Dear Will, You said much that was good sense, brother. I don't think you will find any BD feedlots, though there may be some BD farmers with cow/calf operations that take their yearlings to the auction where feedlot buyers purchase them. But most BD growers prefer to leave the horns on, and many avoid vaccinations along with all the other things feedlots mandate, like hormone implants.
The debate of germ vs. medium between Pasteur and Bechamp has been settled in the mind of most government leaders the world around in favor of Pasteur, even though on his death bed Pasteur acknowledged the ascendancy of Bechamp's arguments that it is only when the medium is favorable for the disease that the germ has any chance. Yes, there are germs. In fact, they are ubiquitous. They are almost like God, everywhere and in all things. And like folks do about God, everyone seems set on keeping germs out of themselves. Only they can't. It is not so easy to be safe from the presence of the dreaded E. coli HR 0157: 07. A couple years ago someone in the swimming pool at Whitewater down in Atlanta evidently had a bit of diarrhea one day and 5 other children came down with it from playing in the pool that day. The perpetrator may have been unaware of causing the problem because some people get only mild diarrhea from the bug, whereas it can kill others. When I was a kid my father cautioned me about the dangers of public swimming pools, but he also had the good sense to mention that if I cultivated good health and didn't go swimming when I was ill I'd probably avoid anything serious. And that was true enough as the only things I got that were half serious were mumps, measles and chicken pox. I didn't get anthrax and I didn't polio, though a couple people in my town had had it--including my father. And I was vaccinated for small pox when I was under two and didn't get that either. It wasn't until the Air Force that I got pounded by every vaccine in the world. And I haven't the great fear of "germs" that so many of my contemporaries seem to have, nor do I run to the doctor for antibiotics when I do get some bug. So far as I can tell that stuff is all way overdone. Now you may go to jail if you DON'T get your kids vaccinated up one side and down the other. North Carolina passed a law that a restaurant could not serve a steak unless it was cooked at least medium well (no juice left to speak of). Don't bother going to a steak house in North Carolina if you like a juicy steak. But then, North Carolina passed a law making all food service wooden chopping blocks illegal and mandating plastic ones. For somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 years it has been illegal to use wooden chopping blocks in North Carolina. Scientific research however has shown that wood is actually antibiotic as long as it is kept dry whereas the plastic is not, and that both wood and plastic are good places to culture germs if they aren't kept clean and dry. Of course somebody made a killing selling plastic chopping blocks after that law passed, I have no doubt. But, I'd also bet not a single legislator who voted for the law would acknowledge any economic influence. I'm sure they would all claim to be on the side of public safety, despite any evidence to the contrary. I know, it is hamburger where this coli bug is a problem. Any time you skin a cow that had any bacteria on their outside there will be an opportunity for contamination of the outside of the carcass from those bacteria. All the trimmings from the carcass will go into the hamburger and get ground twice, which ensures the bacteria will be well distributed. But when a steak is cut the interior of the steak is not likely to be contaminated, and it will be subjected to some heat on the outside which is likely to kill any E. coli on it. But to be "safe" North Carolina's politicos have deprived all of the privilige to eat a rare, medium rare or medium steak in any NC restaurant. But will they ban feedlots where the bug breeds? No way. Their next step is to mandate irradiation of ALL meat instead. And they will undoubtedly say it has nothing to do with political favoritism, that it is ALL in the interest of public safety. Yeah, sure. It's the good old story of the lady who swallowed a fly. Did she keep her mouth shut after that experience? No way. Instead she swallowed a spider, then a mouse, then a rat, etc. each one to "cure" the previous problem. It wasn't long before she was dead. With governments like ours concocting their "one size fits all" remedies we are in serious trouble. Yet so few realize it. Most manage to keep their eyes tightly closed. For example, if we wanted greater homeland security we should be promoting greater regional and local self-sufficiency and raise food prices for local grown crops by charging tarriffs on imports. This policy raised both Japan and Germany to the second and third largest economic engines on the planet only a couple decades after being devastated by war. Have we taken note of this in our government policy circles? Maybe we have considering no effort has been spared to go in the other direction. It could be that such determination arose from knowing what to avoid. In the process our economy is in the tank after several years of devastatingly low grain prices, nearly everyone is utterly dependent on the supermarket, grandparents don't garden any more, kids don't garden and people on social security spend a fortune on pharmaceuticals and are afraid that terrorists may disrupt their fragile and partial sense of well-being. As we have just seen the existing conditions have been a bonus for the president to get his party in power across the board. Here in my county we had record absentee balloting, nearly all from retirees who spend their winters in Florida. Also in my county, which fifty years ago was mostly populated by small farmers, now has one organic vegetable grower--me. The local slaughterhouse where I just took a beef has less and less business every year. They have their own wells which are tested twice a week for the dreaded E. coli and haven't found it yet. But they don't slaughter any feedlot beef and only rarely a dairy cow. The conditions aren't very good for HR 0157 here it seems. But people who eat hamburger that's only partially cooked may get get diarhea from it occasionally since most of the hamburger consumed is feedlot beef via the supermarkets. Probably most people that get it get over it without knowing they had that particular form of diarrhea. But old folks and kids might die from it. If any had done so locally I think I might have heard as I think it generally makes the papers. So far I haven't heard of it. It would be nice if more beef was finished off on pasture locally here, instead of most yearlings being shipped to feedlots. We have the cow/calf raisers to supply all our local needs, that's for sure. And the beef would be a lot safer and healthier. Instead Publix says they are irradiating ALL their meats, and I expect other supermarket chains to follow. That way they won't have to take a hit on meat recalls in the future. And they don't seem to care that with the "unique radiolytic by-products" the meat will contain as a result of irradiation will cause more folks to die from cancer and other degenerative diseases. It'll be a slow death, and they don't seem to think it will negatively affect their bottom line. I guess that will apply to all their seafood too. Too bad, since I occasionally used to buy sushi at Publix when in Atlanta. I don't seem to be all that susceptable to diarrhea pathogens. I could be one that has had the dreaded 0157 coliform and not realized it. I had an apprentice who got a campylobacter problem that she picked up from collecting eggs and washing them--and then putting food in her mouth before drying her hands off in between. A couple ounces a day of Louisiana Hot Sauce for a few days wipes campylobacter out--much safer than the high power antibiotics you would get if you went to the alleopathic doctors. Of course they wouldn't make any money on the hot sauce (50 cents a bottle) so they probably can be relied on not to prescribe it. Another farmer I know had his son getting long term diarhea--so badly he finally went to an alleopath, which as it happened his brother was. The kid took the antibiotic cure ($200) only to relapse in less than three weeks. "What does he do when he's well?" I asked. "Oh he's in and out of the chicken coop--takes them up to his tree house and back. They're his pets." So I pointed out that chickens are notorious carriers of campylobacter. After identifying the source of the problem and a week on hot sauce the problem never recurred. E. coli, including the 0157 strain, survives on fruits and vegetables somewhat better than campylobacter, which is quite difficult to culture. There have been instances of contamination on strawberries from Mexico, for example. Who knows how it got there. Fields hands? Irrigation water? Uncomposted manures? I would agree that not everyone is a fastidious composter and that it might be possible to contaminate something like tomatoes or apples with E. coli, including the dangerous strain if by some combination of poor composting and poor tea brewing it was sprayed on crops. I doubt if it is anywhere near as likely as contamination due to running beef through feedlots and large packing plants, and we sure aren't considering closing those down--though we SHOULD. But how good is government's record at doing the right thing, the thing they SHOULD do instead of some perversion of it? Back in the eighties people in our Georgia Organic Growers Association were trying to get the government to set organic standards and certify growers. I was unable to convince them of the folly of their ways back then, so now things have to get a lot worse before they can get any better. What government should do in this case is survey the existing methods of compost tea brewing, find out if any E. coli 0157: 07 contamination occurs as things presently go, develop guidelines for safe compost tea applications that are based on science rather than politics, and offer training if necessary. That would be a breath of fresh air rather than a ham-handed you-can't-use-molasses-in-compost tea and for that matter you can't use compost tea at all because it MIGHT lead to someone getting sick from E. coli. I realize that government officials can actually believe they are not playing political favorites by targeting a fledgling movement such as compost tea while allowing feedlots to continue their degradation of the environment and the food supply. But I don't see it as anything else but political favoritism. It's okay to manufacture and use millions of tons of organophosphate nerve toxins and spray them on food without even labeling it, but nix on compost tea brewed with molasses? There's all kinds of political favoritism in that schema. Rutherford B. Hayes said, "That government governs best that governs least." and with that statement he dispensed with Reconstruction and took the federal troops out of the South. He was also a not-by-popular vote president, as he was made president by a deal struck in the electoral college. Trust a Southerner like myself to remember that. I don't have a Confederate flag, but I do think those who want to should be allowed to keep theirs--as a reminder that they LOST that war. You might think they'd get used to that fact. Among other things we are subject to gravity on this planet, and gravity sucks. Better get used to it. In the meantime I look forward to people privately finding out how to brew compost teas without coliforms and devising guidelines for growers like myself who don't look to the government expecting to see good things happen. Best, Hugh Lovel Visit our website at: www.unionag.org
