rishaed wrote:Metsfanmax wrote:PLAYER57832 wrote:Then you have the food argument itself---Cows eat grass, the "chaff" or parts that are inedible to human beings, like goats and sheep (but pigs, to contrast eat "human-viable" food).
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In short, many of the most classic arguments about why folks should be vegetarien are actually wrong when it comes to ruminents
Many cows are fed grains and other things that humans could eat, at 10% efficiency in conversion.
If you are talking about feed that has in any way corn in it,it risks the contraction of lethal diseases such as E. Coli, which can contaminate fruits vegetables, and other farm products grow from the contaminated water/dung. . .that makes its way into the soil and aquifers plus if it rains where E.Coli is present the Rain distributes the E.Coli and makes it impossible to control. As such I also doubt there is a way to exterminate E.Coli once contracted, b/c if so it would already have been done. This is said in mind with the fact that most of our Beef (is done at large scale, filthy, and uncontrollable conditions) so in terms of "Farming" as mentioned earlier comes with the cost of chances of contracting a lethal disease and shortly after death. Fun, Fun.
UH.. NO! You have a absorbed a very common misconception about E. Colis.
The fact is that E.Colis is not actually a "terrible disease", it is a very normal part of human gut flora. Normally, it causes no harm at all, in fact it does a lot of good. HOWEVER, there are bad, mutated forms of the bacteria that can cause some people to become ill, sometimes very ill. (even then, most people can deal with even "bad" E. Colis without getting horribly sick.. maybe a mild stomache flu)
The main sigificance of E.Colis is as an indicator of waste entering stream or ground water systems, precisely because it is found in virtually all mammals. Levels above certain quantities indicate seepage of sewage, be it animal or human waste. The E.Colis themselves are not normally virulant, but they indicate the presence of sewage. Sewage is always dangerous, carrying all types of nasty pathogens such as Hepatitis.
Why is E.Colis so harmful now? Partly, its news sensationalism. Partly its how easy it is to misunderstand when news is passed on in two mimute blurbs over and over. Partly, we are facing MANY new far more virulant forms of all kinds of bacteria because people so overuse antibiotics. The overuse can be people taking antibiotics when they are not really sick with a bacterial infection, can be people taking antibiotics for a bit, but not following the directions and not finishing the bottle, so that too much bacteria is left alive in the system.. bacteria that have survived the medicine and therefore have greater resistance to the medication and now begin to create new, more virulant populations of bacteria.
E.Colis, becuase it is found in everyone's guts is a prime factor in the above, but not as you indicated.. its because it is in our guts all the time and therefore more likely than many bacteria to develop resistant strains.
This is also where cattle come in as a culprit. Large scale cattle operations often feed calves & adult animals antibiotics just as a matter of course. The antibiotics help them process corn and help the operations manage illness in close quarters. As described above, the bacteria in the cattle guts then can develop resistance. IF the bacteria that become resistant also happen to have added virulance, then we have trouble.
The problem is not cattle per se, the problem is largely overuse of antibiotics. Also, if the cattle "poop" is managed properly -- settled in ponds where it "ages", etc. , then it becomes very healthy and good, biologically sustainable fertilizer rather than a biological hazard.
but anyway, to get back to whales.... You actually present yet another reason for worry.
Many of our worst pathogens.. things like small pox, etc all developed in part because we had close association with animals. Small pox would kill off a whole human population. Normally that would not be a good strategy for any pathogen. The host dies off completely and the pathogen has no place to go and dies off as well. Because small pos was able to find a "home" in livestock, in the form of cow pox (not so virulant), it survived.
Whales are mammels, too. Except, living in the ocean it is very likely that any such bacteria found in whales would be spread far more readily in the oceans.