The focus on productivity over sustainability cuts crucial corners essential to our health. Animals are being shot up with growth hormones, given controversial antibiotics, fed pesticide tainted foods. It is no wonder that these toxics are being passed on to our bodies.

• Growth hormones routinely given to US cattle (banned in EU) may affect fertility. Sons born to women who ate a lot of beef during their pregnancy have a 25 percent below-normal sperm count and  three times the normal risk  of fertility problems.  — The Journal of Human Reproduction, 2006. 
  
  
• Eighty percent of all the herbicides used in the U.S. are sprayed on feed crops for cattle. — National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences, 1989.
  
  
• "Eating a serving of nuts instead of beef or pork was associated with a 19% lower risk of dying during the study. The team said choosing poultry or whole grains as a substitute was linked with a 14% reduction in mortality risk; low-fat dairy or legumes, 10%; and fish, 7%." — Red Meat Consumption and Mortality. Archives of Internal Medicine, 2012.and All red meat is bad for you, new study says. LA Times. March 12, 2012
  
  
• Beef contains the highest concentration of herbicides of any food sold in America.—National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences, 1987.
  
  
• Two-thirds of U.S. mortality is diet-related. —U.S Surgeon General Report on Nutrition and Health.
  
  
• Our early ancestors, followed diets almost exclusively of plant-foods. While the hunter-gatherer societies consumed some meat, the ease and dependability of gathering fruits and vegetables was their primary food source. The emphasis on hunting increased in higher latitudes because of plant scarcity. —"Human Evolution: We are what we ate." Nature, 1999.
  
  
• Our teeth and jaws evolved for processing starches, fruits, and vegetables.  Like other plant-eating animals our jaw can move forwards and backwards, side-to-side, as well as open and close, for biting off pieces of plant matter, and grinding them into smaller pieces with our flat molars. In a meat-eating animal, the lower jaw has very little side-to-side motion – it is fixed to open and close, which adds strength and stability to its powerful bite and its teeth are extremely sharp and jagged. — Meat in the Human Diet, A. McDougall, MD. ,2003
  
  
• 100 mg of cholesterol is contained in four ounces of beef or chicken, half an egg, or three cups of milk. Every 100 mg of cholesterol in your daily diet adds roughly 5 points to your cholesterol level, although this varies from person to person. No foods from plants contain cholesterol. —Food Values of Portions Commonly Used, Physicians for Socially Responsible Medicine, 1989.
  
  
• “If you had to pick a single food that inflicts the most damage in the American diet, ground beef would be a prime contender.” –Scientists from the Center for Science in the Public Interest, 1999.
  
  
• Heart disease kills more than 100 people every hour in the United States. – Heart and Stroke Facts: 1995 Statistical Supplement, American Heart Association.
  
  
• “Hereditary forms of arteriosclerosis only constitute about five percent of the cases. Most people who develop heart disease don’t really have a hereditary disease.”—Michael Debakey, M.D., Director, Cardiovascular Research Center, pioneer in heart transplants, bypasses, and the artificial heart.
  
  
• Red meat contains high levels of Neu5Gc, a carbohydrate molecule linked to tissue inflammation that isn’t naturally present in humans but has been found in cancer cells. —"Human uptake and incorporation of an immunogenic nonhuman dietary sialic acid,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, 2003.
  
  
• “Millions of cancer cases could be prevented each year if more individuals adopted diets low in meat and high in fruits and vegetables.”—British Medical Journal, 1998.
  
  
• Up to 95% of human dioxin exposure comes from red meat, fish and dairy products. – “FDA Launches Study on Dioxin in Fish, Dairy Foods,” Food Chemical News, 1995.
  
  
• Alarming levels of dioxin were found in tests of meat-based baby food sold by all the major baby food brands. –Consumer Reports, June 1998.
  
  
• "The beef industry has contributed to more deaths than all the wars of this century, all natural disasters, and all automobile accidents combined.”—Neal Barnard, M.D., President, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.
  
  
• “Nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances for survival of life on earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.” –Albert Einstein
  

Sustainable Choices

The Eat Well Guide
http://www.eatwellguide.org

Delicous Beef-Free Recipes
http://www.betterhomesandgarden.com

Comprehensive Links

The GRACE Factory
Farm Project
http://www.factoryfarm.org

The Meatrix Films
http://www.themeatrix.com

What else you can do