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2004-02-20, 10:22 a.m.

1st entry today

This morning I was thinking about being Vegan. I really don't put a lot of thought into it anymore...just part of my every day life anymore. But I was thinking about having to explain to numerous shrinks and therapists during the last few months, about being vegan. I don't tell them right off the bat. After all...people don't think about proclaiming their love of fried chicken to their shrink, right? (that is unless you LOVE your fried chicken...in that not so normal kind of loving way. Remember guys...it's ok to love fried chicken...but it's not ok to MAKE love to your fried chicken.) When they catch a whiff of my eating disorder they start w/ the usual. "are there any foods that you WON'T eat at all?" I then go on to explain that there are many and name off a few.

American culture of yesteryear centered around the 4 food groups. Mom served you heaping mounds of roast beef, potatoes counted as a veggie, and meals always had a nice big glass of cold milk on the side. Hell I grew up that way...so I'm not trying to give anyone a hard time. Our mothers didn't know any better, and I am Not about to disparage your momma. However, the truth is, farming has changed. That roast beef and milk no longer come from farmer johns farm of 200 cows. Nope. Not even close. The family farm has pretty much been run out of business by the industry of factory farms. Why? Money of course! Taking care of all those animals is quite expensive. And although they see a good profit off the final product, they have to cover a whole barrage of expenses. Like any other factory, they need to squeeze every last penny to make a profit. Therefore they need cows that produce more milk and more healthy cows to produce meat.

Enter the picture: Hormones. Naturaly all milk contains some amount of hormones. However there is an extra hormone that the big farms administer to their cows. It's a geneticaly engineered bovine somatotropin. This extra hormone causes the how to produce more milk than she would in a natural state. In turn those hormones are passed into our bodies. The human body depends upon a delicate balance of hormones to carry out the prcess of maturation. There does seem to be viable evidence that young women, for example, are developing earlier and faster than they did in the earlier parts of the century. There could be a corelation to the increase in hormones given to children through consumable products such as milk.

However, if hormones are not a bother to you...there is something else that is far more obvious that IS a problem. When a cow produces more milk it strains her system. There is a MUCH higher rate of mastitis and health probelms in cows given growth hormones. Mastitis is an uncofortable infection of the udders. However, this infection is easily countered using anti-biotics. Therefore, the employees can spot a cow w/ mastitis, administer the rounds of anti-biotics needed, and continue the process of milk production. Those anti-biotics are then passed into your milk. Any mother that has ever nursed can tell you that she must avoid all kinds of things while nursing. So many medications, heck even caffeine, becuase it impacts her milk supply which in turn impacts her baby.

It works the same way with cows. Since humans have chosen to be the only species that does not fully "ween" from milk, we continue to nurse during the course of our lives. In turn our health is impacted by the momma cow's health. Her anti-biotics become our anti-biotics. So why are you taking anti-biotics that you don't need?

Of course as Americans, we would like to think that our government knows about these things and protects us. After all, we do have the FDA...wouldn't the FDA (the same bastards that are taking away my ephedrine!) protect us? The FDA knows about this and there is a National Drug Residual Monitoring Program in place that inspects 250 samples of milk per year. But that's it folks...250. You alone will consume dairy from more than 250 sources this year...you can pretty much be sure of that. Plus, get this...they only check for a little over a dozen different antibiotics. That's IT!

Ick. Well anyhow, that is enough about milk for a day. I have only 1 more thing to add, and it is a really simple thing. My step-moms best friend is Hellen. Hellen is employed as a dairy inspector and travels all over the place inspecting DAIRY plants. If you have ever wondered what happens to all the milk that does not sell before the lable date at the store...lemme tell you what she told me.

That milk is sent back to where it came from, put into the vat, mixed with some fresh milk and repackaged as products such as chocolate milk (the stuff you buy pre mixed in the jug or carton) or supplied to restaurants for their soft serve icecream machines.

Yum. Sounds tasty doesn't it? FYI, Europe doesn't do this crap...they dont' give their animals all the hormones and drugs that we give ours. They keep it organic...and of course don't grow, let alone use geneticaly modified products.

Do your self a favor...if you don't give a rat's ass about the treatment of animals...at least buy yourself some ORGANIC milk and milk products. Be safe.

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