January 6th, 2012 by RyanDuBosar in News
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Cephalosporins will be used in livestock only for very specific exceptions, after years of debate about the role of antibiotic resistance in farming and how it leads to new strains of microbes with the potential to shift into humans.
The FDA took this step to preserve the effectiveness of cephalosporin drugs for treating disease in humans, the agency announced in a press release.
In 2008, the FDA issued and then revoked an order that prohibited cephalosporins in food-producing animals with no exceptions. Three years later, the agency’s ban includes several exceptions:
–It doesn’t limit cephapirin, which the FDA doesn’t think contributes to antimicrobial resistance;
–Veterinarians will still be able to Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
January 18th, 2011 by Peggy Polaneczky, M.D. in Better Health Network, Opinion
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Google is an amazing thing — it occasionally tosses you a link that lands you in an alternate universe of folks you’d never encounter in real life.
Like cattle ranchers. I’ve just spent the good part of an hour wandering their world — reading about their concerns (water, wolves, the economy), seeing how cattle breeding has changed (you pick a sire at Bullsemen.com, then do genomic profiling on your stock — did you know that cows bred for docility have more tender meat ?), and learning that ranchers are not immune to marketing from the world of scientific woo.
Check this out — it’s called SOP Life Vibration or “Serio Bio-Hygienization.” They’re selling it to farmers and ranchers in Europe and the U.S. as the latest and greatest answer to bacterial growth and odors in farm feed and bedding:
SOP products are formulated with the innovative Sirio Operating Process technology to improve the environment of the farm in a more effective and longer lasting way than current available means.
SOP® products are natural and scientifically tested. They are not enzymes, bacteria nor disinfectants. Using a process of “frequential bio-conditioning” they selectively favor the activity of the “beneficial” micro-organisms and create unfavorable conditions to inhibit the development of the “pathogenic” ones.
A 100% natural product. Through a bio-frequency method, SOP® is created with strategic wavelength and harmony. This same technology is comparable to the electronic systems used for radio broadcasting.
“100% natural,” “Bio-hygeinization,” ”Frequential bio-conditioning”…
I smell a woo. And that makes me nervous.
After all, I’m a meat eater. If someone’s putting something wacky into and around my food source, I want to know about it. So I decided it was worth my while to find out what the heck was in this SOP® stuff. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at tbtam*
March 30th, 2010 by Toni Brayer, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Health Tips, Opinion, True Stories
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I watched a good documentary called “Food, Inc.” It was nominated for an Academy Award. The promo says “you’ll never look at dinner the same way” and they’re right. Since I’m a fan of Michael Pollan and have read “Fast Food Nation,” I was already a healthy-food fan, but seeing how agriculture and farming has changed over the last 40 years was still a shocker.
There’s no doubt that high-calorie, sugar-laden processed foods are contributing to serious health issues in America. And 10 billion animals are raised on factory farms under inhumane conditions.
So when I went to the grocery store today, I made a conscious choice to ask if Safeway had any grass-fed beef for a healthy stir fry I was making for dinner. The answer was “No,” so I journeyed over to Whole Foods where I bought a pound of grass-fed sirloin. The cost was a whopping $16.43.
I have to ask myself why grass-fed beef should be so much more expensive than corn-fed beef. There’s no way the average family could afford to eat the way we should. The impact on our environment and our health is suffering terribly because of these perverted economics.
*This blog post was originally published at EverythingHealth*
