Violence to Our Health - E. Coli and the Washington County Fair
A Shooting Ourselves in the Foot: The Sanitizing of Violence in Our Society Article from All-Creatures.org

Throughout the ages, we have accepted killing, violence, and violent behavior as just being a part of life - it's time we change!

By: Frank L. Hoffman

I believe that the majority of people wouldn't eat something that had fallen in the toilet, or dropped on a lawn containing dog poop, even if they washed it and cooked it first. Why? Because it would always have that sense of being dirty, or contaminated. Our assumption would be correct, for it would most likely be contaminated with E. Coli, a bacteria found in the intestines of humans and animals.

We are beginning to hear a lot about E. Coli in the news, and we're starting to see some labeling on meat products warning of the need to thoroughly cook it. But what they are not telling the average person is that their food is likely contaminated with feces (B.M, poop, or what ever else we might call it). The absence of the whole truth is also doing violence to our health. We are sanitizing the truth that such contamination begins with animal agriculture by saying the problem is only with a bacteria, which, if not a lie is a knowing distortion of the truth. Because of animal agriculture, we are shooting ourselves in the foot, or in this case in our gut.

The feces in and around the animal barn at the Washington County (New York) Fair Ground leached into a drinking water well this summer and made more than 1,000 people sick. Many required hospitalization and two died. This was the largest outbreak of E. Coli related illness in New York's history. If it wasn't for animal agriculture, this would never have happened. But, as a society, we don't want to admit this simple fact. We want to continue to sanitize the lie by looking for excuses, and ways to solve the problem by other means.

The obvious and permanent solution to the problem is to switch to a plant based diet, but for most people, this is too much of a truth to face. But the truth remains! If the residents of Washington County, New York, were not into animal agriculture, there would have been no need for an animal barn at the fair. Without the animals, there would have been no accumulation of feces on the open ground. If there were no accumulation of feces on the ground, the rains would not have washed it into the drinking water. If the feces were not in the drinking water, no one would have become sick, or died. This is the simple truth.

Another simple truth is that if we have followed God's original creation intent, such an incident would never have happened.

Genesis 1:29-30

29. Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.

30. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground - everything that has the breath of life in it - I give every green plant for food." And it was so.
(NIV)

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