Saturday 26 December 2009

Saturday SoapBlog: Rodney Hudson - Suffering in Silence

This week's SoapBlog I've invited 15 year old Trinity Bay High student, Rodney Hudson, to take the stand.

Rodney writes about factory farming in Australia, and asks us to think about how we support this without even knowing.


Imagine a field of Chickens and Pigs and whatever other animals you would perhaps like to eat all grazing and free, out to spread their legs and feed their own offspring.

Sadly this is not how most farmed animals in this country are treated.

Perhaps you may already be aware that most laying hens in this country, in fact some 11 million hens, spend their lives in cages so small they can’t even spread their wings. Most of them endure pain similar to you having your fingers cut off when their beaks are cut off, cutting through nerves in the process without the use of pain killers.

One of the main reasons behind this unethical treatment of farmed animals is because it is cheap. It costs the Australian Government a lot less to keep 1000 hens/pigs in a small shed than if they were to put 50 hens/pigs on a farm the same size so they had room to move around.

Many people would rather pay more money to know that the animals they are eating are being treated ethically though. Rhys Watson, year 10 student at Trinity Bay State High School, said that he “Would rather spend more money to know the animals were being treated ethically,” after being informed on just some of the cruelties farmed animals have to face every day of their lives. Although not all people feel this way. Nerissa Scaife, year 12 student at Trinity Bay, Believes that she “Would rather continue to pay the regular price.”

Scientific studies show that pigs are very social animals and are every bit as smart as household dogs. In Australian Factory Farms pigs are put in cages so small they can’t even turn around and are kept in these cages for their whole lives. Piglets often have their tails cut off and again nerves are sliced through with no pain killers used.

When asked her opinion on the way these animals had been treated, year 10 student Madi Brooke said that “It’s disgusting and wrong. If I had my way I would do the same back to the farmers and see how they liked it.”

Farming practices like the ones mentioned are all legal farming practices in Australia. This means that politicians believe that it is okay to treat animals this way. In a recent survey, more than half the people interviewed believe that animals that are kept in factory farms are not treated fairly. Although some people do still believe that they are treated fairly and support the decision to continue treating them this way.

One of the reasons that a lot of people continue to support these acts of cruelty upon animals by continuing to purchase factory farmed products is a lack of education on the way the animals have been treated.

Out of six people interviewed, no one knew what a factory farm was until they were informed.


Year 9 student, Kody Johnstone, said that he “Has never heard of it before.. Is that where they grow factories?” If more people were educated on unethical Australian farming practices, perhaps all animals could be given an equal opportunity to live their lives.

So next time you go to grocery shopping, before you buy factory farmed products ask yourself.. How would my dog cope being confined to a cage so small it can’t lie down properly?

How would I like to have the tops of my fingers cut off with no pain killers? Why love one and eat another?

40 comments:

Clifton Ratbag said...

Rodney Hudson's little PC rant confirms that Queensland schools are having little success in equipping our young people with reasoning skills but instead pumping them full of greenie nonsense.

Rodney should give a thought to the fact the planet now has 6 BILLION hungry people on it, losing farmland to development everyday, and will in his lifetime reach a point where HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS will likely die due to lack of food and potable water on the planet.

Rodney, use your brain.

Scrambled Egg said...

You are correct Clifton. Students and Children are entitled to an opinion. Irrespective of how misinformed and out of step with reality it may be. Young people are pretty quick to spend money that is not theirs too. Quite often parents are caught in the money trap and are embarrassed not to buy their kids things and to bend to the pressure and pay $5.60 for a dozen eggs I buy for $2.90. 90% of chicken you buy has been raised in a battery situation. KFC, Red Rooster etc could not supply if they had to rely on chickens being raised on acreage let alone pass on double the cost for “organically raised” chickens.

Al said...

Clifton Ratbag, the so-called Greenie nonsense you refer to as being taught in Queensland schools is actually known as a moral compass, though perhaps for you, this is a new concept. I found it refreshing to read Rodney's ethical viewpoint on this issue. If you, Clifton Ratbag, were to apply your brain to the problems you articulate, you would realise that to continue raping the planet to feed the ever growing billions is not the solution but the cause.

Unknown said...

Factory farms are a disgrace and there is an enormous difference in quality and taste between eggs/chicken/meat that are produced in a natural way compared to the mass produced stuff.

The factory farm owners are not maximising their production to feed the starving hordes, they do it to feed their bank accounts.

And if you look at all the fat slobs and hideously obese people around Cairns, then we might be better off without the likes of KFC,Mac Donald's and Red Rooster with their toxic, crappy unhealthy junk food.

Good on ya Rodney, for bringing up the subject and I hope that your generation comes up with better ideas to feed humanity then the previous one.

Scrambled Egg said...

Grateful Mack tells an enormous lie when he says he can tell the difference in flavour between range and battery. Free Range fed hens for example get supplemented with cracked corn and other grains same as battery chickens. But because free rangers forage for green weeds, cockroaches spiders, and grubs, (a good source of protein) their yokes tend to be more yellow. But the bottom line is that they all get decapitated, dipped in boiling water and plucked.

Farmsworth, Freshwater Family said...

Great to see a young guy like Rodney contributing his thought like this.

Unknown said...

"Scrambled Egg said...
Grateful Mack tells an enormous lie when he says he can tell the difference in flavour between range and battery."

Well if YOU cannot tell the difference, then I am afraid your brains are scrambled as well.

Obviously if you visit the likes of KFC you probably don't know the difference between crap and real food.

That does not give you the right to call me a liar.

Rodney Hudson said...

Hey. Just so everyone knows i did just write this article for a school assignment and quiet a while ago. Just so yous all know. :)

The Essence of Good Taste said...

While I agree with much of what Rodney says, I also have to make choices to feed my family effectively on the budget I have.

What I would like to see is more equal discussion of factory farming. Why do chickens get all the 'air time'? Treatment of female pigs is appalling. Have any of you ever visited a cattle feedlot? Or intensive dairying? (I don't think there is one on the Tablelands) I was in Townsville last weekend when a live sheep carrier left port and the stink from 1km away was attroscious - I hate to think what it must be like on board.

How about it bloggers? Rather than shoot the messenger, let's debate the issue and come up with economic solutions...

By the way, I did see an extensive taste test research doco on free range vs factory hen meat (aired on ABC). Unfortunately for the chickens they tasted the same home grown as factory grown (both were cooked under the same conditions and to the same recipe)...

Tony C-R said...

It is the very issues raised by Rodney that made me decide to turn vegetarian 27 years ago. I initially gave up meat and fish, and since then have also made eggs and dairy off-limits.

The really interesting thing is that, as I have eliminated more animal products from my diet, my health has increased dramatically. I have not been sick - not even a headache - in nearly 20 years. At the tender age of 50, I can beat most 25 year-olds in the endurance sports.

If we don't need to cause suffering to other animals, and have the intelligence to know this, then how can we justify continuing to do so?

Alison Alloway said...

Rodney, one of the very first people to start campaigning against battery hens, was a dear, sweet little old lady from Tasmania, whose name just escapes me. She was imprisoned on a couple of occasions in the 1970s for letting loose hundreds of chickens from a battery farm in Tasmania. She was eventually awarded an Order of Australia award for her dedication to animal rights.

Vegetarian for years said...

Anyone with any doubts about the ethics of eating animals; go visit an abattoir. It is a vision of hell. Those who work in them become desensitised individuals with an easy disposition to violence and cruelty.

Bruce the Crocodile, Daintree said...

Yeah that'd be right another politically correct vegetarian on his soapbox claiming moral superiority because veges don't squeal like a pig when you bite into them. That doesn't mean they don't feel pain mate it just means they don't have lungs. That's life as we crocs say in the river.

Perhaps i'm desensitised in the same way as an abottoir worker? Or perhaps the lentil licker has been watching too many cheap horror movies on the fictional lives of abattoir workers?

Hey do you humans know how close to pork you taste? Personally I prefer the pigs but haven't tried a battery pig yet just those gamey feral things.

Leave us carnivores alone!

P.S. How ironic that the word verification for this post is 'dishi' which is more than I can say for any feral vegetarian i've sunk my jaws into.

Bobkatter said...

Don't worry Bruce, we'll be up to get you, you bastard. Once your lot have been eliminated, we can turn the Daintree into something much more useful to ordinary Queenslanders; riverside estates, marina, waterskiing ...
PS: My word verification was 'lipar' which as far as I know means eff all.

KitchenSlut said...

Scientists at Eindhoven University in Holland have recently grown meat in a laboratory from cells taken from a live pig. Mmmmm yum!

Personally I prefer the old fashioned way. Like the Grateful Mac I have a preference for fresh local produce and enjoyed a delicious organic duck for Christmas from Bio Poultry at Gordonvale! However I would also question whether the taste test is always so easy? The colour of egg yolks has been an easy indicator in the past.

Essence is also correct with her observations on family and costs. Intensive agriculture is synonymous with civilization. I would query the historical, without making any claims, connotations of 'battery farms' given that in many cultures for many thousands of years farm animals have been domesticated and bred in confined spaces. This includes traditional cultures not just modern "factory farms".

Meanwhile agricultural modernity is producing gargantuan turkeys down in Tassie: http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2009/12/19/116641_food-wine.html


Without wanting to nitpick Rodney's thoughtful post I can't not let this go either:

"One of the main reasons behind this unethical treatment of farmed animals is because it is cheap. It costs the Australian Government a lot less to keep 1000 hens/pigs in a small shed than if they were to put 50 hens/pigs on a farm the same size so they had room to move around."

The Australian Government keeps hens/pigs in sheds? I thought it was asylum seekers? Or maybe we are confused with Cuba? Otherwise this paragraph makes an interesting basis for an economics post sometime ...... but we apparently are not teaching basic economics or Australian Government in skools?

Warren Entsch said...

Meat eaters statistically die younger and that's great. Bye bye 'Bighole slut' and Daintree Bruce (bit gay Brucie). I love it when alzheimers gets them. When Bjelke(pig)-Petersen got alzheimers did we all finally get the 'joke' Yay, fully cracked up.

The best bit lined up for Brucie and 'drybighole slut' is Doctor Death waiting down at the Base. Black market donor organs is big black money and they in love with medicos. Haha Dr.D. waiting with glee. I know lets all go down for some lead/mercury vaccinations. Should put us in the mood for some exploratory surgery, more toxic fluoride and an experimental pill.

Battery chooks/pigs reminds me of the Australian workforce and Adolf Hitlers exhortation to urge the people on i.e. 'Work Will Set You Free'. Sounds like Jim Tumor/KKKrudd/Abattoir wrote it WTF especially for us.

Are you on the elite payroll as well Cochslut or just an ignorant stooge? Feed yer kids up big on meat too slutty as that will bugger them for years to come and that will keep down your malignant spawn. Good thinking.


Fruit trees forever especially durians because the smell gets the poisoned out meaties all dry retching and that's hilarious.

Thanks Rod for this info. but pity how the reaction is so predictable and used for political purposes of vilification.

The Tasmanian animal activist lady disappeared in a very mysterious plane crash and never found. No formal dissent is allowed. In Hitler's book 'Mein Kampft' I am told he writes 'the bigger the lie, the more outrageous and unbelievable the tale told then that's the one to use as no one will believe it'.

Eat up big guys. Eat bulk meat and die with gut cancer diabetes and worms. Drink piss too.

Estel Robb said...

Hey "Kitchen Slut" why don't you nourish yourself with the Christmas spirit and with the stroke of the pen change your offensive and insensitive name tag.
Why dont you evolve a little more and tag yourself with a name that's more in keeping with public utterance and protocol!

nocturnal congress said...

Wot's an "offensive and insensitive" name tag? Ohhhh duhhh I see, one which is like a smack in the face. My own nick of course reflects my own smooth, urbane, sophisticated, cultured, sensitive, tasteful, highly educated little self.

Jude Johnston said...

Personally, I prefer to think of all meat as coming from the supermarket packed ready for consumption. It saves a lot of angst.
The nicest meat I have ever tasted is the venison, lamb and beef which comes directly from the farms of friends of mine in NZ. All their animals are grown on lush green paddocks and when the time comes for restocking the freezer, the destined freezer animal is put in a lush green pasture and while it is eating, peaceful and content it is shot. There is no stress and the meat is so tender. The same friends also free range chooks and the eggs are also of a high quality and taste. I can also recommend their free range kiwifruit. No sprays or insecticides, and I have yet to taste a kiwifruit as rich and fruity and fresh.
Unfortunately, we as a family have been affected by poor farming standards from European farms. While living in the UK in the early 80's, we consumed meat products and have hence forth been banned from giving blood. However, I have not been banned from organ donation and will happily give my meat fed organs to anyone who wants them once I no longer have a use for them.

KitchenSlut said...

"Meat eaters statistically die younger and trhats great" Do you have evidence for that Premdas as correlations by longevity and nationality don't seem to fit. Some of us believe balance is a great thing both in ideology and diet! I will defer to the frequently flawed wikipedia:

"A 1999 metastudy[22] combined data from five studies from western countries. The metastudy reported mortality ratios, where lower numbers indicated fewer deaths, for fish eaters to be .82, vegetarians to be .84, occasional meat eaters to be .84. Regular meat eaters and vegans shared the highest mortality ratio of 1.00. The study reported the numbers of deaths in each category, and expected error ranges for each ratio, and adjustments made to the data. However, the "lower mortality was due largely to the relatively low prevalence of smoking in these [vegetarian] cohorts". Out of the major causes of death studied, only one difference in mortality rate was attributed to the difference in diet, as the conclusion states: "vegetarians had a 24% lower mortality from ischemic heart disease than nonvegetarians, but no associations of a vegetarian diet with other major causes of death were established."[22]"

The kitchenslut diet is heavily weighted to seafood and diverse vegetables and so at the bottom end of the spectrum. Which is meaningless for any individual health outcome! Although he does enjoy red meat and that Christmas duck was fantastic!

Oddly Premdas hasn't acknowledged that there has been exibited a psychological link between mental illness, irrespective of diet, including alzheimers and fixed minds determined on ideology and routiune where Premdas and her foe Jo seem to display much in common!

Also it strikes me more than odd that Rodney's original thoughtful post was on cruelty and Premdas seems to revel in cruelty exhalting death, pain, and even previously slow choking on dog bones by a political opponent? Really?

*Sigh* oh dear Estel Robb you moral crusader you! And thanks Congress for the cross-ideologocal support. I don't care how many times I have had to defend this and will continue to do so.

I do not see the term 'slut' as derogatory in any way towards women. This is supported by my female friends, who are many and all intelligent successful and independent. Go and reference the use of the term by Shakespeare.

My use came from a London Review of Books publication of personals where a woman had described herself as a "slut in the kitchen and a chef in the bedroom" Loved it as do most people removed from the stifling morality evident here!

It's a celebration of life .... as is Christmas roast duck .....

Estel Robb said...

Kitchen Slut, your defence of the use of the word Slut is pathetic. The world has moved on from Shakespeare dialogue. Words acceptable then have a different meaning today. Words are judge by the company they keep. The word Slut is defined as " a dirty, slovenly woman, an immoral or dissolute woman, a prostitute".
Based on your deportment,at least on this Blog, I would not put too much creditability on the women you keep as friend to use as a guide as to whether women in general are offended or not by the use of the word 'Slut'
I repeat my earlier comments that on today's standard of political correctness you should refrain from the usage of the word "Slut"

KitchenSlut said...

Estel,

Would you care to give a link to that definition as I cant google it? That is a definition you require for yourself and seek to impose on others for your own morality!

My female friends remain comfortable thanks ....

Can you particularly tell me beyond perhaps your own church where the term 'dirty' is used to describe a 'slut' from any authoritatave source in the context which you have presented?

Tony C-R said...

According to Professor Marion Nestle, author of "Food Politics" (2002), "the meat industry's big public relations problem is that vegetarians are demonstrably healthier than meat eaters." There is a proven correlation between meat consumption and heart disease - the biggest cause of death in the Western world- and a 2007 meta-analysis of 6 case-controlled found a statistically significant link between red meat consumption and kidney cancer.

Another 2007 meta-analysis of 3 cohort and 16 case-controlled studies found a link between meat consumption and endomentrial cancer. In 2006, the CSIRO received a report from one of its own Professors which stated: "Recent findings from (CSIRO) scientists have established that diets high in red meats, processed meats and the dairy protein casein can significantly increase the risk of bowel cancer.

I recommend the book "CSIRO Perfidy", by South Australian author Geoff Russell if you require proof that these findings are not only valid, but represent just the tip of the iceberg where the link between meat and human disease is concerned.

Estel Robb said...

Kitchen Slut, on my Google toolbar, I have a tab titled dictionary.com
It is not wise to assume and sit in judgement when you seem to be ignorant of the facts.
Language is a living item and as such its usage, meaning and emphasis changes.
Related words for : 'slut' are
adulteress, fornicatress, hussy, jade, loose woman.
I hope this brings clarity to todays usage of the word "SLUT"

KitchenSlut said...

Does the great Australian term "wowser" mean anything Estel? Or is that Mick Mighell?

Your abhorrence of the term is your own. Please don't wowser it on the rest of us although happy to take up the debate in a more appropriate forum when time allows!

Unknown said...

I think Kitchen Slut is a great nick name and who is to say that the person behind the name is not indeed :

" an adulteress, fornicatress, hussy, jade or loose woman" ?

And in this age of gender equality could the term "slut" not equally apply to a male with the above qualities ?

Sumo said...

"62.5 g/1,000 kcal" seems to be cited in the studies above referenced by Tony C-R for consumption of red meat? This consumption requires you to be in the top 20% of meat consumers in the USA and it's not clear this excludes other health or diet issues which may be associated with this behavour? Is this surprising? How relevant is this for the average person?

The references are worthy of consideration but not authoritative by any means or relevant to all circumstances.

Lounge room slob said...

Why bother with the Kitchen bit? Just be Slut!

Estel Robb said...

Usually individuals that are loud, vulgar, uncouth ed and obnoxious are inflicted with a mental insecurity and the need to be noticed is paramount.
Remember when we went to school we were taught about empty vessels, well I wonder if the Kitchen Slut is a case in point and needs to poke his head out of the closet.
Sadly, though he needs to be noticed.
Moreover, as The Grateful Mack said Kitchen Slut may well be a male slut so the label is apt and a legitimate description of the Kitchen Hand after all.

Unknown said...

Well said Estel and as i like to see myself in print that makes me a Grateful (media) Slut.

amr said...

Sorry folks - eating animals is just a waste of space and energy. With global food shortage it is becoming very clear that this issue needs to be addressed.

It is really simple: if one acre of land is used to grow vegetables a lot more people can be fed with them, than if the same acre is used for grazing livestock. It's just less efficient.

Ootz said...

Blimey, someone gets offended by the word slut while there are millions of animals kept in unsavory conditions AND we get dished up crap disguised as Farm fresh et al. Not only should we question the 'living' conditions of these animals but what they are feed on as well. You might as well include vegetables and fruits here too.
This/last year they had to close down three piggeries in WA because of contaminated feed additives from China. As well as just in case you've missed it have a gander at this involving the Fresh Food people.

I have dabbled with vegetarianism myself and it is not for me. I grow my own chickens, eat their eggs and the surplus I breed. It is not just the yolk that is different try freshness and healthier. For a start my chicken feed does not contain ground up abattoir leftover as a protein substitute or antibiotics as a growth stimulator with associated health issues.

So thank you Rodney, for a thoughtful and topical contribution to a discussion that we ought to have. Not just for ethical reasons, but equally for food safety and health reasons.

As for Estell, get with it. The urban dictionary provides you with a net consensus and more colourful meaning of a word on a blog.

Unknown said...

Onya ootzz, apart from the vary valid points you make about animal husbandry and which I totally endorse, life without "SLUTS" would be very dull.

Maybe we could approach the UN to declare 2010 "the year of the slut " !!!

Leuco Gaster said...

Congratulations, Rodney, I'm glad that some young people are thinking about these issues. Homo sapiens has been a hunter-gatherer for more than 200 thou years, herder-farmer for less than 10 thou, less than 200 years for some indigenous people including Aust Aborigines. So meat-eating is naturally part of our diet. Ethical treatment of domestic animals requires that they be able to experience a life approximating that of their wild ancestors; cows should be allowed to be cows. Grass-fed beef from the Peninsula does this pretty well and is a superior product to the overly-tender, flavorless and unsatisfying grain-fed product from feedlots.
It's true that meat production is less energy efficient than vege/grain growing, but very little of the land now used for grazing could be converted to crops.

angela said...

Unlike all natural carnivores and omnivores, most humans have no instinct or desire to catch living animals, dismember them with their bare hands, and eat them raw. Natural meat-eaters look at a live rabbit or a cow (or even a roadside carcass) with happy anticipation. They can’t wait to kill their prey and gnaw off a leg. In contrast, many people can’t even eat meat that looks too much like the animal it came from; they want their meat skinned and deboned and placed in a plastic-wrapped tray at the grocery store. Even the less squeamish prefer their meat cooked and would rather not slaughter a deer by tearing his throat out with their teeth.

Our anatomy and physiology are those of natural plant-eaters. Human canine teeth are small and blunt, and we have flat molars for grinding up plant fibers. Look at a dog’s or a cat’s teeth and you’ll see something quite different: long, pointed canine teeth for catching prey and tearing the hide and sharp-edged teeth in the back for shearing off chunks of flesh. Humans have hands that are useful for gathering vegetables and fruits but aren’t that good for killing and ripping skin and flesh. Natural carnivores (like cats) and omnivores (like bears) have claws that they use to grasp and tear at their prey.
Humans are not designed to easily digest meat. Natural meat-eaters swallow their meat raw after no or minimal chewing, relying on their highly acidic stomach juices to break down the meat and kill the bacteria that cause food poisoning. We chew our food thoroughly, and we have a carbohydrate-digesting enzyme in our saliva to start the digestive process, just as other herbivores do. Without the stomach acidity that carnivores and omnivores have, we are forced to cook our meat to avoid the risk of food poisoning. Like all herbivores, we have a long intestinal tract, which is necessary for the proper digestion of the cellulose in plants. Carnivores and omnivores have shorter intestines, which are designed to quickly digest meat before it begins to rot.

Another clear indication that we are natural herbivores is the fact that eating meat causes us so many health problems. Meat-eaters face a higher risk of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, kidney disease, osteoporosis, and obesity. Natural carnivores can eat lots of animal fat without getting heart attacks, but humans can’t. In fact, a low-fat vegan diet has been shown to not only prevent but also reverse heart disease in humans. People who avoid animal protein also have dramatically lower rates of prostate, colon, and breast cancer.

The invention of factory farms has made animal protein cheap and plentiful. But that doesn’t change our basic biology. Humans are natural herbivores, but we have chosen to eat something that is unnatural and unhealthy for us—meat.
amr

Leuco Gaster said...

Sorry Angela, you're quite wrong. Obviously we are most like the other great apes, which rely more on raw plant foods, but we differ from them in that we have much lighter jaws and much smaller guts, an evolutionary adaptation made possible by the development of fire-making ability and cooking, an innovation of hominids preceding Homo sapiens. The archaeological record shows this. If we had been herbivores all along we would still be naked, hairy and swinging through the trees. The old saw that meat is slow to digest is nonsense. Vegetarianism is a modern innovation of the last few thousand years and still practised by a minority, though undoubtedly a growing sector as the world's population makes the traditional diet of meat and vege unobtainable for more of us. Sadly.

Tony C-R said...

Hear hear! The excuses used to justify meat consumption are shallow and collapse at the slightest scrutiny.

While there is no doubt that extensive animal production is preferable to intensive farming, there is simply not enough land left on this planet to raise animals for meat under 'natural' conditions, and for meat consumption to continue at anywhere near its current levels.

Second, the land on which the animals are farmed may or may not also be suitable for growing vegetables, but the land which is used to grow the crops which are fed to these animals certainly is - and since farmed animals consume 8-20 times the amount of nutrient they return as corpses, amr's arguments about productivity remain valid.

If you won't do it for the good of the animals, then consider doing it for your own good. Are we a civilized society, or still a bunch of slave-driving, women beating primitives?

Leuco Gaster said...

The original post from Rodney was critical of intensive meat production on ethical grounds and I agree with him about that.
Overpopulation of Earth will undoubtedly force a change to a diet increasingly dependent on high-protein, high-starch grains, but this is not our natural diet. This trend will be disastrous for modern hunter/gatherer peoples. It is no coincidence that type 2 diabetes is most prevalent amongst populations that have only recently adopted grain-staple diets. I encourage my indigenous countrymen to continue to eat grass-fed beef and the other meats they still hunt, for their own good. There is nothing unethical, cruel or unnatural about sustainable, skilled traditional hunting. And "meat" includes molluscs, crustaceans, fish, reptiles and birds, as well as mammals.
Tony, there is nothing intrinsically uncivilized about hunter/gatherer societies - slavery is an innovation of agricultural societies, not hunter/gatherers, who are the most egalitarian of people.

angela said...

It’s true that the human brain has grown much faster than that of other animals over the last 2 million years, but if that were due to carnivorous habits, why aren’t the super cats ruling the world? A new tome, Hominid Brain Evolution by David Geary and Drew Bailey, draws in data from 153 hominid skulls dating back over 2 million years and concludes that increased cranial capacity has come about largely through social competition and not through meat eating or hunting.amr

angela said...

The risk factors which increase the chances of someone developing Type 2 diabetes are increasing age, obesity, and physical inactivity.

Rarer causes of diabetes include certain medicines, pregnancy (gestational diabetes), and any illness or disease that damages the pancreas and affects its ability to produce insulin e.g. pancreatitis.

Eating sweets or the wrong kind of food does not cause diabetes. However, it may cause obesity and this is associated with people developing Type 2 diabetes.

There is no known association between eating grains and the onset of Type 2 diabetes.