Articles

Eating the Flesh of Others

Letter in the Seattle Times January 2004

Dear Editor,

The question on the mind of any friendly, higher evolved extra-terrestrial visiting Earth during these days of factory animal farming and it's byproduct, mad cow disease, would no doubt be: What sort of creatures would force strict plant-eaters--who would never think of eating meat, let alone cannibalizing--to eat the flesh of others?

According to "Cannibalism Normal for Early Humans?" in National Geographic News, April 10, 2003, Homo Sapiens had a long history of eating each other.

"Genetic markers commonly found in modern humans all over the world could be evidence that our earliest ancestors were cannibals, according to new research. Scientists suggest that even today many of us carry a gene that evolved as protection against brain diseases that can be spread by eating human flesh." A study of a recently cannibalistic tribe in New Guinea, where an outbreak of prion disease similar to mad cow disease was killing upwards of 200 people a year, found that those few who survived the epidemic had a genetic resistance to the disease.

But why, for the sake of hedonism or tradition, risk dementia, death and holes in the head when there are so many tasty, plant-based products available to replace meat in the diets of modern human beings?

Jim Robertson

This site is hosted and maintained by:
The Mary T. and Frank L. Hoffman Family Foundation
Thank you for visiting all-creatures.org.

Since