Chemicals and Diseases in Meat

Numerous potentially hazardous chemicals, of which consumers are generally unaware, are present m meat and meat products. In their book, "Poisons In Your Body", Garry and Steven Null give an inside look at the production techniques used by corporately owned animal producers , "The animals are kept alive and fattened by continuous administration of tranquillisers, horrnones, antibiotics and 2,700 other drugs," they write, "the process starts even before birth and continues long after death. Although these drugs will still be present in the meat when you eat it, the law does not require that they be listed on the package."

Because of the filthy, overcrowded conditions forced upon animals by the livestock industry, vast amounts of antibiotics must be used, but such rampant use of antibiotics naturally creates antibiotic-resistant bacteria that are passed on to those who eat the meat. The US FDA estimate that penicillin and tetracycline save the meat industry $1.9 billion a year giving them sufficient reason to overlook the potential health hazards. In addition to dangerous chemicals, meat often carries diseases from the animals themselves.

Crammed together in unclean conditions, force-fed and inhumanely treated, animals destined for slaughter contract many more diseases than they ordinarily would. Meat inspectors attempt to filter out unacceptable meats, but because of pressures from industry and lack of sufficient time for examination, much of what passes is far less wholesome than the meat purchaser realizes.