To Do Today

Today I can write about the dangerous effects of rBGH and antibiotics

i got 2 paragraphs done
coming back to it after i go to my room and do some other things

goal for today

i'm still reviewing sources today. i didn't anything for thanksgiving break.
i'll be writing later in the day.

(at least i'm honest)

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ok actually, i wrote about this study evaluating irish consumers' concerns regarding several possible hazards in the meat industry

Next Step

My next steps will be to continue hilighting my research and extracting the points I want to use specifically. Then, I'll outline my essay and begin writing.

revision plan

~ include category headings

~ explain classifications of entries

the end!

Annotations

Kate Grube

Annotated Bibliography

The Addition of Antibiotics and Growth Hormones into the Meat and Dairy Industries

In researching, I was inspired by a segment I had seen in the documentary The Corporation. Two reporters lost their jobs over unveiling some shocking information regarding the Monsanto group and the bovine growth hormone rBGH. Thus, I sought to answer this question: In light of this exposure, how could growth hormones and antibiotics in the meat industry effect humans, and to what lengths will supporters of these additives go to ensure that their use remains legal and socially acceptable? I direct this question (and subsequent answer) to both agricultural and food science majors as well as majors in marketing as a way to both explore the science of how these chemicals would be effecting future customers and to additionally investigate the ethics of techniques used by corporations who aim to push their product.

In summation of my findings, there was a general agreement that the addition of growth hormones and antibiotics into the diets of livestock was in no way beneficial to the human body. The degree of potential for harm has ranged from the inevitability of an (even more) immensely obese America to complete ignorance of the additives at all. Advocates for the growth hormone rBGH (which some claim has been linked to various forms of cancer) have included farmers using the hormone to generate a higher milk yield to the Monsanto corporation, the manufacturer of rBGH. Furthermore, an economics report from the USDA interjected that the discontinuation of the use of antibiotics in animal feed would drastically increase the price of meat products. (Go vegetarian, I say, but I digress.) I will illustrate, according to my sources, the necessity for the discontinuation of the employment of chemical additives in the meat and dairy industry and provide scenarios of possible results of this procedure.

1. Baille-Hamilton, P (2002).Chemical toxins: A hypothesis to explain the global obesity epidemic. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. 8, 185-192.

In the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, Paula F. Baille-Hamilton asserts that the recent influx of obesity in the United States is not due to overeating and a lack of exercise, but to the growth hormones and chemicals in the food we eat that disrupt our body’s “natural weight control mechanisms.” The epidemic occurred so quickly that an environmental factor must be in play, she says. The average caloric intake for humans has decreased recently, she contests, and the drop in physical activity wouldn’t have caused such a change in body weight so quickly. I will use this information as a presentation of another hypothesis as to how growth hormones in food animals are effecting humans. Baille-Hamilton seems to be a reliable source, but the information she provides is only a hypothesis. While she does have studies to support her hypothesis, there is no test as to whether or not growth hormones do cause weight gain.

2. Gray, Thomas W (2006, Nov). Dairy dilemma: Ban on rBGH use by tillamook sparks conflict. Rural Cooperatives, [73(6)], 4-7, 36-37.

Rural Sociologist with the USDA Thomas W Gray, Ph. D writes in this issue of “Rural Cooperatives” magazine about the ban on rBGH milk and the subsequent conflict within the Tillamook dairy cooperative. Responding to an outcry from their consumers, Gray says, Tillamook discontinued the allowance of rBGH. The Monsanto group, however, protested this ban and sided with the few farmers that wished to continue to use rBGH, as the hormone had been approved by the FDA and not shown to cause any damage to humans and supposedly negligible harm to the cows injected with it. Gray also cites other examples of Monsanto’s dissent regarding rBGH bans in different areas of the United States. In my paper, I will cover the consumer reactions to rBGH, as well as some valuable points made by supporters of rBGH. Furthermore, I can use this article to illustrate the economic disadvantages of banning rBGH.

3. Kleinman, AuthorDaniel L. , & Kinchy, A (2003). Boundaries in science policy making: Bovine growth hormone in the european union. Sociology Quarterly. 44, 577-595.

An article from a journal of sociology, this discusses the process with which policies are made in the EU. This specific case concerns rBGH, and then this will be used to illustrate the EU’s feelings.

4. Mathews, K (2001, may). Antimicrobial drug use and veterinary costs in u.s. livestock production. Agriculture Information Bulletin, 766, Retrieved Nov 12, 2007, from http://ers.usda.org

Mathews, with the United States Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service alleges that with a decreased use of antimicrobial drugs in animal feed, almost immediately the market would experience higher veterinary costs, reduced production, and thus higher costs to consumers. The risk of transmission of a resistant bacteria from animal to human is very low, as these cases account for only 10% of bacterial resistance cases. Many European countries have foreseen this as a problem, however, and have placed a ban on antimicrobial use in food animals. This will be used as reasons as to how a ban on antibiotics could be dangerous to the market. Patterns in the organic food movement could be indicative of this.

5. Schlosser, E (2006, Nov). Cheap food nation. Sierra, [91(6)], [36-39].

Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation, comments on the current status of America’s meat industry. He claims that the damage that can be potentially done to various aspects of the industry isn’t worth the lower cost. This will be used as a contrast to naysayers who contest that the economic hardships that could be places on a growth hormone ban should be enough to eliminate it.

6. Wilson, Steve (2000, Jan 10). How murdoch gave in to monsanto. New Statesman, [129(4468)], 15-19.

This article in the UK’s New Statesman magazine gives reporter Steve Wilson the opportunity to finally make known the practices he and his wife Jane unveiled about the dairy industry in Tampa, FL and the extent to which it was attempted to be covered up. After finding a possible carcinogenic component in milk from rBGH injected cows and conducting interviews with several dairy farms that insisted on continuing use of the hormone, Steve and Jane submitted their story to go on the air. Upon receiving several threatening faxes from the company that manufactures rBGH, Fox news decided too much was at stake, pulled the program, and fired the Wilsons. From a leftist magazine, there may be some bias against large corporations such as Monsanto, this will be useful to illustrate the amount of unjust repression this topic has gotten.

SURPRISE

experts opinions of the use of antibiotics and growth hormones in livestock.

the end

Annotation 2

http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2006/12.07/11-dairy.html


From Harvard University's Gazette, Ganmaa Davaasambuu, a medical doctor from Mongolia, contests that American milk is supplying people with excessive amounts of hormones because US cows are milked 300 days a year, while pregnant, whereas Mongolian cows are milked only 5 months a year during times of infertility. As a summation of a discussion between scientific peers at an accredited university, the article reflects Davaasambuu's personal views. This will be used as aid for the argument that additives in food are dangerous.