by Jason on February 13, 2007
Dagda Samildanc reports that researchers may have found a way to filter mad cow disease-related agents out of blood. This won’t likely be used on cattle, but it has huge implications for the safety of the human blood supply that’s used for transfusions. Of course, a more interesting technology would be something a little simpler, like, say, stopping feeding cows to cows, which might help reduce the infectious agents a little and then maybe we wouldn’t have 1 in every 10,000 cows tested in Canada last year being diagnosed with the disease in the first place. Another interesting piece of tech I’ve been hearing about on the conspiracy sites? A “veggie burger.” Link.
by Jason on February 9, 2007
ALVegan sent in the closest thing to dairy damnation that I’ve ever seen on MSN’s health and fitness site, which lists numerous issues with milk and milk products. It’s pretty focused on health, and fair enough, what with being a health site, and I suppose it could easily be condemned as animal rights propaganda if, say, they mentioned the animal cruelty built into the diary production system, but I have no such cred to lose, so there you have it. Link.
by Jason on January 30, 2007
Dave Noisy sent in a list of 20 facts about obesity. While it’s not strictly an omnivore problem, lots of people start a vegan diet as an attempt to lose weight (and many stay vegan after learning more about farming practices, regardless of their subsequent weight levels.) What’s interesting is that many of the same triggers that keep people from going veg are the same things that keep them growing – if people claim they would rather lose a limb or their marriage than be obese, and yet obesity rates are still climbing, I think it reveals a lot of the challenges veg activists face when trying to get people to follow a kinder diet. Link.
by Jason on January 22, 2007
pirhan notes that scientists have finally gotten around to figuring out what would have happened if the 1918 flu epidemic had happened in the world of the Planet of the Apes. After resurrecting the virus that killed 50 million people back in the day, researchers gave it to 7 monkeys (I bet there’s a rule about using 12 monkeys), who were all killed 8 days into the experiment because they were so sick (the original plan was to let them be ill for 21 days). The rationale for all this was to prepare for the anticipated bird flu mutation that will let it spread from human to human, and the general result seems to be that we’re all gonna die, unless our future selves can somehow travel back in time and fix things up. Link.
by Jason on January 19, 2007
kunsjoi notes that broccoli and tomatoes may be the new Wonder Twins, as when they combine their powers, it’s shape of: an ass-kicker, and form of: prostate cancer-fighter. Or something, I was never clear on how their powers worked. In any event, broccoli and tomatoes combined scored better than just one or the other when trying to reduce prostate tumors, at least in rats. Yep, the whole thing was done on rats, which could lead to the conclusion that eating broccoli with tomato will leave you just as dead at the hands of a scientist. Wanna know the real reason vegans avoid products that have been tested on animals? We don’t want to be killed by scientists like all the animals in the studies. Seriously, it’s 2007, and I’m willing to forsake my rocket car and moving sidewalk, but can’t we do better than this? Link.
by Jason on January 10, 2007
As is already being discussed in the forums (as started by Sardonicus), while tea has some known health benefits, drinking it with milk cancels them out. Black tea has the ability (or super power, if you will) to help arteries relax, which can help keep your blood pressure in check. Unfortunately, milk protein prevents this from happening, which might stress you out, which might make you reach for a calming cuppa, but then if you put milk in it, you’ll get more stressed, which makes you reach… I hereby apologize to all non-vegans who just read this story and started a cycle that could lead to arterial detonation, but really, all you have to do is drop the milk and *gasp* actually taste the tea and you’ll be fine. Link to story, link to comments.
by Jason on January 4, 2007
Dave Noisy notes that if you’re in the early stages of prostate cancer, a low fat vegetarian diet may be very helpful in fighting the disease. In a recent study of men with rising PSA levels, a group who went on a vegetarian diet with less than 10% calories from fat actually saw their PSA levels decrease by 4%, compared with the group who followed conventional treatment, whose levels rose 6%. Once again, women were excluded from the study. Link.
by Jason on January 2, 2007
Happy New Year! Wanna know what the next big fashion thing is gonna be for 2007? According to an article sent in by Dave Noisy, this year’s gonna be all about goggles, at least if you want to avoid bird flu. According to the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control, the two poultry workers who were infected in 2004′s avian flu outbreak weren’t wearing their goggles, which were recommended at the time by public health officials. It’s believed that the virus got them through direct eye contact, but, uh, probably not from a chicken just looking at them – I’m pretty sure this is the kind of eye contact that happens when you touch an infected bird and then rub your eye. Goggles would of course help reduce the risk. I can’t wait to see this added to the list of safe kitchen procedures necessary to enjoy a meal of sliced chicken carcass. Link.
by Jason on December 29, 2006
Magic Stones emailed me from all the way across the room to let me know that the Universal Studios theme parks in Hollywood and Florida are jumping on the no-trans-fats bandwagon, and are phasing out the nasty heart cloggers. Unlike some companies who talk about it but don’t do anything, they’re already 90% done (including french fries), with the rest of the foods to be changed by the end of next year. When I first saw this story, I thought maybe they were installing a new anti-trans fats ride of some sort, but yeah, that would have been weird. Still, there’s always a chance that someone will misread a memo while they phase out those last 10%. Link.
by Jason on December 18, 2006
(FYI, I’m changing the VP dupe policy – if something’s been posted already in the forums, it won’t necessarily stop me from doing a front page writeup, as some people only read the front page, I re-use front page stories for print columns, and I think it encourages submissions. At the very least people will stop wondering why I haven’t talked about things that are already being talked about.)
Many people have written in with news that smart children are more likely to become vegetarians later in life. After conducting a followup study of people who had their IQ tested 20 years ago, it was found that those who now identify as vegetarians had scored, on average, 5 more points on their tests. Does this mean that ultra-competitive parents will confuse cause and effect and try vegetarianism out to give their children an edge? On the flipside, I can only guess what anti-veg lobby group The Centre for Consumer Freedom’s going to do about this – maybe they’ll fight for lowered education standards, or encourage dropping out of school. After all, a less-bright population is a beef-friendly population! Link here, comments here.
