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Mid-Hudson Vegetarian Society, Inc.
38 East Market Street, Rhinebeck, New York 12572 USA -
845-876-2626
Vegetarian - Vegan - Animal Rights - Health - Nutrition - Environment
The mission of the Mid-Hudson Vegetarian Society, Inc. is to promote the vegetarian ethic in the Mid-Hudson (New York) region, educate the community and aid anyone in the pursuit of a totally vegetarian (vegan) cruelty-free and healthful lifestyle.
Newsletters - Summer 2007 Issue
News & Opinions
Dairy Products Linked To Parkinson’s Disease
“Breaking Medical News,” a service of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (www.pcrm.org), reports that the consumption of dairy products is linked to an increased risk for Parkinson’s disease according to a study in the American Journal of Epidemiology (Am J Epidemiol 2007;165:998-1006). Among 388 men and women participants in the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Prevention Study II who were diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, researchers found that as dairy product consumption increased, the risk for Parkinson’s also increased. People consuming the most cow’s milk had a 70 percent greater risk for the disease.Vegetarian is the New Prius “With warnings about global warming reaching feverish levels, many are having second thoughts about all those cars….they should instead be worrying about the chickens,” Kathy Freston wrote in her article, “Vegetarian is the New Prius” in the Huffington Post blog of January 7, 2007 [http://tinyurl.com/2lwsl8].
Freston quotes a December 2006 United Nations report on livestock and the environment. The UN’s stunning conclusion was that “The livestock sector emerges as one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global.” It turns out that raising animals for food is a primary cause of land degradation, air pollution, water shortage, water pollution, loss of biodiversity, and not least of all, global warming.
President Herbert Hoover’s promise of “a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage” needs updating. Perhaps the 2007 version should be “locally grown organic greens on every table and a bicycle for everyone.”
Go to the website for Vegetarianism and the Environment [EVA] for more information -- www.vegetarisme.be/php/milieu.html?menu=eng&s=3&ss=4&sss=1
More on Meat's Impact on the Environment
That left-of-center British science magazine, NewScientist has it just right in its article, “Meat is murder on the environment” by Daniele Fanelli. “A kilogram of beef is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions and other pollution than driving for 3 hours while leaving all the lights on back home,” she writes.
The article, which you can access at http://environment.newscientist.com, came to this conclusion based on results of a study by Japanese researchers at the National Institute of Livestock and Grassland Science in Tsukuba, Japan. The Japanese team found that producing one kilogram [2.2 pounds] of beef leads to the emission of greenhouse gases with a warming potential equivalent to 36.4 kilograms of carbon dioxide. Together with other gases, one kilogram of beef burns enough energy to light a 100-watt bulb for nearly 20 days.
Grist Goes “In Seitan’s Lair”
In January 28, 2007 the news blog Grist: Environmental News & Commentary took a long look at vegetarianism in the media in its article, “In Seitan’s Lair” by Tom Philpott. The article gives a positive nod to the book, “The Bloodless Revolution” by self-proclaimed “proud freegan” Tristram Stuart. The book gives a historical view of vegetarianism. Philpott also quotes the New Yorker’s review of Stuart’s book by Steven Shapin and pays homage to vegan chef Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s recent article in the New York Times Food Section.
Response to "A One-Sided Debate" in the NY Times
I’m sure that most of us railed at the recent Op-Ed piece “Death by Veganism” in the New York Times (May 21). In the article, author and former vegan Nina Planck told many untruths about a 6-week-old boy fed a vegan diet consisting mainly of soy milk and apple juice whose parents were charged with killing him. Planck blamed the death on the fact that the infant’s diet was vegan. In truth the baby, who weighed only 3.5 pounds when he died, was literally starved to death by ignorant, and perhaps malfeasant parents. The column set off a torrent of letters, many from vegan parents of healthy vegan children. [See Yu Lu’s piece on page 4. Fortunately, another June 24, 2007 New York Times article by Clark Hoy, on “The Danger of the One-Sided Debate” put the issue to rest. Among other evidence, Hoy quotes the A.D.A. on the case and Canadian dieticians who weighed in saying, “Well-planned vegan and other types of vegetarian diets are appropriate for all stages of the lifecycle, including during pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood and adolescence.” Hoy adds also that a debate should never be one-sided as the Planck piece was.
Will Tuttle and a Prayer Circle for Animals
MHVS's August 24th speaker Dr. Will Tuttle invites us to visit the web site www.circleofcompassion.org for a Worldwide Prayer Circle for Animals. At the site you can add your name and wishes to a "world map" and find out how you can join with others to create "a consciousness of kindness for all beings." Dr. Tuttle is author of the insightful guide to eating for Spiritual Health and Social Harmony, called the "World Peace Diet." The book is a challenging but worthwhile look at the invisible connections between the foods we eat and psychological, social, spiritual, health and environmental issues. So doing, he offers ways to "contribute to a positive transformation of human consciousness" to help achieve peace and healing. You will be able to purchase Dr. Tuttle's book at our August 24th event at the Reformed Church in Rhinebeck [see Calendar of Events].
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