Good Reason to grow your own Protein

[Murray]

Had lunch yesterday with a group of friends, two were RN's. During conversation they told us about a training session they attended at a major Brisbane hospital. The lecture was regarding the dangerous emergence of super bacteria which are becoming increasingly difficult to deal with.
The lecturer (some expert in these matters) pointed out that the main cause of these problems is the unfettered use of antibiotics in animal husbandry right here in Australia.
The residue of the antibiotics is in the meat products and goes directly to the human consumer.
Also there is evidence of mutating bacteria being transfused to the human consumer (Make sure your steak / chicken is thoroughly cooked.)

The patient presents with some bacterial infection which will no longer respond to antibiotics, due to their second hand consumption of antibiotics via meat consumption.

Last week on the TV show "What's Good For You" they did a piece on the use of growth hormones in meat products in relation to the increasing incidence of "Man Boobs".
Those interviewed from various industry bodies assured us that growth hormones are no longer used in chicken and pork but there is extensive use of antibiotics. According to the report there is still some hormone used in beef production in northern Australia. Link to transcript and video clips of the TV show

A real good reason to raise your own fish and chooks etc

Below is a small extract re the problems from overuse of antibiotics in the commercial raising of beef, poultry and pork products.

Farming Adds to Antibiotic Resistance
Scaling back on antibiotics for human maladies won’t address the whole problem. Farmers and ranchers use antibiotics heavily, too. In North America, industrial beef, pig and poultry farming is a big unsanitary business, and antibiotics are used extensively to ward off diseases and also for non-medical reasons, such as to promote growth. In fact, the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), a non-profit research and advocacy group, estimates that some 70 percent of all antibiotics are used as additives in the feed given to healthy pigs, poultry and cattle. These drugs leave the animals’ bodies as waste and work their way into local water supplies, as well as right into the food chain. “Nonetheless,” says UCS, “agribusiness and the pharmaceutical industry are fighting hard to thwart restrictions on the use of antibiotics in agriculture.”

Here is another link for further reading

Here is yet another link for further reading

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[Jonathan Dyer]

You know Murray very little of these products are used here in Australia anymore. With all antibiotics, pesticides and herbicides there are withholding periods for these products giving time for the chemicals to ware off to a large extent.

If anyone understands agriculture in Australia (not another country like the USA as the bottom of your extract refers to Murray) and is actively involved in the use and production of some of the highest quality food in the world they will know why these products are used and for what reason. Antibiotics are an essential part of pig husbandry used to treat Pneumonia, if not treated one pig having pneumonia will spread to every pig. Some intensive piggeries have over 20,000 pigs if it is not managed accordingly well goodbye bacon. For that matter most of Australia’s pig products come from oversees from Denmark and surrounding Scandinavian areas.

Think about it for a minute the quality of Australia’s food is some of if not the best in the world one is more likely to die in a car crash, eaten by a shark, die in hospital due to incorrect medicine prescribed, cancer, heart attack, diabetes, emphysema, industrial accident than die from eating some chicken with a small residue of antibiotics? How much drugs do you take on a daily interval (panadol, sleeping tablets, antibiotics, anti-inflametries)? Wouldn’t it be fair to say that a large portion of Australians ingests much more drugs than what animals do?

I understand why people try to grow their own food but there is no solid evidence that small amounts of residues (antibiotics, pesticides and herbicides) will cause major health problems. Yes, for a hand full or so there maybe and many others there maybe small health problems but all food prior to the 1900’s was inherently organic; we are living longer lives than ever before. We can detoxify these products if we so wish from our bodies anyway, the thing is most people don’t. Growing your own fish you maybe overcoming any heavy metals and toxic industrial waste residues which is undeniably better for your health, no three-headed Silver Perch here.

I welcome your comments.

[echidna]

Sorry Murray, but those nurses are quite mis-informed. One of the biggest problems facing hospitals today is treatment resistant Golden Staph. It's been around for over 25 years and was created by poor medical practice in hospitals. It killed my grandmother over 20 years ago and has evolved to the stage where closure of facilities is the only treatment. Self medication, failure to complete treatments, overuse of animal antibiotics are a problem. But so is living in major cities. Cities ARE disease points, and the larger the city and the more fluid the population the worse things will get. The world WILL see another major flu pandemic soon. And for Jonathon. Pigs, poultry and humans - it's an unhealthy mix. Add in antibiotic resistance and the Spanish Flu outbreak will seem a minor one.

[Jonathan Dyer]

Pigs, poultry and humans - it's an unhealthy mix.

In what way?

[echidna]

Flu DNA crosses between species very easily. Swine are the major meat animal most closely related to humans. Swine have numerous diseases that cross into humans easily and vice versa. Avian flu easily crosses over into both swine and human flu and vice versa. Provide both chance (close proximity) and maximum opportunity (large numbers of contact points), it will happen. Australia and Russia are the opposite ends of major bird migration paths. Asia is the central point with both chance and opportunity. It WILL happen. Add in massive air travel and we'll see a major flu pandemic in the near future. And since both swine and poultry are being given massive amounts of antibiotics in Asia at the present.....

[Murray]

Ok Echidna,
I will tell them that they must inform the learned Professor that he is completely mistaken.
I agree, there is heaps of material out there re the overuse of antibiotics both over prescribed by the medical profession and overused in the animal meat products production.
This information is well documented and increasing evidence every day. And it is just not in the USA or some other far away place.
Most GP's are now very cautious about prescribing antibiotics, and rightly so. The word is out well and truly.

As for Golden Staph........ Exactly my point. The over use of antibiotics......

Golden staph (Staphylococcus aureus) is a type of bacterium that causes infections. In most situations golden staph is harmless. If it enters the body through a cut in the skin it can cause a range of mild to severe infections. Penicillin was effective in treating golden staph, however, antibiotic-resistant strains of golden staph evolved in the 1970s and have troubled hospitals world-wide with persistent infections in their patients ever since.

[anniefish]

Hi all,
I think the biggest problem is the high intensity of pigs and poultry and of course beef feed lots. It is not natural for any animal to live in constant close proximity to others. Any animal is a natural forager (include man). I have been to piggeries where sows are kept in a cage just wide enough for her to stand no turning around no moving back and forward. She can stand and lie down. They were fed tranquilisers to keep them quiet.
I've been in poultry sheds where the chook is put in a crate with 3-4 other chooks, (and there are thousands of crates),they are fed and watered and stay in there until the excrement is built up and touching the cage (which is about three feet off the ground) then they are sent off to slaughter. MMM love that take away chicken.
Don't drive by a feed lot after the rains, you would choke on the smell. You can't keep animals in these conditions and not expect them to be ill. Of course the farmer will feed them anything to keep going. Then again most farmers use bought in rations which could contain anything and they wouldn't know.They have been told 'get big or get out', dairy farmers are in the same boat. They need to have huge herds of cattle just to break even. Gone are the days of a few cows being enough to keep you going.
I haven't bought beef or pork for many years, chicken is only under extreme circumstances. People need to start demanding and making decisions on what they eat. But they are getting lazier and lazier, and don't care just as long as it is quick to make.
In America a dairy farmer feeds his herd on Hershey bars. He chops up the out of date bars, wrapper and all and feeds them to his cows. Another uses newspaper.
I don't think it's the small residues (of pesticides etc,) that is the problem but the accumulative build up in the population that is. And while big companies like Monsanto are allowed to call the shots nothing will change.
Have a great day, Annie

[Jonathan Dyer]

It is not natural for any animal to live in constant close proximity to others.

Don’t fish in aquaculture production live in constant close proximity to others?

What’s the population of China again?

[Murray]

Hi Jonathan,
Yes, The fish crowding could become a problem, however in an aquaponic system the waste from the fish is continually taken away and dealt with. The entire fish environment is continuously being cleaned and returned to the fish fresh. Also the fish in proportion to it's size has a whole lot more room to move about than a pig does in some modern farms.
As for feed lot beef, try to avoid driving past a feed lot after rain, the stench is terrible.
Good station raised beef from out on that semi arid country is good.

China, well what can we say without getting into trouble.
Human overcrowding is a massive problem for the poor souls who are born into that kind of situation. Any big city, including Sydney, in my book, is just not the place to be for all sorts of reasons.
I have always lived "out of town" except for a few years in my late teens and early twenties when I moved from country Stanthorpe (lived out of town there) to Brisbane. Not long after getting married we purchased this 10 acre block of rubbish land 40 kms south west of Brisbane and have lived here ever since, except for a 10 year stint in PNG.
One needs a bit of space.
Not every one can do that.
There is a new estate about 12 kms from where I live, and some of the new blocks of land on sale are 250 sqm !!!! ......And we are worried about the poor pigs on the farm, or the battery chooks !!!!!!

[Jonathan Dyer]

Any good feed-lot animal system has the waste drain or flushed with water every day. Like pigs in intensive sheds they are standing on a false bottom floor and the waste drains and is flushed out into a large dam and them can be used to irrigate pasture for hay or whatever. Same applies with cattle there is an ideal world and something that is cost effective but if one is to employ such system and put the effort in feeding in such way you may as well do it right or not at all. Even with fish the wastes are removed its not much different. Free-range chooks mostly are fed on the same diet as cooks in a cage its just said to be more ethical.