XPost: uk.rec.gardening, alt.food.vegan.science, alt.animals.ethics.vegetarian   
   From: bp@wikileeks.com   
      
   Kathy Freston.Author, Health and Wellness Expert   
      
   Once you start paying attention, you just can't avoid the bad news   
   about meat consumption. From Reuters comes the news that "Women who   
   received the most calories from animal protein had twice the risk of   
   [endometrial cancer] compared to those who took in the fewest calories   
   from animal sources."   
      
   And then I read this morning in Chemical & Engineering News (O.K., so   
   I don't subscribe; a friend forwarded it to me) some truly scary news   
   about eating chickens: About 70 percent of chickens in the U.S. are   
   fed arsenic (to promote growth, stave off disease, etc.), a practice   
   banned in the EU; that's right--arsenic!? As in, poison. As in that   
   wonderful play, "Arsenic and Old Lace," about the clever old gals who   
   use it to kill their gentlemen callers!   
      
   Arsenic & Young Chickens   
   In fact, according to the piece, the average U.S. chicken has about   
   390 parts per billion of arsenic, "which is three to four times   
   greater than arsenic levels in other types of poultry and meat from   
   other animals."   
      
   I need to just quote from the story directly about the possible impact   
   of this:   
      
      
   "According to the Environmental Protection Agency, long-term exposure   
   to inorganic arsenic can cause bladder, lung, skin, kidney, and colon   
   cancer, as well as deleterious immunological, neurological, and   
   endocrine effects. Low-level exposures can lead to partial paralysis   
   and diabetes...   
   "Even though the drinking water standard for arsenic has been   
   strengthened, the standards for arsenic residues in poultry-2,000 ppb   
   for liver and 500 ppb for muscle-have remained unchanged for decades.   
   Furthermore, neither the Food & Drug Administration nor the Department   
   of Agriculture has actually measured the level of arsenic in the   
   poultry meat that most people consume..."   
      
   But actually, it's not just the poison that's being fed to chickens   
   and concentrating in their flesh that is causing meat-eaters to get   
   sick. No, apparently the real problem with chicken and other meats   
   isn't some scary additive--it's actually the animal protein itself,   
   which both causes and fuels cancer cells, and which will exist in   
   chicken meat even if the U.S. poultry industry stops feeding animals   
   arsenic (though it sure sounds like the chicken industry has no   
   interest in stopping; they feed 2.2. million pounds of arsenic to   
   chickens right now).   
      
   The "China Project"   
   Indeed, I think that the most compelling evidence against eating   
   animal products comes from China, and shows that the carcinogenic   
   nutrient in meat is protein, rather than fat. In one of my favorite   
   books on the subject of health, The China Study: Startling   
   Implications for Diet, Weight Loss and Long-Term Health, author T.   
   Colin Campbell, Ph.D., a Professor Emeritus of Nutritional   
   Biochemistry at Cornell University, explains that animal protein is   
   the most carcinogenic substance we consume ( even worse than the   
   arsenic in chicken) and presents powerful data showing that animal   
   products both cause and fuel cancer and other deadly diseases.   
      
   Dr. Campbell's study is the most comprehensive survey of the   
   connection between diet and disease in medical history, and he has   
   looked at all of the clinical, epidemiological, and other evidence,   
   and it all backs up what he documented in China. His final statement   
   on what we should all be eating?   
      
   Here's how he explains it in "Why China Holds the Key to Your Health":   
   "The data from the China Project suggest that what we have come to   
   consider as 'normal' illnesses of aging are really not normal. In   
   fact, these findings indicate that the vast majority perhaps 80 to 90%   
   of all cancers, cardiovascular diseases, and other forms of   
   degenerative illness can be prevented, at least until very old age,   
   simply by adopting a plant-based diet."   
      
   These are strong words from a man who was raised on a dairy farm, got   
   his Ph.D. in animal nutrition, and worked on a project to produce   
   animal protein more efficiently.   
      
   The Deadly Connection Between Animal Protein, Blood Cholesterol, and   
   Carcinogens:   
   Dr. Campbell now believes it best to avoid animal protein altogether.   
   According to Campbell, blood cholesterol levels can be reduced by   
   eating plant protein instead. "Some of the plant proteins,   
   particularly soy," he says, "have an impressive ability to reduce   
   blood cholesterol." This might explain a finding released a few months   
   back that "eating tofu can slash ovarian cancer risk."   
      
   "At the outset of the China Study," writes Dr. Campbell in his book,   
   "no one could or would have ever predicted the relationship between   
   cholesterol and any of the disease rates. What a surprise we got." Dr.   
   Campbell and his team found that as blood cholesterol levels decrease,   
   a slew of cancers decreases as well, including "cancers of the liver,   
   rectum, colon, male lung, female lung, breast, childhood leukemia,   
   adult leukemia, childhood brain, adult brain, stomach and esophagus   
   (throat)."   
      
   According to Campbell, in addition to animal protein causing cancer,   
   it also fuels cancer that exists. So you can have a carcinogen in your   
   body, but it doesn't get "turned on" until you ingest animal flesh.   
   Animal protein causes the carcinogen to grow and spread. Even   
   so-called lean cuts of meat, as well as fish and chicken, are high in   
   fat and protein, and as Dr. Campbell says, animal protein only causes   
   "mischief."   
      
   Choose Health: Choose Vegetarian From animal products doubling your   
   risk of endometrial, to soy foods lowering your risk of contracting   
   ovarian cancer, to carcinogenic arsenic in your chicken (and other   
   meat, though in lower levels), to the news that animal protein is the   
   big cause of dietary cancer (and remember, the American Cancer Society   
   says that about 30 percent of cancer comes from what you eat!), it   
   sure is looking like the "vegan thing" is making a lot more sense in a   
   lot of different ways.   
      
   I highly recommend checking out The China Study to get the full scoop,   
   which is full of fascinating information and gripping statistics. I   
   give it out so much that I think I should be getting a commission. The   
   book also gives tips on making the transition to a vegetarian diet, as   
   does my last column, "One Bite at a Time: A Beginner's Guide to   
   Conscious Eating."   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)