The Price of Cloning

A just recently read a chapter from the book "best Food Writing 2008", it was all about cloning and its pros and cons. It explained how it can be a very useful thing creating perfect breeding and increased production. However in some ways it can be a problem. Some people just dont believe in it and some believe there could be some consequences to cloning,

I believe cloning is a good thing. Its a new frontier in technology that I think has many bright hopes. However the growth of the industry is being caused by politics and the flopping of real answers on the issue.

There is some kinks that still need to be worked out. But they will never be if companies are not allowed to move forward. Cloning is just as much of a help to agriculture as it is to medicine so I believe it is important to continue developing the technology.

However there is a line and the question is what is to far where we can not go back?

And what could happen if we do cross that boundary?

The Swine Flu Related to agriculture?

I have been reading a few articles on the swine flu and how they are related to agriculture and the seem to believe that it the industries fault that we have the swine. They describe how pigs live in filth and bacteria and the industry pumps them with antibiotics to keep them from getting sick. This they say is truly the cause of the swine and it arose from this evolution of disease.

I find a few holes in this, first of all the swine flu originated in mexico and they are trying to blame the American meat industry. That makes no sense because it didn't come from us thats like going to Mexico and getting food poison from a taco and coming to the U.S. and saying u will never eat a taco here again.

The second point I find to be a whole in the logic of the meat industry starting the swine flu is that they blame it on antibiotics. Last time I knew antibiotics fought bacteria, swine flu is a virus which means antibiotics have little to do with the argument. Also as far as I knew, I believe the use of antibiotics without reason just for precaution was baned by the FDA.

Another thing I found interesting is that you cant catch the flu from a pig. It has to mutate first which usually occurs only when you are around the animal for along period of time this however is not a common practice in the united states because industrial farming usually doesn't allow that kind of contact because of scale.

These are only a few of the holes that I found when reading about the argument.

Do you think the meat industry is the cause?

If so is this the price we pay for mass meat?

Are antibiotics effective and what is the danger?

Laws, Laws, Laws

The government has laws for everything now a days. They regulate everything. How could we change this? Is getting rid of lobbyist really the answer?

Slaughter

Many people have different views on slaughter some hate it and think its in humane some think it dirty. This is discussed throughout chapter 12 of Omnivores Dilemma.

The truth is however is that its slaughter. It is not supposed to be pretty. Especially at the amount of it we have to do. We produce so much animal products in this country that we require a system that produces meat at the most efficient rate possible and that is through large slaughter houses that can manage a lot of meat in short time.

However I don't believe that it is necessarily the only way it should be done. To be honest their are way to restrictions and laws put in place by the government. I think people and farms should be able to process more meat if that what they desire. I think that most of our slaughtering techniques are safe and effective and all we really need are quality controls in place.

Do you think modern slaughterhouses are efficient?

A Flexitarian

As I read about someone who went on a tour of meat eating after being a vegetarian all his life, I think about how many vegetarians now a days are born into that lifestyle. I think you have to try everything before you say its not for me. I tried tofu a few times hated it thought it was tasteless and pointless to eat but i wouldn't say that if I had never tried it.

As the man ate all these different forms of meat he realized what he was missing and that he need to grow into a more flexible diet or a flexatarian.

I think the rule that you need to try things before taking sides remains true in all forms of life you need to see multiple sides of the story to truly take a side.

Is there something out there that you have never eaten but really want to try?

Vegetarians eating meat?

I just read in an article from the book Best Food Writing that vegetarians are starting to convert back to eating meat. However this meat is from sustainable small farms that produce grass fed or free roaming livestock.

All the power to them we are built to be omnivores not to just eat veggies or just meat as much as we might want to. I think it is important to have niche agriculture that can produce for these different branches of demand. Although this type will probably never be able to support the worlds population it gives vegetarians a way to sneak meat.

A question if you are a vegetarian why are you one what made you make the big step?

And if so aren't you as unhealthy as the cattle that you say are living unnaturally?

Eating Animals

As upon reading the Omnivores Dilemma something struck me I love eating animals odd to say it that way I know but in Pollans book he discusses about how people don't actually know what they are eating and how it got to their plates but I think most people know that on their plate is a piece of some kind of animal.

He also discusses how pita changes countless people a year to become vegetarians due to the things that they do and images they show. I don't hate people i just think they are misleading, they convince people that animal cruelty happens in every industry in the meat chain. This is a huge false it just does not happen the way they portray it. They make it seem like every animal that is on your plate has lived some horrible life and been hurt by the system in some way in truth it only happens in some cases but on the other hand animal happiness is a different story with a well oiled system built for production you just wont get beautiful paddocks filled with animals that have free roam it wont happen because we have to much demand for not enough land.

You may ask well if we shouldn't look at this system as a animal destroyer then what should we see it as? The answer is a producer the system is built to produce enough for the demand and it gets meat on my plate so it much be working. People have become to sensitive and don't simply understand that if you want meat on your plate we have to have a production intensive system.

In general our system provides us the meat we demand with as little animal cruelty as possible.

Could you argue that the reason most of the domesticated animals on the planet are alive because of agriculture and without it would be extinct.