A colleague was urging another colleague to give up pork by claiming that pigs eat everything and anything, including their own faeces. I told her that’s probably the case for many animals, as their living conditions before slaughter are horrifying – cramped up with little space to move about, stepping on the waste of one another… Farmers feed them with food that one would rather not know what’s within. Some farmers even refuse to feed the animals a few days before slaughter.
Driven by hunger, the animals have no choice but to eat what they can find on the floor. My colleague was taken aback, for she believed that all cows eat fresh grass instead of ‘sh*tty foods’. I almost felt bad for telling her the hard truth, but most cows do not graze happily in open fields like they do in commercials. Some do not get to see the sun till the very day they are transported to the slaughterhouse.
What about fish, she asked. Fish feed on whatever they think is edible in the seas and pollution of the sea is no joke. How clean can the sea be by being the final destination of untreated sewage from drains around the world? Shocked, she finally claimed that all should all be like me – become vegetarians – since it seems to be the cleanest of all diets. I nodded and said that if possible go for organic, it would be even better, as organic foods are pesticide free.
The above conversation made me realise that there are still many who do not know or simply refuse to educate themselves about the ‘food’ they put in their mouths. The ‘ignorance is bliss’ attitude is a real killer of personal health and animal welfare. Just how can blissful can ignorance be when the animals that become food were not really healthy or happy in the first place? Perhaps, if they were made to live in those conditions, they would have more empathy towards the animals? It’s high time we stop poisoning ourselves and torturing the animals. Amituofo
Truth is, almost everything not fit for consumption is in that sense ‘dirty’, but these things (including organic fertilisers) can be processed to become clean and fit for consumption.
Going vege is still the cleanest diet, because it is eating low on the food web. If pesticides for crops is ‘dirty’, imagine how much of these animals consume before humans consume them! Of course, one can go organic vegan too – to be totally free from pesticides.
How clean is clean? Only Purelands are truly pristine. Samsara is a world of both physical and spiritual pollution, so it’s better to make purification of the mind the priority, which would help purify the environment 🙂
If animal-based organic fertilisers are used, it has to be aged or composted to ensure dangerous bacteria such as E.coli is removed. After the aged or composted organic fertilisers are added to the soil, it has to wait for several more weeks before planting.
In 2007, a University of Minnesota study indicated that foods such as corn, lettuce and potatoes have been found to accumulate antibiotics from soils spread with animal manure that contains these drugs.
But organic foods are much less likely to contain antibiotics as veterinary drugs are not routinely used in organic farming systems. Most organic arable farmers either have their own supply of manure (which would therefore not normally contain drug residues) or else rely on green manure crops for the extra fertility. If any non-organic manure is used by organic farmers, then it usually has to be rotted or composted to degrade any residues of drugs and eliminate any pathogenic bacteria – Standard 4.7.38, Soil Association organic farming standards.
If you are really concerned, you might want to check with farmer or store assistance what kind of organic fertilisers were used. There is green manure which is purely plant-based.
Compost pile is also an excellent means of disposing organic debris, leaves, food wastes, grass clippings, etc. But such organic fertilisers cannot be used immediately and requires some sort of action by the micro life (bacteria, earthworm, fungi) which breaks down the matter and convert them to the form which can be used by the plants.
As Samsara is a world of dust, it can’t be and won’t be 100% clean, unless one has a mind like a Buddha. Why is our world not clean? It is because of our ignorant, greedy and hateful ways of handling the world that stirs up such great dirt and pollution. The above article is not about slamming how unclean meat is, but to show how filthy and underhanded humans can be for profiteering. With such unscrupulous methods of ‘caring’ for animals, just how clean can this world or meat be? :-||
If we clean our minds of greed, hate and ignorance, there would only be clean food in this world – and it would be vegan too! 😉
Thanks Gin for sharing, the more we talk, the more we understand and know where it is lacking, that why Shian got so PRO in Buddhism … we need to talk like him but there is a big gap to chase 🙁
Talking about Chicken and Cancer. There was an article on Strait Times 8 June 2009 on World.internationl – “Farm animals as good as mice for lab tests”
and it mentioned “Chickens are the only animals besides humans known to suffer from ovarian cancer” Gosh!
Chicken, anyone? :dizzy:
From PETA’s website:
Josh Hartnett’s decision to go meat-free came several years ago and happened in an instant. “One day I was cutting up a chicken for my mom, and I hit a tumor with the knife,” Hartnett said. “There was [pus] and blood all over the place. That was enough for me.” :sick:
Here’s a more :-O thought – How many chickens have you eaten, that have had their tumours removed for you, without your knowledge? :oh: