Food Project
The Suicide We Commit
We have so many health problems here and there saying that we as Americans are overweight. A big problem is what we feed our cattle, cattle feed not only affects them but it can stream of on to us too. We are more concerned now about efficiency rather than quality. We give cattle things like growth hormones and corn to get the cows out on the market quicker and cheaper. If we were paying more attention to the people around us and the things we are hurting like the environment I think that we would be in a better place right now. I mean you have people getting E. coli and other food poisoning, we are doing something wrong somewhere. it doesn’t stop there it moves on to fast food restaurants. When most people think of a McDonalds burger they think of grass fed cows, the sad news is that they are not! And there is so much more that many just chose to not see or even care about.
Cows feeding on an open field, A site that most hold in there head of how cows are raised. This is not the case most times; most cattle come from feed lots. Feed lots are a place where they are packed in like sardines. In Mark Notaras’ article “The shame of concentrated animal feedlots” he explains the modern industrial livestock business where animals live in tightly confined spaces surrounded by their own feces, are fed excessive amounts of unnatural feed and receive copious amounts of drugs to keep them alive and uncontaminated. As most would say the feed lots are very cruel and unhealthy. As Mark states, they are fed bad and unnatural feed.
The most common piece of feed is corn. Most people use grain to feed their cattle. Although, this does not mean it is healthy for them! They are fed corn because it is cheaper so more money can be made off of the cow. Yes this sounds like the normal America and how lazy we are but it’s coming back to bite us quick. As Ryan Goodman, a farmer himself, says in his article “Ask A Farmer: Does feeding corn harm cattle?” “Feeding cattle corn or other cereal grains, or their by-products does not kill the animal. Feeding these grains as 100% of the diet will give the animal an upset stomach, just like if you sat down and ate an entire box of corn flakes.”
Some cattle are fed growth hormones to get them to grow up and out quicker. Growth hormones are like steroids but for the cow. These can actually alter us humans more than you know. Europeans conducted a test that shows hormones can stay in the cow all the way to the table. This left many concerns and then people started to ban hormones in Japan, Canada, Australia and the European Union. Some hormones can last in the manure from the cattle leaking in to the environment. This can contaminate the soil and ground water. This whole process is described in an article called (“Hormones”).
You always hear about mad cow disease, but do you know how it started and what it does? I didn’t know until I had to research it. Mad cow disease, or also known as BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) started when we started feeding cow cadavers to cows. A company called CDC talks about two different strains of BSE, “There is increasing evidence that there are different strains of BSE: the typical BSE strain responsible for the outbreak in the United Kingdom and two atypical strains (H and L strains).
Typical BSE strain -- The BSE strain responsible for most of the BSE cases in Canada is the same classic strain linked to the outbreak in the United Kingdom. It is known to be preventable through elimination of BSE contaminated feed and has been causally linked to vCJD (Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is a rare and fatal human neurodegenerative condition) in humans. This typical strain has not yet been identified in any U.S.-born cattle.
Atypical BSE strain -- In July 2007, the UK Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee (SEAC) suggested that atypical BSE may be a distinct strain of prion disease. Unlike typical BSE, cases of atypical BSE, according to SEAC, may have risen spontaneously (although transmission through feed or the environment cannot be ruled out). Recently reported French surveillance data support this theory that unlike typical BSE, atypical BSE appears to represent sporadic disease.” The first possible case was found in 1970.
Antibiotics are something often overlooked in most cows. They are often given to them on a regular basis whether they are sick or not. This is a very lazy way to use them, mainly for the fact that the diseases are creating a resistance to the antibiotic because it is in the cow all the time and the disease can learn how to get over that. Another bad part is that, just like the growth hormones, they can last up to the table which will give us some of the antibiotic. This could even lead the disease right to us through the meat itself. Author Doris Lin talks about a solution in her article “Why are factory farmed animals given antibiotics and hormones such as rBGH?” “The World Health Organization believes that prescriptions should be required for antibiotics for farmed animals, and several countries have banned the use of rBGH and subtherapeutic doses of antibiotics, but these solutions consider only human health and do not consider animal rights. From an animal rights standpoint, the solution is to stop eating animal products and go vegetarian.”
Cattle feed is something that can affect not just the cows but even us a lot! What they give the cow can last in the cows DNA for a long time. All these things have a lot of pros and cons but I guess it’s up to the person to what side you choose. All these things add up and the future is definitely not going healthy any time soon, it is still your own choice to live healthy though. If we would just see that quality is better than quantity.
Lin, Doris. "Why Are Factory Farmed Animals given Antibiotics and Hormones Such As rBGH?" About.com Animal Rights. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2013.
Animals are fed a lot of different stuff just to help them “grow”. Animals on feedlots are feed some weird stuff; they are actually feed parts of dead animals. Cows being fed to cows actually led to mad cow disease. They are also fed manure and other animal waste upon feeding them large amounts of grain which the large amount is unnecessary and un healthy.
McKenzie, S. "They Eat What?" Union Of Concerned Scientists. N.p., 08 Aug. 2006. Web.
Antibiotics are given to cattle when they don’t need it. this leaves some of the antibiotics in the cows body making the bacteria immune to the antibiotics. Even more the antibiotics can travel it (us) the consumers which makes the antibiotic immune when we need it. some companies use a hormone to make the cows grow faster and produce more milk. The European Union conducted a research on the use of these hormones and it showed that even after processing and everything there was still traces of hormones leaving concerns for people and animals. Japan, Canada, Australia and the European Union all have banned the use of this hormone.
"Agriculture Proud." Agriculture Proud. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 May 2013.
This article talks about the effects of feeding cows corn and how it hurts there stomach in different ways. I can use this in my article for evidence that corn is bad for the cows
"Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease." WHO. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 May 2013.
This article talks about jakobs disease is. I can use this to explane that to the audience
We have so many health problems here and there saying that we as Americans are overweight. A big problem is what we feed our cattle, cattle feed not only affects them but it can stream of on to us too. We are more concerned now about efficiency rather than quality. We give cattle things like growth hormones and corn to get the cows out on the market quicker and cheaper. If we were paying more attention to the people around us and the things we are hurting like the environment I think that we would be in a better place right now. I mean you have people getting E. coli and other food poisoning, we are doing something wrong somewhere. it doesn’t stop there it moves on to fast food restaurants. When most people think of a McDonalds burger they think of grass fed cows, the sad news is that they are not! And there is so much more that many just chose to not see or even care about.
Cows feeding on an open field, A site that most hold in there head of how cows are raised. This is not the case most times; most cattle come from feed lots. Feed lots are a place where they are packed in like sardines. In Mark Notaras’ article “The shame of concentrated animal feedlots” he explains the modern industrial livestock business where animals live in tightly confined spaces surrounded by their own feces, are fed excessive amounts of unnatural feed and receive copious amounts of drugs to keep them alive and uncontaminated. As most would say the feed lots are very cruel and unhealthy. As Mark states, they are fed bad and unnatural feed.
The most common piece of feed is corn. Most people use grain to feed their cattle. Although, this does not mean it is healthy for them! They are fed corn because it is cheaper so more money can be made off of the cow. Yes this sounds like the normal America and how lazy we are but it’s coming back to bite us quick. As Ryan Goodman, a farmer himself, says in his article “Ask A Farmer: Does feeding corn harm cattle?” “Feeding cattle corn or other cereal grains, or their by-products does not kill the animal. Feeding these grains as 100% of the diet will give the animal an upset stomach, just like if you sat down and ate an entire box of corn flakes.”
Some cattle are fed growth hormones to get them to grow up and out quicker. Growth hormones are like steroids but for the cow. These can actually alter us humans more than you know. Europeans conducted a test that shows hormones can stay in the cow all the way to the table. This left many concerns and then people started to ban hormones in Japan, Canada, Australia and the European Union. Some hormones can last in the manure from the cattle leaking in to the environment. This can contaminate the soil and ground water. This whole process is described in an article called (“Hormones”).
You always hear about mad cow disease, but do you know how it started and what it does? I didn’t know until I had to research it. Mad cow disease, or also known as BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) started when we started feeding cow cadavers to cows. A company called CDC talks about two different strains of BSE, “There is increasing evidence that there are different strains of BSE: the typical BSE strain responsible for the outbreak in the United Kingdom and two atypical strains (H and L strains).
Typical BSE strain -- The BSE strain responsible for most of the BSE cases in Canada is the same classic strain linked to the outbreak in the United Kingdom. It is known to be preventable through elimination of BSE contaminated feed and has been causally linked to vCJD (Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is a rare and fatal human neurodegenerative condition) in humans. This typical strain has not yet been identified in any U.S.-born cattle.
Atypical BSE strain -- In July 2007, the UK Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee (SEAC) suggested that atypical BSE may be a distinct strain of prion disease. Unlike typical BSE, cases of atypical BSE, according to SEAC, may have risen spontaneously (although transmission through feed or the environment cannot be ruled out). Recently reported French surveillance data support this theory that unlike typical BSE, atypical BSE appears to represent sporadic disease.” The first possible case was found in 1970.
Antibiotics are something often overlooked in most cows. They are often given to them on a regular basis whether they are sick or not. This is a very lazy way to use them, mainly for the fact that the diseases are creating a resistance to the antibiotic because it is in the cow all the time and the disease can learn how to get over that. Another bad part is that, just like the growth hormones, they can last up to the table which will give us some of the antibiotic. This could even lead the disease right to us through the meat itself. Author Doris Lin talks about a solution in her article “Why are factory farmed animals given antibiotics and hormones such as rBGH?” “The World Health Organization believes that prescriptions should be required for antibiotics for farmed animals, and several countries have banned the use of rBGH and subtherapeutic doses of antibiotics, but these solutions consider only human health and do not consider animal rights. From an animal rights standpoint, the solution is to stop eating animal products and go vegetarian.”
Cattle feed is something that can affect not just the cows but even us a lot! What they give the cow can last in the cows DNA for a long time. All these things have a lot of pros and cons but I guess it’s up to the person to what side you choose. All these things add up and the future is definitely not going healthy any time soon, it is still your own choice to live healthy though. If we would just see that quality is better than quantity.
Lin, Doris. "Why Are Factory Farmed Animals given Antibiotics and Hormones Such As rBGH?" About.com Animal Rights. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2013.
Animals are fed a lot of different stuff just to help them “grow”. Animals on feedlots are feed some weird stuff; they are actually feed parts of dead animals. Cows being fed to cows actually led to mad cow disease. They are also fed manure and other animal waste upon feeding them large amounts of grain which the large amount is unnecessary and un healthy.
McKenzie, S. "They Eat What?" Union Of Concerned Scientists. N.p., 08 Aug. 2006. Web.
Antibiotics are given to cattle when they don’t need it. this leaves some of the antibiotics in the cows body making the bacteria immune to the antibiotics. Even more the antibiotics can travel it (us) the consumers which makes the antibiotic immune when we need it. some companies use a hormone to make the cows grow faster and produce more milk. The European Union conducted a research on the use of these hormones and it showed that even after processing and everything there was still traces of hormones leaving concerns for people and animals. Japan, Canada, Australia and the European Union all have banned the use of this hormone.
"Agriculture Proud." Agriculture Proud. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 May 2013.
This article talks about the effects of feeding cows corn and how it hurts there stomach in different ways. I can use this in my article for evidence that corn is bad for the cows
"Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease." WHO. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 May 2013.
This article talks about jakobs disease is. I can use this to explane that to the audience