angeles metropolitan water district officials say is
a constant threat to L.A. drinking water from Central Valley dairy waste:
Cryptosporidium
Number of California beach closings due to water pollution in 1998: 5,285
"American
feed (for livestock) takes so much energy to grow that it might as
well be a petroleum byproduct"
- WorldWatch Institute |
Calories of fossil
fuel expended to produce 1 calorie of protein from soybeans: 2
Calories of fossil fuel expended to produce 1 calorie of protein from
corn or wheat: 3
Calories of fossil fuel expended to produce 1 calorie of protein from
beef: 78
Amount of greenhouse-warming carbon gas released by driving a typical
American car, in one day: 3 kilograms
Amount released by clearing and burning enough Costa Rican rainforest
to produce beef for one hamburger: 75 kilograms
Number of species
of birds in one square mile of Amazon rainforest: More than exist in
all of North America
Life forms destroyed in the production of each fast-food hamburger made
from rainforest beef: Members of 20 to 30 different plant species,
100 different insect species, and dozens of bird, mammal, and reptile
species
Length of time before
the Indonesian forests, all 280 million acres of them, would be completely
gone if they were cleared to produce enough beef for Indonesians to eat
as much beef, per person, as the people of the United States do: 3.5
years
Length of time before
the Costa Rican rainforest would be completely gone if it were cleared
to produce enough beef for the people of Costa Rica to eat as much beef,
per person, as the people of the United States eat: 1 year
What a hamburger produced
by clearing forest in India would cost if the real costs were included
in the price rather than subsidized: $200
Most
of the public lands in the West, and especially the Southwest, are
what you might call 'cow burnt.' Almost anywhere and everywhere you
go in the American West you find hordes of cows. . . They are a pest
and a plague. They pollute our springs and streams and rivers. They
infest our canyons, valleys, meadows and forests. They graze off the
native bluestems and grama and bunch grasses, leaving behind jungles
of prickly pear. They trample down the native forbs and shrubs and
cacti. They spread the exotic cheatgrass, the Russian thistle, and
the crested wheat grass. Even when the cattle are not physically present,
you see the dung and the flies and the mud and the dust and the general
destruction. If you don't see it, you'll smell it. The whole American
West stinks of cattle."
- Edward Abbey, conservationist and author, in a speech before cattlemen
at the University of Montana in 1985 |
World's mammalian
species currently threatened with extinction: 25%
Leading cause of species in the tropical rainforests being threatened
or eliminated: Livestock grazing
Leading cause of species in the United States being threatened or eliminated
(according to the U.S. Congress General Accounting Office): Livestock
grazing
FOOD
CHOICES AND GENETIC ENGINEERING
"I have a feeling
that science has transgressed a barrier that should have remained inviolate.
. . . You cannot recall a new form of life. . .It will survive you and
your children and your children's children. An irreversible attack on
the biosphere is something so unheard of, so unthinkable in previous generations,
that I only wish that mine had not been guilty of it."
- Erwin Chargaff, Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry, Columbia University,
and discoverer of "Chargaff's Rules," the scientific foundation
for the discovery of the DNA double helix
"Monsanto should
not have to vouchsafe the safety of biotech food. Our interest is in selling
as much of it as possible. Assuring its safety is the FDA's job."
- Phil Angell, Monsanto's Director of Corporate Communications, New York
Times, 1999
"Ultimately,
it is the food producer who is responsible for assuring safety."
- FDA Federal Register, Statement of Policy: Foods Derived from New Plant
Varieties
"This technology
is being promoted, in the face of concerns by respectable scientists and
in the face of data to the contrary, by the very agencies which are supposed
to be protecting human health and the environment. The bottom line, in
my view, is that we are confronted with the most powerful technology the
world has ever known, and it is rapidly being deployed with almost no
thought whatsoever to its consequences"
- Suzanne Wuerthele, toxicologist, U.S. EPA
"(Genetic engineering)
faces our society with problems unprecedented, not only in the history
of science, but of life on the Earth. It places in human hands the capacity
to redesign living organisms, the products of some three billion years
of evolution…up to now, living organisms have evolved very slowly,
and new forms have had plenty of time to settle in. Now whole proteins
will be transposed overnight into wholly new associations, with consequences
no one can foretell…Going ahead in this direction may be not only
unwise, but dangerous. Potentially, it could breed new animal and plant
diseases, new sources of cancer and new epidemics"
- George Wald, M.D., Nobel Laureate in Medicine, Professor of Biology,
Harvard University
Total global area
planted in genetically engineered crops, 1995: Negligible
Total global area planted in genetically engineered crops, 1996: 4
million acres
Total global area planted in genetically engineered crops, 1997: 27
million acres
Total global area planted in genetically engineered crops, 1998: 69
million acres
Total global area planted in genetically engineered crops, 1999: 99
million acres
Global transgenic
acreage accounted for, in 2000, by soybeans: 54%
Global transgenic acreage accounted for, in 2000, by corn: 28%
Global transgenic acreage accounted for, in 2000, by cotton: 9%
Global transgenic acreage accounted for, in 2000, by canola: 9%
Fraction of American
cows injected with genetically engineered recombinant bovine growth hormone
(rBGH): About ¼
Reason for injecting cows with rBGH: To increase milk production
Amount of milk produced by American dairy farmers annually since 1950:
Vastly more than Americans can consume.
Number of
cows slaughtered as part of a U.S. federal government program to halt
milk overproduction in 1986-87: 1.5 million
Insulin-like growth
factor (IGF-1) in rBGH milk vs. normal milk: 2-10 times as much
Risk of prostate cancer in men over 60 years of age with high levels of
IGF-1 compared to men with low levels: 8 times greater
Risk of breast cancer in premenopausal women with even small increases
in blood levels of IGF-1 compared to women with low levels: up to 7
times greater
According to FDA researchers,
IGF-1 is not destroyed by pasteurization
Increase in mastitis
in rBGH-treated cows: 25%
Increase in lameness in rBGH-treated cows: 50%
Monsanto's suggestion to counter the bovine health problems related to
rBGH use: Greater use of antibiotics.
For
footnotes, studies & sources cited for all above facts,
read: "The
Food Revolution" by John Robbins
See also Pimentel's How
Much Water for a Pound of Beef?
|
