Michael said:
Does anyone know if a study has been done to see what kind of chemicals or substances are in beef?
Just a few ideas, but not exhaustive by any means:
Foods “treated” with sufficient
amounts of radiation can kill nearly all E. coli, Salmonella,
Listeria and other pathogens found in food while leaving it
edible, though perhaps with a
scorched taste, unpleasant
smell or discoloration.
In recent years, however, attention has turned toward
questions of whether irradiated foods are toxic or could
cause cancer, genetic damage or other health problems.
_http://www.citizen.org/documents/beeftesting.pdf (November, 2003 Report)
Did you know that animals that collapse at the slaughterhouse door or during transportation are called “downers,” and their corpses are routinely processed for human consumption? The diseased ones are “rendered” into “meat meal” and fed back to the pigs and chickens we eat and added to pet food. This according to the USDA.
_http://www.dfsgardenclub.org/articles/What'sInTheBeef.htm
"A hundred thousand cows per year in the U.S. are fine at night, dead in the morning. The majority of those cows are rounded up, ground up, fed back to other cows. If only one of them has mad cow disease, it has the potential to affect thousands."
_http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-20099771.html
Pesticides:
Nearly all the meat in America is contaminated with toxic chemicals applied directly to livestock and to animal feed. Unlike crops grown for human consumption, crops grown for cattle feed have no limits on the amount of pesticides that can be applied. About 80% of the pesticides used in the US is applied to four major feed crops -- corn, soybean, cotton, and wheat. Banned pesticides such as the notorious DDT, are persistent in the environment and continue to contaminate food crops. Because the toxins bioaccumulate, the consumer is exposed to greater concentrations of pesticides when eating meat than from eating plant food.
_http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-6780234_ITM
Genetically engineered growth hormones are commonly used in beef production. The hormones have been Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved since the 1950s, but are now produced using genetic engineering techniques. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) says the use of the hormones creates a more flavorful and more tender product at lower costs to cattle producers, the environment, and consumers.
There are six approved growth hormones that are produced using genetic engineering: estradiol, progesterone, testosterone, zeranol, melengestrol acetate, and trenbolone acetate. The first three hormones occur in both humans and animals. The other three substances are artificial hormones designed to act like the natural hormones.
There is concern by some researchers and consumers that these hormones may cause cancer, hormonal imbalance, developmental and immune risks in humans who eat these growth hormones.
_http://www.iptv.org/exploremore/ge/features/issue2_feature5.cfm
