Our Agriculture

I wanted to share this story, which caught my attention today: Our Pigs, Our Food, Our Health

Stories like this one, which appeared on Wednesday in the NY Times, should scare the bejesus out of all of us. While evidence is still being gathered, the article is suggesting that our agricultural practices (in this case, pig farming) may be extremely harmful to human health. There are growing murmurs that pigs may be responsible for spreading antibiotic-resistant staph infections.

The large amount of antibiotics used on our livestock is frightening. Are we unwittingly helping to incubate and spread a disease which has been called "the flesh-eating bacteria"?

The larger question is whether we as a nation have moved to a model of agriculture that produces cheap bacon but risks the health of all of us. And the evidence, while far from conclusive, is growing that the answer is yes.

It should be enough to scare anyone into reducing his/her meat consumption, or at least making sure the meat on his/her plate comes from an organic farm.