MRSA variant in farmed pork (Guardian report)

[sarah darwins]

Hope this is in the right section.

Warning: some people may find some of the images and information in this report a bit upsetting (I did).

For those of us who think intensive animal farming is a) barbaric, and b) insane, further ammunition. I'm glad I eat little meat (and no pork) and only eat organic.

Link to article: http://www.theguardian.com/society/...n-supermarket-pork-raises-alarm-farming-risks

And a secondary article, linked from the first: http://www.theguardian.com/society/...a-mrsa-cc398-and-why-is-it-spreading-on-farms

 

[Little Bluestem]

Are either of these articles safe for the squeamish among us?

 

[sarah darwins]

Are either of these articles safe for the squeamish among us?

I'm pretty squeamish myself. Mostly the 'health warning' I put in the post was because you can't read these articles without thinking about the dismal realities of intensive animal farming. There's one picture of pigs in overcrowded conditions. There's no real in-your-face stuff. It's more the implications that are disturbing.

This is never an easy subject, which is why we don't see or hear much about it. Out of sight, out of mind.

I posted this article partly because of a very recent conversation I had with someone in the UK Health Service — a 'heretic', who doesn't buy the psycho stuff at all — who believes that environmental toxicity, especially in our messed-up food supply, may play a key role in the genesis of ME.

 

[justy]

Am I wrong to feel smug that I haven't eaten meat in 26 years and that my 4 children NEVER have?

Its a scary and worrying story...but no big surprise.

 

[sarah darwins]

Am I wrong to feel smug that I haven't eaten meat in 26 years and that my 4 children NEVER have?

Its a scary and worrying story...but no big surprise.

Not wrong at all. I'm from a farming family, and I know my grandparents would have sooner starved than treat farm animals the way some are treated today. One of my uncles walked away from farming in the 80s because of pressure from the Min. of Ag. to go with more intensive methods. He went along for a while then just couldn't deal with it. He had too much respect for life to treat animals that way.

It's great to see organic farming gaining more of a foothold now, but it's only going to become the norm if we all drastically reduce our meat consumption. I think the evidence suggests that we would all be healthier for it anyway.

I was largely veggie the last 7 years because of my feelings about intensive farming, but I had to reintroduce some meat into my diet late last year after becoming anaemic. I eat organic meat once or twice a week, which is ample. The anaemia seems to have resolved itself but I'm waiting to see what comes out of my Brussels excursions before deciding on any changes.