Through the years, as the proof multiplies that eating the flesh of other creatures is deadly, more and more people (depending upon their intelligence level) are beginning to decrease their intake of the poison animals. This term is not referring to a particular class of animals, as if some were poison and some were not. It includes everything that lives and breathes and walks, swims, crawls or flies. My lifelong friend, Dick Gregory was here some time ago doing a televised interview for us. Between takes, some of the Brothers kept pressing him concerning his dietary abstention from meat. Some of their main concerns were, what about fish and chicken? I thoroughly enjoyed the way Dick ended the inquiry.
“Let’s put it this way,” he said. “I don’t eat nothing that doo-doos!”
Upon reflection and research, I realized that his statement was not an attempt to be cute, but a shred of evidence that no animal flesh was meant for human consumption. Most of the people I have encountered over the years who claim to be trying to abandon the consumption of poison animals have somehow come to the erroneous conclusion that fish and chicken are not as poison as the other animals commonly eaten. Both fish and chickens have been known to eat their own droppings, and some fish will eat their young.
›Dick’s statement demands more than a casual glance. Before the excrement reaches the bowel area to be shed, where does it reside? In the flesh, throughout the body, while it is waiting to be dispensed. Think about this the next time you wonder what gives your meat its flavor!
The December 11th issue of USA TODAY carried an article entitled “High bacteria in poultry raises alarm.” It opened, “In two studies of chickens sold in food markets nationwide, almost half of those tested were contaminated with bacteria that can pose serious health risks to humans. And the studies, released today by Consumer Reports and the Sierra club, found that up to 90% of the bacteria are resistant to common antibiotics.” One of the sponsors of the study is quoted as stating, “Poultry products frequently are contaminated with bacteria that can cause food-borne illness, and oftentimes those bacteria are resistant to the very antibiotics that doctors rely upon to treat them.”
The article points out that Consumer Reports tested 484 fresh, store-bought chickens from 25 cities and found that 49% were contaminated with either campylobacter or salmonella or both.
“Bacteria in poultry,” the article states, “become antibiotic-resistant either through high doses of antibiotics used to treat disease outbreaks or low ‘sub-therapeutic’ doses given to make the poultry grow faster.”
Advice given in the article, quoted from Consumer Reports magazine, include: Make chicken one of the last items you buy at the store; when refrigerating, put chicken in a plastic bag to keep it from leaking onto other foods; thaw chicken in the refrigerator or a microwave oven, never on a counter; always use hot, soapy water and paper towels to wash and dry your hands, as well as anything that you or the raw chicken might have touched, and refrigerate or freeze leftovers within two hours of cooking.
Anything that requires that much caution must be super-dangerous!
