FOOD

In a January 6, 2009 WSJ article, Seth Tibbott, Vegan and founder of Tofurky, answered Dennis Nishi's question, "How Long have you been a vegetarian?" with, "Since 1974. I had just become a vegetarian after reading "Diet for a Small Planet" by Frances Moore Lappe. She pointed out the inefficiencies in animal production. You put in 15 pounds of grain in one side and get one pound of meat protein out the other."
In Diet for a Small Planet, Lappe presents her theory of "Complementary Protein" sources in the human diet. Although Lappe is not a medical doctor, a nutritionist, or a food provider, some still blindly follow her speculations as though they're fact.
Americans should investigate and question everything they're being fed; whether ingested through the mouth...or mind.
Because we don't question personal opinions by individuals like Frances Moore Lappe, we un-wittingly contribute towards the destruction of our own food sources.
How? Food providers are being forced out of business by loud notions submitted by people including Lappe, PETA president Ingrid Newkirk, anti-grazing activist Jon Marvel, Founder of global warming whopper Al Gore, DDT false alarmist Rachel Carson and Humane Society of the United States CEO Wayne Pacelle.
Combined with the crippling policies of government regulations and fuel costs, these un-debated opinions of environmentalists and animal rights activists gravely jeopardize American Food Production and generate a real and present national security threat.
Consumers of food have a right to know what's behind food production. So I dug up a few agricultural facts, provided by Dr. Tom Field in 2002.
Granted these facts are a bit dated, but none-the-less hold thought provoking accuracy.
1) Less than 1/fifty of U.S. cropland is used for feed grain production.
2) Water used for animal production (consumption, irrigation of forage and crops for animal feed) accounts for about ten percent of total water use in U.S.
3) Waste from livestock provides an important recyclable nutrient pool that can be used to replace conventional man-made chemical fertilizers.
4) Agricultural production in total, accounts for only 3 percent of the fossil fuel use in the U.S. . Furthermore, the processing of soybeans into soy protein requires about twice as much energy as is required to produce beef.
5) There are 14 million more acres of forest today than there were in 1920. The deforestation of lands in developing nations occur because of poverty, misguided land tenure programs, and population growth.
6) On a worldwide basis, humans directly consume about two-thirds of the cereal grain production, while beef cattle consume about 5 percent.
Dr. Field went on to recommend everyone read, "The Soft Science of Dietary Fat" in the March 30, 2001 edition of Science magazine. There he states, "One can find significant evidence that debunks many of the urban myths related to diet and health."
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/291/5513/2536
Get smart. Demand debate. Demand facts. Refuse to be fed artificial stimulants, man-made chemicals and propaganda, and capsule supplements. You'll save a farmer; more importantly, you'll save your life.


Roni Bell Sylvester