12. US Department of Agriculture, “Cholesterol (mg) Content of Selected Foods per Common Measure, Sorted by Nutrient Content,” National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 21 (2008).
13. An Pan et al., “Red Meat Consumption and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes: 3 Cohorts of U.S. Adults and An Updated Meta-Analysis,” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 94, no. 4 (2011): 1088–96, abstract.
14. T. Colin Campbell's research found that eating just 7 grams of meat per day increased human subjects' risk of cancer. Campbell and Campbell, China Study.
15. See, for example, Gary E. Fraser, “Associations between Diet and Cancer, Ischemic Heart Disease, and All-Cause Mortality in Non-Hispanic White California Seventh-Day Adventists,” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 70, no. 3 (1999): 532s–38s; Rashmi Sinha et al., “Meat and Meat-Related Compounds and Risk of Prostate Cancer in a Large Prospective Cohort Study in the United States,” American Journal of Epidemiology 170, no. 9 (2009): 1165–77; Tanya Agurs-Collins et al., “Dietary Patterns and Breast Cancer Risk in Women Participating in the Black Women's Health Study,” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 90 (2009): 621–28; Eleni Linos et al., “Red Meat Consumption During Adolescence among Premenopausal Women and Risk of Breast Cancer,” Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention 17 (2008) 2146–51; Ann Chao et al., “Meat Consumption and Risk of Colorectal Cancer,” Journal of the American Medical Association 293, no. 2 (2005): 172–82.
16. Murray Waldman and Marjorie Lamb, Dying for a Hamburger: Modern Meat Processing and the Epidemic of Alzheimer's Disease (New York: St. Martin's Press, 2004).
17. C. G. Coimbra and V. B. C. Junqueira, “High Doses of Riboflavin and the Elimination of Dietary Red Meat Promote the Recovery of Some Motor Functions in Parkinson's Disease Patients,” Brazilian Journal of Medical and Biological Research 36, no. 10 (2003): 1409–17.
18. Ibrahim Abubakar et al., “A Case-Control Study of Drinking Water and Dairy Products in Crohn's Disease—Further Investigation of the Possible Role of Mycobacterium Avium Paratuberculosis,” American Journal of Epidemiology 165, no. 7 (2007): 776–83.
19. Hyon K. Choi, “Diet and Rheumatoid Arthritis: Red Meat and Beyond,” Arthritis & Rheumatism, 50 (2004): 3745–47.
20. Hyon K. Choi et al., “Purine-Rich Foods, Dairy and Protein Intake, and the Risk of Gout in Men,” New England Journal of Medicine 350 (2004): 1093–1103.
21. Paul N. Appleby, Naomi E. Allen, and Timothy J. Key, “Diet, Vegetarianism, and Cataract Risk,” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 93, no. 5 (2011): 1128–35.
22. ChartsBin, “Current Annual Worldwide Meat Consumption Per Capita,” accessed December 27, 2011, http://chartsbin.com.
23. US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “U.S. Obesity Trends,” accessed December 27, 2011, http://www.cdc.gov; World Cancer Research Fund International, “Data Comparing More and Less Developed Countries,” accessed December 27, 2011, http://www.wcrf.org; American Cancer Society, “Cancer Facts and Figures 2011,” accessed December 27, 2011, http://www.cancer.org; National Cancer Institute, “Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results,” accessed December 27, 2011, http://seer.cancer.gov; World Diabetes Foundation, “Diabetes Facts,” accessed December 27, 2011, http://www.worlddiabetesfoundation.org; American Diabetes Association, “Diabetes Statistics,” accessed December 27, 2011, http://www.diabetes.org.
24. US Central Intelligence Agency, “Life Expectancy at Birth,” The World Factbook, accessed January 1, 2012, https://www.cia.gov.
25. Gary E. Fraser and David J. Shavlik, “Ten Years of Life—Is It a Matter of Choice?” Archives of Internal Medicine 161 (2001): 1645–52; Kontogianni et al., “Meat Intake and Acute Coronary Syndromes”; Serena Tonstad et al., “Type of Vegetarian Diet, Body Weight and Prevalence of Type 2 Diabetes,” Diabetes Care 32 (2009): 791–96; Ann Chao et al., “Meat Consumption and Risk of Colorectal Cancer,” Journal of the American Medical Association 293, no. 2 (2005): 172–82.
26. P. H. Gann et al., “Prospective Study of Plasma Fatty Acids and Risk of Prostate Cancer,” Journal of the National Cancer Institute 86, no. 4 (1994): 281–86; Eunyoung Cho, Wendy Y. Chen, and David J. Hunter, “Red Meat Intake and Risk of Breast Cancer Among Premenopausal Women,” Archives of Internal Medicine 166 no. 20 (2006): 2253–59.
27. D. A. Snowdon, R. L. Phillips, and G. E. Fraser, “Meat Consumption and Fatal Ischemic Heart Disease,” Preventative Medicine 13, no. 5 (1984): 490–500; J. Chang-Claude, R. Frentzel-Beyme, and U. Eilber, “Mortality Pattern of German Vegetarians After 11 Years of Follow-Up,” Epidemiology 3, no. 5 (1992): 395–401.
28. Walker, “Diet in the Prevention of Cancer”; Iqbal et al., “Dietary Patterns and Acute Myocardial Infarction.”
29. Hana Ross and Frank J. Chaloupka, “The Effect of Cigarette Prices on Youth Smoking,” Health Economics 12, no. 3 (2003): 217–30.
30. Prices adjusted for inflation. US Census Bureau, “US Statistical Abstract” (1940), accessed February 8, 2012, http://www.census.gov; US Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Average Prices” (2011), accessed February 8, 2012, http://www.bls.gov.
31. Tatiana Andreyeva, Michael W. Long, and Kelly D. Brownell, “The Impact of Food Prices on Consumption: A Systematic Review of Research on the Price Elasticity of Demand for Food,” American Journal of Public Health 100, no. 2 (2010): 216–22.
32. Ronald M. Ayers and Robert A. Collinge, Microeconomics: Explore & Apply (New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2003), 120.
33. Ibid.
34. Technically speaking, except where conspicuous consumption is at work (meaning an increase in price increases the quantity demanded), elasticity figures are given in negative numbers. So the actual price elasticity of demand for dairy is -0.65. However, for convenience, this book follows the popular convention of using absolute values rather than negative values for elasticity numbers.
35. Ayers and Collinge, Microeconomics.
36. This calculation is shown in Appendix C, table C1.
37. Rivera-Ferre, “A Chicken and Egg Paradigm?” 103 (emphasis added).
38. Ibid.
39. Ibid., 102.
40. 170 x 0.65 = 1.1 or 110 percent. Since demand cannot fall by more than 100 percent, this result is reduced to 100 percent.
41. National Academy of Sciences, “Dietary Reference Intakes,” 425, 549.
42. Ibid., 441, 542 (emphasis added).
43. Ibid., 13.
44. Ibid., 103.
45. European Food Safety Authority, “Dietary Reference Values for Fats.”
46. Several of these studies are explained in more detail in chapter 10.
47. Food and Drug Administration, “Guidance for Industry, a Food Labeling Guide” (2011), accessed May 20, 2012 at http://www.fda.gov; USDA Economic Research Service, “Retail Food Commodity Intakes: Mean Amounts of Retail Commodities per Individual, 2001–2002” (2011).
48. Litjen Tan, “Diagnosis and Management of Foodborne Illnesses: A Primer for Physicians and Other Health Care Professionals,” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 53 (2004): 1–33.
49. Paul S. Mead et al., “Food-Related Illness and Death in the United States,” Emerging Infectious Diseases 5, no. 5 (1999), accessed November 15, 2011, http://wwwnc.cdc.gov.
50. Eric Schlosser, Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2002), 197.
51. Consumer Reports, “Dirty Birds: Even ‘Premium’ Chickens Harbor Dangerous Bacteria,” January 2007, accessed November 15, 2011, http://www.usapeec.org.
52. Ibid.
53. USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, “Nationwide Federal Plant Raw Ground Beef Microbiological Survey” (1996), accessed November 15, 2011, http://www.fsis.usda.gov.
54. US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Food and Drug Administration, and US Department of Agriculture, “National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS) 2009 Executive Report” (2009), 92, accessed November 20, 2011, http://www
.fda.gov.
55. Ibid.
56. Associated Press, “Source of Tainted Spinach Finally Pinpointed,” MSNBC.com (March 23, 2007), accessed November 13, 2011, http://www.msnbc.msn.com.
57. Bill Tomson, “Antibiotics in Livestock Feed Raises Concerns,” Wall Street Journal (May 13, 2011), accessed September 11, 2011, http://online.wsj.com.
58. Animal Health Institute, “Animal Antibiotics: Keeping Animals Healthy and Our Food Safe,” 4, accessed November 15, 2011, http://www.ahi.org (emphasis added).
59. Liggett & Myers Tobacco Company, “Nose, Throat and Accessory Organs Not Adversely Affected by Smoking Chesterfields,” advertisement in Life Magazine (December 1, 1952), accessed November 15, 2011, http://www.vintageadsandstuff.com.
60. R. Smither et al., “Antibiotic Residues in Meat in the United Kingdom: An Assessment of Specific Tests to Detect and Identify Antibiotic Residues,” Journal of Hygiene 85 (1980): 359–69; Joint Expert Advisory Committee on Antibiotic Resistance, Australia, “The Use of Antibiotics in Food-Producing Animals: Antibiotic Resistance in Animals and Humans” (1999), accessed November 15, 2011, http://www.health.gov.au; Frederick W. Oehme, “Significance of Chemical Residues in United States Food-Producing Animals,” Toxicology 1, no. 3 (1973): 205–15.
61. US Department of Health and Human Services, “NARMS 2009 Executive Report,” 52, 66.
62. Ibid., 98.
63. Inge van Loo et al., “Emergence of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus of Animal Origin in Humans,” Emerging Infectious Diseases 13, no. 12 (2007): 1834–39; Andrew E. Waters et al., “Multidrug-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus in U.S. Meat and Poultry,” Clinical Infectious Diseases 52, no. 10 (2011): 1227–30.
64. Loo et al., “Emergence of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus.”
65. Waters et al., “Multidrug-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus,” 1228.
66. S. H. Swan et al., “Semen Quality of Fertile U.S. Males in Relation to Their Mothers' Beef Consumption During Pregnancy,” Human Reproduction 22, no. 6 (2007): 1497–1502.
67. Lillian Conde de Borrego, “An Epidemic of Precocious Development in Puerto Rican Children,” Journal of Pediatrics 107, no. 3 (1985): 393–96; Cornell University, “Consumer Concerns about Hormones in Food” (2000), accessed October 8, 2011, http://envirocancer.cornell.edu.
68. In inflation-adjusted dollars, the US costs related to E. coli and salmonella poisoning are $3.4 billion annually. Salmonella costs are $2.7 billion in 2010 dollars, or $2.9 billion in 2012 dollars; E. coli costs are $488 million in 2010 dollars, or $518 million in 2012 dollars. $2.9 billion + $518 million = $3.4 billion. While some poisoning cases are related to pathogens transmitted indirectly by vegetables (although, of course, always originating in animals), in the absence of data showing how much of the total is related to animal foods, it's reasonable to estimate that half of the total, or $1.7 billion, is attributable to pathogens transmitted directly by animal foods. USDA Economic Research Service, “Foodborne Illness Cost Calculator” (2012), accessed October 27, 2012, http://webarchives.cdlib.org.
69. US expenses related to antibiotic resistance in humans, including health care costs and lost wages, are estimated at $35 billion in 2000 dollars ($47.2 billion in 2012 dollars). (Rebecca R. Roberts et al., “Hospital and Societal Costs of Antimicrobial-Resistant Infections in a Chicago Teaching Hospital: Implications for Antibiotic Stewardship,” Clinical Infectious Diseases 49, no. 8 [2009]: 1175–84; PR Newswire, “Antibiotic-Resistant Infections Cost the U.S. Healthcare System in Excess of $20 Billion Annually” [2000], accessed January 11, 2012, http://www.prnewswire.com.) But how much of this total is attributable to the use of antibiotics in animals, and how much results from humans' personal use of antibiotics? Eighty percent of the antibiotics used in the United States is fed to, or injected into, farm animals. These animal antibiotics have a significant, but currently unmeasured, effect on human health. The National Academies' Institute of Medicine, for example, has noted that “a decrease in the inappropriate use of antimicrobials in human medicine alone is not enough” to address antimicrobial resistance in humans. “Substantial efforts must be made to decrease inappropriate overuse of antimicrobials in animals and agriculture as well.” (Mark S. Smolinski, Margaret A. Hamburg, and Joshua Lederberg, eds., Microbial Threats to Health: Emergence, Detection, and Response [Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2003], 207.) In the absence of relevant calculations in the literature, and in light of the significant portion of antibiotics used on animals and the numerous cited instances of antibiotic-resistant diseases passing from animals to humans, it is reasonable to estimate that half of the total health care costs related to antibiotic resistance is attributable to dosing animals. Accordingly, $23.6 billion ($47.2 billion 2) is used as the relevant annual figure.
70. Adjusted for inflation, $253 billion in 1980 dollars is $706 billion in 2012 dollars. Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, “U.S. Healthcare Costs,” accessed January 1, 2012, http://www.kaiseredu.org.
71. Adjusted for inflation, $444.2 billion in 2008 dollars is $477 billion in 2012 dollars. Paul A. Heidenreich et al., “Forecasting the Future of Cardiovascular Disease in the United States: A Policy Statement from the American Heart Association,” Circulation 123 (2011) 933–44.
72. Adjusted for inflation, $226.8 billion in 2007 dollars is $253 billion in 2012 dollars. American Cancer Society, “Cancer Facts & Figures 2012,” accessed May 24, 2012, http://www.cancer.org.
73. The total 2007 cost associated with diabetes was $174 billion; type 2 diabetes (the type associated with eating animal foods) accounts for 95 percent of the total, or $165.3 billion. After adjustment for inflation, this figure is $184 billion in 2012 dollars. American Diabetes Association, “Economic Costs of Diabetes in the U.S. in 2007,” Diabetes Care 31, no. 3 (2008); US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Diabetes—Success and Opportunities for Population-Based Prevention and Control: At a Glance 2010,” accessed October 18, 2011, http://www.cdc.gov.
74. Regarding heart disease, see, for example, Iqbal et al., “Dietary Patterns and Acute Myocardial Infarction,” abstract: “An unhealthy dietary intake . . . accounts for approximately 30% of the population-attributable risk” of acute myocardial infarction. Regarding cancer, see, for example, Walker, “Diet in the Prevention of Cancer,” abstract: “Diet is considered responsible for about a third of cases of cancer. . . .” Regarding type 2 diabetes, one study finds nine in ten cases could be avoided by lifestyle changes including eating less saturated fat and red and processed meat. (Dariush Mozaffarian et al., “Lifestyle Risk Factors and New-Onset Diabetes Mellitus in Older Adults,” Archives of Internal Medicine 169, no. 8 [2009]: 798–807.) This study also found that a healthier diet was associated with a 35 percent lower diabetes risk. See also Daniel M. Keller, “High-Protein Diet Raises Type 2 Diabetes Risk,” (lecture, European Association for the Study of Diabetes 47th Annual Meeting, Berlin, Germany, 2011) accessed October 20, 2011, http://www.medscape.com. Those eating the most animal protein had 37 percent higher diabetes risk than those eating the least.
75. The math is as follows, with heart disease costs first, then cancer, and finally type 2 diabetes: (477 x 0.3) + (253/3) + (184/3) = 288.8.
Chapter 7
1. “Huge Spill of Hog Waste Fuels an Old Debate in North Carolina,” New York Times (June 25, 1995).
2. Michael Mallin, “Impacts of Industrial Animal Production on Rivers and Estuaries,” American Scientist 88 (2000): 26–37.
3. Merritt Frey, Rachel Hopper, and Amy Fredregill, “Spills and Kills: Manure Pollution and America's Livestock Feedlot” (Washington, DC: Clean Water Network, 2000).
4. Quoted in “Huge Spill of Hog Waste.”
5. Quoted in James McWilliams, Just Food: Where Locavores Get It Wrong and How We Can Eat Responsibly (New York: Back Bay Books, 2009), 7.
6. United Nations Environment Program, “Universal Ownership: Why Environmental Externalities Matter to Institutional Investors” (2010), acc
essed January 17, 2012, http://www.unpri.org.
7. Henning Steinfeld et al., Livestock's Long Shadow: Environmental Issues and Options (Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2006), xx.
8. Joey Papa, “Styrofoam vs. Paper Cups: Which is More Eco-Friendly?” Recycling: Keep It Out of the Landfill (2010), accessed November 21, 2011, http://1800recycling.com.
9. Michael Pollan, The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals (New York: Penguin Press, 2006); Joel Salatin, Pastured Poultry Profits (Polyface, Inc., 1993).
10. Pollan, Omnivore's Dilemma.
11. Comparing the grain inputs fed to chickens to the farm's total meat output for all animals (cattle, chickens, turkeys, pigs, rabbits, and eggs), Merberg finds that caloric input exceeds caloric output by roughly 43 percent. I narrow the comparison to just chicken feed inputs versus chicken-related outputs (eggs, broilers, and stewing hens). Adam Merberg, “The Free Lunch,” Say What, Michael Pollan (blog) (2011), accessed December 21, 2011, http://saywhatmichaelpollan.wordpress.com.
12. David Pimentel and Marcia Pimentel, “Sustainability of Meat-Based and Plant-Based Diets and the Environment,” American Clinical Journal of Nutrition 78, no. 3 (2003): 6605–35.
13. USDA Economic Research Service, “Loss-Adjusted Food Availability of Meat, Poultry, Fish, Eggs and Nuts” (2012), accessed September 28, 2012, http://www.ers.usda.gov.
14. US Census Bureau, “American FactFinder” online database, accessed September 28, 2012, http://factfinder2.census.gov.
15. Ruben N. Lubowski et al., “Major Uses of Land in the United States, 2002,” USDA Economic Research Service (2006), accessed August 19, 2012, http://www.ers.usda.gov.
16. Richard A. Oppenlander, Comfortably Unaware: Global Depletion and Food Responsibility . . . What You Choose to Eat is Killing Our Planet (Minneapolis: Langdon Street Press, 2011), Kindle version.
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