Merck scientists have introduced a new drug to the meat industry - Zilmax. This drug bulks up cattle in the last few weeks of their lives, bringing in more revenue for feedlot owners. Four major meat companies now use Zilmax, including Tyson Foods, JBS SA, Cargill, and National Beef Packing Co. Reportedly, Cargill resisted Zilmax for years, but finally got on board to keep up with the market.
Recycling the drug
Zilmax was once called Zilpaterol and was used to treat asthma in humans. The drug was an absolute failure but was found to be a repartitioning agent - a drug that changes metabolism so more muscles are produced instead of fat. The World Anti-Doping Agency banned the drug for human consumption, so Merck re-branded the drug Zilmax and started selling it to feedlots as a growth stimulant.
Journalist visits meat locker, disgusted
As a journalist for Chronicle of Higher Education, Melody Peterson described her visit to the meat locker at West Texas A&M University. Escorted by Ty E. Lawrence, associate professor of animal science, Peterson reported,
"Bloody sides of beef, still covered with a slick layer of ivory-colored fat, hung from steel hooks. Dressed in a white lab coat, a hard hat on his head, Lawrence pointed to the carcass of a Holstein that had been fed a new drug called Zilmax. He noted its larger size compared with the nearby body of a steer never given the drug."
"'This is thicker, and it's plumper,' said Lawrence, pointing at the beast's rib-eye. 'This animal right here,' waving his hand at the pharmaceutically enhanced meat, 'doesn't look like a Holstein anymore.'"
Not a Holstein anymore: is that really something to be proud about? If a Holstein doesn't look like a Holstein anymore, what are we eating and what are we becoming? Drugged up beef has more profit
The drought in 2012 made it easier for Merck to sell Zilmax. Without needing any more feed or water, a cow can now yield 33 pounds of extra beef when drugged with Zilmax. According to Zilmax advertisements, food production has everything to do with profit now instead of giving people healthy, real meat.
One of their ads boasts:
"Costs $20 Makes you $40 THAT'S ZILMANOMICS! Beef you can count on. Feed Zilmax for the last 20 days for an additional 30 pounds of hot carcass weight and an extra $40 per head, gross profit. That's every four weeks. Let's see the folks on Wall Street beat those returns!"
University researchers, agriculture industry, and pharmaceuticals protecting one another
Agriculture schools increasingly depend on the agriculture industry for research grants. A large portion of those grants cover overhead and administrative costs. Many professors now work for the agriculturecompanies as consultants and speakers, adding to their personal bank accounts along the way. In a 2005survey, more than two-thirds of animal scientists reported they had received money from the industry in the previous five years. Critics say some academic animal scientists have become so closely tied to the drugcompanies that they may be working more in the big companies' interests. Weren't land-grant universitiescreated to serve farmers, ranchers, and their fellow man?
Survive by resistance
Resistance of the big industry drugged-up beef and sell-out university's advice will be the way forward for many American's seeking healthy choices.
Read the labels. Know where food comes from. Ask questions. Buy organic. The American republic can restore its health through knowledge and awareness. With strength in numbers, the people can change the game.
Genetically modified salmon can breed with wild trout to produce a new fast growing fish that can harm natural species, scientists have warned.
[Did they lie to us again?]
The researchers fear that plans to farm a new type of GM salmon that grows faster than normal salmon may result in some of the animals escaping into streams and rivers.
They conducted a study to examine the impacts that such an escape would have on natural habitats.
They found that the GM salmon, which have been developed by a Canada firm and are expected to be given approval for sale as food in the US, could mate with wild brown trout.
This resulted in a “hybrid” species that grew faster than even the GM salmon. They also “out competed” wild fish in laboratory based simulation of a stream.
Dr Krista Oke, who led the work at the department of biology at McGill University in Quebec, Canada, said: “To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study demonstrating transmission and ecological consequences from interspecific hybridisation between a GM animal and a naturally hybridising species.
“Ultimately, hybridisation of transgenic fishes with closely related species represents potential ecological risks for wild populations.”
The researchers, whose work is published in the journalProceedings of The Royal Society B, warned that any attempts to farm GM salmon should carefully assess the risks to the wider environment should they escape.
AquaBounty, a Canadian biotechnology firm, has spent 17 years developing a type of Atlantic salmon that will reach full size in half the time of wild salmon.
The "super-salmon" are grown in tanks and Panama and the firm has applied to the Food and Drug Administration, which regulates food in the US, to sell the GM fish in shops.
The FDA recently ruled that meat from the fish was unlikely to pose a threat to human health but it has still to give approval for it to be sold.
The GM fish are unlikely to go on sale in the UK or Europe in the near future as there are strict regulations on the use of GM meat for human consumption.
However, environmental groups have expressed concerns that the fish could escape into the wild and the Atlantic Salmon Federation has said they could disrupt fish ecosystems.
The latest research by Dr Oke and her colleagues seems to support their arguments as the hybrid fish that formed when GM salmon mated with wild trout led to other wild fish being far smaller than they would normally be.
This is because they grew up to 80 per cent faster and ate much of the available food.
Dr Oke added: “Although transgenic hybrids would likely be rarer in the wild than in our experiment, our results indicate that transgenic hybrids have a competitive advantage over salmon in at least some semi-natural conditions.
“If this advantage is maintained in the wild, transgenic hybrids could detrimentally affect wild salmon populations.”
Ron Stotish, chief executive of AquaBounty Technologies, described the research as "encouraging" and insisted would only market sterile female GM salmon, known as AquAdvantage, so they could not breed.
He added: "Brown trout and Atlantic salmon are know to be able to produce hybrid progeny.
"This paper confirms that AquAdvantage, can be used to produce such hybrids, and that the presence of the transgene does indeed confer accelerated growth in hatchery conditions.
“It is worth noting that in 1995, Peter Galbreath and Gary Thorgaard of Washington State University published research that the Atlantic salmon brown trout hybrid is sterile.
"If this holds true, such a hybrid would pose little ecological threat as the fish would not reproduce."
Dandelion greens are my number one choice for a smoothie green. Not only do they provide a higher amount of calcium and iron than most cultivated greens, they have a wide array of health benefits that make them the perfect all around nutritional boost.
Here are ten reasons you should use dandelion greens in your next smoothie.
#1 – High in Calcium: Dandelion greens are loaded with calcium. Just one cup of chopped dandelion greens has 103 milligrams (10% of the recommended daily value) of calcium! That’s slightly more than kale! Add two to three cups of dandelion to a smoothie with calcium-rich fruits like orange, kiwi, fig or papaya and you’ll have a green smoothie that has more calcium than any dairy product!
#2 – Rich in Iron: Next to fresh parsley, dandelion greens have a high iron content. One cup contains 1.7 milligrams of iron.
#3 – Low Calories: Like all leafy greens, dandelions are low in calories. One cup of chopped dandelion greens has only 25 calories. While leafy greens are a low calorie food, I actually prefer to use dandelions because they have more calories than other greens. Since I try to get as many calories as I can into my morning smoothies, I add up to 4 cups of dandelion which adds 100 calories of nutrient-rich food!
#4 – Loaded With Antioxidants: Dandelion greens are high in vitamin A in the form of antioxidant carotenoid (beta-carotene) and vitamin C. Vitamin C also helps facilitate iron absorption.
#5 – The Ultimate Detox & Cleansing Green: If your goal is detoxification and cleansing, dandelion greens should be the ones you use in green smoothies! They are said to help cleanse the liver and many detox recipes call for them.
#6 – Lots Of Minerals: Dandelion greens are rich in minerals. Besides calcium and iron, they are a good source of copper (10% RDA), manganese (8% RDA), phosphorus (5% RDA), potassium (5% RDA) and magnesium (5% RDA).
#7 – 14% Protein: Dandelion greens have more protein per serving than spinach. The greens themselves are 14% protein and contain all essential amino acids so it’s a complete protein. One chopped cup contains 1.5 grams of protein.
#8 – Multivitamin Green: Besides vitamin A as beta-carotene (186% RDA) and vitamin C (21% RDA), each cup of chopped dandelion greens are also good sources of vitamins B1 (9% RDA), B2 (11% RDA) and B6 (11% RDA), vitamin E (13% RDA) and especially abundant in vitamin K (357% RDA).
#10 – Health Benefits of Dandelion Greens: The nutrients in dandelion greens may help reduce the risk of cancer, multiple sclerosis, cataracts, age-related macular degeneration and stroke. Dandelion contains anti-inflammatory properties which may provide benefit to those with asthma and other inflammatory diseases.
How To Select And Store Dandelion Greens
While dandelion greens can be found at health food stores, co-ops and farmers markets, they are probably widely available during the spring and early summer months in your own backyard.
Select unblemished, dark green leaves or bunches when purchasing them in the store. When foraging, young greens that are harvested before the flower head appears will be less bitter.
Commercially cultivated dandelion greens may have whitish/green or red stems. The leaves are highly perishable. I store them in the fridge in a large plastic tub with a piece of paper towel to absorb excess moisture and condensation. They will keep for 2-4 days this way. If you store wet leaves in a produce bag, they will likely only last a couple days.
The dandelion greens that you find in the store are typically organic. If you forage for dandelion, be sure to harvest them from land that has not been treated with pesticides, herbicides or other contaminants. Avoid harvesting dandelion greens from urban or industrial waste lots as heavy metals (lead, mercury) and other pollutants in the soil might be absorbed into the plant.
How To Use Dandelion Greens In A Green Smoothie
Dandelions are bitter, so it makes sense to blend them with fruit to mask the flavor. I recommend blending dandelion greens with sweet, flavorful fruit like banana, strawberries, mango, citrus and pineapple.
I use up to 4 cups of chopped greens in a single smoothie recipe. If you are trying dandelion for the first time, start with a small handful or 1 cup of chopped leaves.
"Dandelions aren't just weeds in the yard - Discover how dandelions protect against diabetes, cancer, liver disease, and kidney stones"
If you haven't already sprayed this year's crop of dandelions with Roundup or other herbicide - and you'd like to rid your lawn from unwanted vegetation - why not dig up your dandelions and make tea or eat them in salads, stews or a green smoothie?
The common dandelion proliferating summer lawns is often considered a weed. It was brought to the United States from Europe and Asia and introduced for its myriad health benefits, which have been utilized by Eastern cultures for centuries. Dandelion is a bitter herb and all parts of the plant are used medicinally in herbal preparations, teas and as foods.
Preparing dandelions for consumption
Make dandelion tea by brewing 1 ounce of dandelion root or leaves in 1 pint of water for 15 minutes. Roast dandelion root like you would carrots or potatoes. Dandelion greens and flowers are delicious raw in salads or cooked like you would spinach.
Stimulates digestion
The bitter properties in dandelion aid digestion, stimulating the production of digestive juices, which begin in the mouth with saliva. The stomach responds to stimulus from bitter foods by increasing the production of all natural digestive juices including acids and bicarbonate.
>h1>Tonifies the liver Dandelion tea supports the liver in its production of bile, reducing inflammation, jaundice, hepatitis and gall bladder disease, according to Columbia University.
Effects on blood sugar and diabetes
Dandelion affects blood sugar levels, acting as a stabilizing agent and buffering against extreme highs and lows. Drinking dandelion tea three times a day provides support for diabetics.
Prevention of kidney stones
The University of Maryland Medical Center notes the combination of foods high in oxalates and calcium may lower the incidence of kidney stones. Dandelion is high in oxalates and when consumed at the same time as high-calcium foods, they bind in the intestine creating protection for the kidneys.
Weight loss and swelling
Dandelion leaves act as a diuretic and can be made into tea, which reduces swelling and fluid retention as well as promoting weight loss, according to Columbia University. It's believed that dandelion tea may have other properties that aid with weight loss in addition to its diuretic affect.
Cancer fighting properties
According to Columbia University, antibodies to various types of cancers have been detected in individuals after consuming dandelion, including the leaves, flowers and roots. Sources for this article include:
