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O<:tobcr-November 1970
more profit per cow. This
is
done with
the use of hormones and artificial insem–
ination. One hormonc (pregnant mare
serurn) causes cows to develop more
than one ovum per estrus cycle. The
other,
chlorionic gonttdotropin,
causes
the ovary to shed the multiple ova so
they can be fertilized . However, man–
induced multiple births are associated
with retained placentas in the cows and
a high mortality rate in the calves
(JIVestem Livestock
Jormwl,
April 3,
1969).
Other researchers are experimenting
with "superfetation" - artificial insern–
ination which produces a second prcg–
nancy when the initial pregnancy is
severa! months in progress.
When - and
WHERE -
is intcr–
ference with nature going
to
end?
The End Result: Sickness
and Disease
What is the end result of all the
chemicals, drugs, hormones, cheap feeds
and wrong practices? W e don't exactly
know the far-reaching effects yet, but
meat aoimals, as well as you, are what
they eat.
If
they are fed inferior feeds,
the quality of their heaJth suffers. We
cou ld be in for a mountain of animal,
and conseguently
h11man,
sickness,
disease and degeneracy.
When manure is so loaded with
chemicals that the normal process of
decomposition is hindered (as happens
today), can the animal that produced
this waste be completely heal thy?
When chickens turn to cannibalisrn
in the broiler house - as they often
do - the birds dearly have something
wrong with them. The solution is not to
give the birds colored eye glasses, anti–
peck paste, metal anti-peck guards or to
burn off the ends of their beaks - as is
widely practiced by chicken farmers.
That is mercly deaüng with · the effect
aod ignoríng
the
cause or causes. Is it
illogical to ask if this amnibalism <:ould
be caused by a compulsion to eat blood
and Resh in a last-ditch effort to supply
nutritional deficiencies?
Oc
by condi–
tions of overcrowding, etc.?
A recent government report states
that over
90 percenJ
of chickens from
rnost flocks in this country and abroad
are infected with
lettkosis
( chicken can–
cer), even though a much smaller per-
The
PLAIN TRUTH
centage develop overt neoplasms or
tumors. That means a lot of poultry
with sorne degree of leukosis is prob–
ably slipping onto your dinner table.
So far there is no evidence that the
disease can be transmitted to humans -
but there isn't any proof to show it
can't
be
transrnitted cither.
Last year 37 million chickens were
condemned in the U. S. for Jeukosis.
Sorne producers lost V\ rtually their
entire flocks. And rernernber, leukosis
is
just one of many chicken diseases.
With cattle the situation
is
similar. A
USDA report for 1968-1969 shows that
more than 10 percent of the 30.1 mil–
lion cattle carcasses approved by federal
inspectors underwcnt sorne post-mortem
whittling for removal of offending parts
( tumors, sores etc.) .
An article in
The
National Observer
(May 6, 1968) reports: "Most Ameri–
cans, if they are to eat much meat at all,
rnust still consume diseased meat and
meat from which diseased or unfit por–
tions have been trirnmed. This meat is
3l
rnade safe only by proper cooking,
freezing, curing and other processing.
" 'If
we were to condemn and destroy
the entire carcass of every defective
meat animal,' says a top USDA official,
'A severe meat shortage would result.'"
So your meat is not necessarily
safe
just because it has received the "U. S.
Iospected" starnp.
"Under the prcsent inspection system
the U. S. inspector must determine -
in as littlc as two seconds - the whole–
sorneness and freedom from infection
of the meat of a chicken, cow, sheep,
or pig that we are
to
eat. This, of
course, is irnpossible to do since sal–
monella organisms can only be seen if
a microscopic and bacteriological exarn–
ination is made"
(Nation's 811siness,
May 1968, pp. 34-36).
A New Round of Additives
Once the meat reaches the packing
plant it is subject to a whole new round
of additives which preserve, age, cure,
tenderize, color, flavor, season and scent
A chicken commune - the standard way of growing broilers, friers, laying
hens and breeding flocks for mass consumption. Certain unnaturol proctices
frequent ly employed in moss product ion of meat ore now being questioned
by heofth authorities.
Florido Oeve/opment Commissíon Photo