Links for Research on the Meat Industry

 

http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20020105/bob13.asp

 

This excerpt from Science News supports Jane’s findings regarding DES and documents the use steroids and sex hormones to induce more rapid development of beef cattle. The greatest danger from these substances consists in how excreted material affects water and other aspects of the environment.

 

http://www.foodsafetynow.org/about_us.cfm

 

This is a good basic site with introductory-level information about food safety, including a page on rBGH, or bovine growth hormone, commonly used for enhanced milk production.

 

 http://www.world-wire.com/news/1107050001.html

 

This is a 2005 news brief from medical doctor and scholar Samuel Epstein about Japan’s rejection of U.S. beef imports due to fears of BSE (mad cow disease). He urges the Japanese to also consider the dangers inherent in the consumption of hormonally treated beef, citing the rapid increase in reproductive cancers in this country after 1975.

 

http://www.bsas.org.uk/about_the_bsas/issue_papers/hormone_growth_promoters_in_cattle/

 

This essay from British scientist and beef industry consultant David Allen acknowledges dangers in the abuse of steroidal enhancement of cattle but basically argues that normal levels of steroid enhancement pose no substantial danger to consumers.

 

 http://www.newstarget.com/019557.html

 

This British site notes links between hormones used to enhance beef and increased incidence of breast and prostate cancers in the United States.

 

http://www.meatfactor.org/

 

Connected with the newstarget site, this brief article discusses the benefits of limiting red meat consumption.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/s/schlosser-fast.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

 

This is the first chapter to Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation, an expose of the fast food industry that inspired Richard Linklater’s recent film.

 

http://www.ruthozeki.com/

 

Ruth Ozeki’s web site offers links to other sites on farming and environmental issues, as well as alternative news venues and “media watchdog” sites.