Sick Animals = Sick People

Another article about food today. This one explores the relationship between factory-farmed animals and humans in regards to sickness and disease. The writer, Jonathan Safran Foer believes that all the illness and sicknesses people endure are directly linked to the food industry, specifically factory farming. The illnesses animals adopt in these settings are then transferred to humans through animal products, such as meat, milk, and eggs. To counteract animals sickness, factory farms employ large amounts of antibiotics. Listen to this statistic: “In the United States, about 3 million pounds of antibiotics are given to humans each year, but a whopping 17.8 million pounds are fed to livestock — at least, that is what the industry claims.” To me, it sounds like something is wrong with our current system. 17.8 million pounds?!!! No wonder everybody is sick . . . we eat sick animals. This article has really made me think about becoming a vegetarian. I do not eat much meat as it is but I do eat a lot of eggs and cheese. Are these animal products related to my illness? I cannot say for sure. But I am very pleased that there are people who care about the issue of food and obesity in America enough to begin research and writing on the topic to put it in the consciousness of America. I’ll leave you with the last paragraph from the article: “We perhaps know more [about food] than we care to admit, keeping it down in the dark places of our memory — disavowed. When we eat factory-farmed meat, we live on tortured flesh. Increasingly, those sick animals are making us sick.”

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