Poverty Is the Real Pollution

This web site has stayed out of the controversy over Bjorn Lomborg’s book, The Skeptical Environmentalist, though from the reviews and discussion, there is much it would agree with as well as some parts it would disagree. We wholeheartedly agree, however, with Lomborg’s comments to the BBC about the United Nations’ recent Global Environment Outlook-3 report which complained about the increasingly negative impact that humanity is having on the world’s ecosystems. The BBC quoted Lomborg as replying,

We think things are getting worse and worse but actually if we look at the facts we see that fewer and fewer people are starving, we’re better able to handle pollution in the developed world (for instance, air pollution) and in the developing world, it will be the same when they get sufficiently rich.

What we need to realize is that the real pollution problem is the pollution of poverty; when people are poor they cannot take care of the environment 10 or a 100 years down the line.

Eliminate the sort of abject poverty present in the developing world and many of the environmental problems would correct themselves as those societies were able to devote more of their resources to environmental protection.

Source:

Poverty is ‘real pollution’. The BBC, May 22, 2002

Small Study Suggests Benefit to Enriched Eggs for Infants

A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggested that enriched egg yolks could improve the level of essential nutrients in weaning infants.

The study involved 137 infants about 6 months of age. The infants were randomly sorted into three groups that received either normal egg yolks, egg yolks from chickens that were fed a diet rich in n-3 fatty acids, or no egg yolk at all.

Researchers then measured levels of both iron and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). Breast milk tends to have a low iron content, while children formula fed children tend to have lower levels of DHA (which is important for brain development — many formula makers now fortify their formula with DHA).

Both breast and formula-fed infants who were given the DHA-enriched egg yolks experienced 30 to 40 percent higher DHA levels than those fed the normal egg yolks. Both groups increased their iron levels.

As a BBC report on the study noted, egg yolks have the advantage of containing heme iron, which is more easily absorbed than iron from vegetables, as well as being soft enough for babies to eat.

Source:

Egg boost for babies. The BBC, May 23, 2002.

ALF Takes Credit for Fire at Indiana Poultry Distributor

In early May somebody tried to set off a series of explosions at a small poultry plant but managed to only destroy a single truck (see Indiana Poultry Plant Targeted by Arson). On May 15, 2002, the Animal Liberation Front took credit for that arson in a press release that claimed,

The culprits for the Sims Poultry fire were not crazed arsonists bent on killing and maiming. They are serious political activists employing a strategy of economic sabotage against an industry which tortures and kills animals for profit.

Translation — crazed animal rights arsonists were responsible. The owner of Sims Poultry suggested to the Associated Press that the group might be trying to take credit for an action it did not carry out (which would not be unheard of for these folks).

Source:

Animal-rights group claims it torched, destroyed truck at poultry plant. Associated Press, May 16, 2002.

Meat Eating Causes Famine in Malawi

As we all know by now from reading animal rights literature, famine in the developing world occurs because people in the developed world (i.e. you and I) insist on eating meat which deprives those poor people in foreign lands of enough food to eat. In fact, something like that is going on in the African nation of Malawi as we speak.

Back in July and August 2001, Malawi experienced a a number of problems which led to a shortfall in its staple crop, maize. Agricultural experts and others predicted that Malawi would be about 400,000 tons short of the amount of maize it would need to feed its people.

The government of Malawi said that such claims were nonsense. There was more than enough food to go around and the country could not possibly be anywhere near starvation. In fact there was so much food in Malawi, that last fall the government sold much of its maize reserves to Kenya.

Of course countries that are openly selling grain to other countries don’t attract a lot of attention from aid organizations and donors. Malawi blithely went on its way pretending that it had more than enough food — in fact, some of its leading politicians apparently horded food on the mistaken belief that there would soon be shortages and the price of food would go through the roof.

By January 2002, the effects of the food shortage were beginning to be felt and people in Malawi started dying from hunger-related conditions. In February 2002, despite the fact that it had no shortage of grain whatsoever, Malawi President Bakili Muluzi was forced to finally declare that his country was experiencing a humanitarian disaster and go begging for money and food from the developed world.

Now, Malawi needs about $22 million in aid to avoid widespread starvation, but since it waited so long to do anything about its hunger situation, it has only been able to raise $5 million. Malawi was counting on $47 million from the IMF, but that organization concluded that the government of Malawi was so corrupt that the aid would largely be wasted and denied the African nation’s request for assistance.

Okay, I know what you are thinking. So far this disaster was caused partly by a drought which was exacerbated by wholesale government mismanagement, corruption and delay. But what about the meat eaters? What role did they play?

That I am not sure, but they had to be behind it all. Those animal rights activists wouldn’t lie to us, now would they?

Sources:

Malawi declares famine emergency. Raphael Tenthani, The BBC, February 27, 2002.

Hope fades for Malawi aid. The BBC, May 16, 2002.

Malawi bishops deplore famine chaos. Raphael Tenthani, The BBC, March 31, 2002.

Malawi famine set to continue. Raphael Tenthani, The BBC, May 14, 2002.

Who’s Afraid of CT Scans?

Well, some doctors and other public health officials.

Over the past few years, the cost of computed tomography (CT) scan equipment has fallen dramatically. The price is so low, in fact, that there are now a number of companies which sell CT scan services directly to consumers.

Gina Kolata writes in The New York Times about the controversy over one such company, CAT Scan 2000. For $200-$570, CAT Scan 2000 will perform a CT scan of your body. As Kolata notes, “It [CAT Scan 2000] proudly calls itself the Wal-Mart of scanning.”

This, in turn, is part of a growing trend of marketing medical diagnostic tests to individuals directly. In fact there are a number of referral services on the Internet that, for a fee, will arrange for all sorts of tests that your doctor is unlikely to order (unless you present evidence of having a related condition).

Doctors and public health officials seem to universally despise this democratization of medicine. How dare a patient presume to go out and get a CT scan just because she can? They tend to criticize these sorts of tests as wasting precious health resources — especially since such tests are likely to turn up small abnormalities that are really not health problems but which will cost a lot of money to investigate (Kolata does a nice job of chronicling one doctor’s expensive foray into tests following abnormalities that showed up on a CT scan). Of course, CAT Scan 2000 and others point to people whose scans found cancers and other diseases that would have otherwise went undiagnosed.

As Ronald Bailey notes in an article on private CT scans for Reason, the medical profession has a long history of wanting to keep patients from having direct access to diagnostic tests. As he notes,

The CT scanning dispute is reminiscent of the debate in the 1990s over whether women should have access to the test for the BRCA breast cancer gene. Medical professionals were nearly unanimous that women should not be able to get a BRCA test on the grounds that, if it turned out they had the gene, there was no clinically validated treatment available.

Despite these pronouncements, many women pressed on, obtained the test, and if they found that they were at risk, chose to have mastectomies. Subsequent research has conclusively shown that mastectomies dramatically reduce a BRCA gene carrier’s risk of getting breast cancer. Many women would have died had they waited until they got the gatekeepers’ okay to proceed.

I think CAT Scan 2000 and companies like it are an excellent idea. One company advertised that they would even burn images of the scan onto a CD-ROM for a fee. I’d love to post a scan of my lungs to my web site.

Sources:

Cheaper Body Scans Spread, Despite Doubts Gina Kolata, The New York Times, May 27, 2002.

Scanning for Health?
“Ignorance is bliss,” say some doctors. Ronald Bailey, Reason, May 29, 2002.

PETA Puts Supporter of Violence on Its Payroll

Gary Yourofsky’s absence from the animal rights movement was short lived as the advocate of violence distributed a letter this week indicating that he is now on the payroll of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

Yourofsky writes in his letter,

The day after my resignation letter was sent out a couple of months ago, I received a phone call from Ingrid Newkirk, PETA’s founder and president. Ingrid called after Bruce Friedrich, PETA’s Director of Vegan Outreach, informed her of my situation. As most of you recall, after six years of volunteering for ADAPTT, I resigned as ADAPTT’s president due to financial ruin.

Ingrid’s message was touching and emotional, to say the least. Frankly, I was blown away that Ingrid would call me with concern because I could no longer continue my activism. Getting a call and/or a request from Ingrid is like getting a call from the Godfather’s Don Corleone. It’s an offer one can’t refuse.

In a nutshell, Ingrid and PETA wanted to know what they could do to keep me involved. We’ve been in negotiations ever since. Then, on Monday, May 20, PETA made me its official, national lecturer. This union will benefit the animals immensely. Words cannot describe the joy that I am experiencing over this alliance.

Yourofsky’s comparison of Newkirk to the fictional Don Corleone is quite apt. Newkirk says she wishes she could torch labs, hires people who admire serial killers and advocate violence, contributes to legal funds for accused animal rights terrorists, and now has hired on Yourofsky who once said that, “I would unequivocally support” murder in order to further animal rights aims. Oh yeah, that’s a real peace loving, nonviolent bunch of folks right there.

Yourofksy is planning to hit the lecture tour and PETA apparently plans to sell recorded copies of his rantings. Yourofksy writes,

After watching my 68-minute presentation, PETA, like many others in this movement, believed that my vegan/animal liberation lecture was damn persuasive! So, our goal now is to have DAILY lectures set up in schools across the U.S. when the fall semester begins next September. Several people will be helping me achieve this goal. Plus, at the end of June, an oration will be recorded at a Michigan college and placed on VHS, DVD, and CD (audio). These items will be featured in PETA’s next issue of Animal Times which will be available in the PETA catalogue. This will help us reach many educators across the country.

The rest of Yourofsky’s letter is given to defending himself against charges that he’s “sold out,” since he used to blast PETA every chance he got. Yourofksy writes,

By the way, those closest to me know that I have been growing wiser as each year of activism passes. I used to be flat-out vituperative when it came to PETA and other groups who didn’t do things my way. But last year I started to realize that my acrimony was wrong and wasteful. . . .

Moreover, after spending a week here at PETA’s HQ in Norfolk, Virginia, I now see that PETA people work damn hard for the animals. There are 100 Yourofskys working in this building, each activist doing what they do best. Every activist should be required to meet our PETA brethren face-to-face and attend a monthly staff meeting to see all the hard work and achievements. While I may have had tactical differences with PETA, I have had tactical differences with EVERY group and EVERY activist involved in animal liberation, even the ALF!!!! Heck, I don’t even agree with myself sometimes!

For any of you out there who feel that I’ve sold out or something like that — let me paraphrase Paul Watson by saying what makes you think I care what you have to say? Creating an image for one’s self is NOT more important than fighting for animal freedom. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: “I work for the animals and the animals alone.” And, thanks to largest animal rights organization in the world and its founder Ingrid Newkirk, I can now continue my work!

Of course. The $10,000 that PETA gave Yourofsky to run anti-fur advertisements in the Detroit-area played no role whatsoever in his sudden change of heart.

Source:

Open Letter. Gary Yourofsky, May 28, 2002.