Meat, ethics, morality and human health

[Guest guest]

Dear Hoang Ho, & All,

 

> WE should have taken England for the cow meat instead of Iraq?

 

Hoang, I hope that that was not intended af a flame. List ettiquette

forbids " flaming " ., i.e. statements intended to be defamatory,

derogatory, insulting, or otherwise inflammatory to a group of

people, or attacks on any one person.

 

We can discuss ISSUES with passion, but not attack a person, or

groups of people, or their religious or cultural beliefs.

 

Hoang, as regards the rest of your mail, IMO, moderate amounts of

meat (or other animal products) are useful in the human diet. Also,

IMO, animal production as a source of human food, will continue for

a long time.

 

Hoang wrote:

> I cannot believe that someone would infer that meat is the way to

> go ... with ... bad meat being prevalant. Think again, there are

> better ways to get healthy.

 

Does anyone know of ANY country in the world that does not

produce animals for food? Like living, eating has risks but common

sense helps to minimise the risks.

 

ALL foods, including fruits, vegetables, piulses.and cereals, carry

SOME RISK. Vegetarians and vegans must accept risks of plant

mineral deficiencies (such as selenium deficiency in Keshan

disease), fungal contamination (such as ergotism), fungal toxins

(such as aflatoxin), heavy metal contamination, and contamination

with enteric bacteria and pesticide residues, etc. Also, animal

protein is a valuable, if not essential, part of the human diet. For

example, few foods of plant origin contain sufficient vitamin B12 for

humans.

 

In civilised countries, Animal Welfare Legislation requires that

animals are managed and handled humanely from birth to

slaughter. Food Safety Legislation requires that abattoirs be

licensed and inspected and that processes pre- during- and post-

slaughter are humane and done to the highest possible standards

of hygiene. Pre- and post- slaughter inspection tries to ensure that

animals are healthy and their meat wholesome and safe.

 

> " Mad Cow Disease cure attempt in the making by May 04 "

 

Problems with contaminated meat, eggs, fish and shellfish have

occurred (and will continue to occur) occasionally. The role of

animal prion-infected tissue in the transmission of nvCJD to

humans is tragic. The occasional transmission of bacterial or

parasitic disease (for example brucellosis, TB, Johne's disease

(possible link to Chrohn's disease), Salmonella, E. coli, trichinella,

hepatitis (from shellfish), etc) is regrettable. However, food

inspection will continue to try to reduce the risk.

 

" We are what we eat " . But we also " Are what we are " and " Eat

what we eat " .

 

We know that CHANGE is inevitable, (even possible is personal

habits), but we also know that people (and cultures) have great

resistance to change.

 

This is a TCM List, and the Five Types of Meat was part of Five

Phase Theory. Also, the issue of vegetarianism / veganism versus

eating diets with meat / animal products is potentially divisive.

Could we leave it off this list?

 

Some professionals, believe strongly that killing animals for food or

other byproducts (such as gelatin, leather, etc) is morally and

ethically wrong. Most, however, accept that Homo sapiens is an

omnivore. We have eaten meat, fish and eggs since the dawn of

history and the hunter instinct persists, even today.

 

The morality/ethics of animal slaughter is highly emotive. It has

implications for national cultures and religious beliefs and taboos.

So, please, could we leave that topic off this list also?

 

Peace and good Qi to you all,

 

Best regards,

 

Email: <

 

WORK : Teagasc Research Management, Sandymount Ave., Dublin 4, Ireland

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[Guest guest]

--- < wrote:

 

Hey Phil

 

> ALL foods, including fruits, vegetables, piulses.and

> cereals, carry

> SOME RISK.

 

That's true... actually, some carry a, ehem, 'heavy'

risk. Did you know that more people are killed every

year by coconuts than by sharks?!?

 

hahaha

 

I do agree with you. I will repeat my mantra for

safety's sake: Pattern differentiation + goals.

 

> example, few foods of plant origin contain

> sufficient vitamin B12 for humans.

 

Phil, that's fine. But this seems like a push against

vegetarianism, again. Pattern differentiation.

 

> In civilised countries, Animal Welfare Legislation

> requires that

> animals are managed and handled humanely from birth

> to slaughter.

 

But they're not, always.

 

> Food Safety Legislation requires that

> abattoirs be

> licensed and inspected and that processes pre-

> during- and post-

> slaughter are humane and done to the highest

> possible standards

> of hygiene.

 

Just last December, I think it was, here in Toronto,

we had a mini-scandal regarding one of the biggest

meat-processing plants in the area.

 

> Problems with contaminated meat, eggs, fish and

> shellfish have

> occurred (and will continue to occur) occasionally.

 

Constantly and more frequently. One of my colleagues

is a TCM doctor trained in China and received his PhD

in human nutrition here in Canada, currently works in

the BioChem dept at the U of Guelph...very quiet,

mild-mannered man, but he actually went on a quiet,

mild-mannered rant a few weeks ago about how humans

are going to kill themselves if we keep up this way.

Nearly everything is contaminated. Our effluent is

underestimated, perhaps.

 

> This is a TCM List, and the Five Types of Meat was

> part of Five

> Phase Theory. Also, the issue of vegetarianism /

> veganism versus

> eating diets with meat / animal products is

> potentially divisive.

 

And very instructive. I've learned a lot from this

post, for example.

 

> Could we leave it off this list?

 

That is not valid. How to deal with diets that

include meat and diets that don't inlude meat is

central to our practice! We need to understand what

the collective experience of CM has found with regards

to this, and learn to apply that. We will have

diffiulty doing that if we don't discuss this issue.

Many issues, if not all, are potentially divisive.

All the good ones, in fact.

 

I've made a decision: I won't divide. This is all

education for me.

 

Hugo

 

 

 

 

 

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