Dr. Weeks’ Comment: More fabulous writing and concise powerful research summary from the notmilkman Robert Cohen
Catch 22
Let me tell you about the spirit of Catch-22.
If a bomber pilot suffered a nervous breakdown during World War II after flying numerous death defying missions and then claimed that he could no longer fly, he was told that the only way a pilot could be relieved from duty was to be diagnosed by a psychiatrist as crazy, but since a request not to fly was clearly a sign of sanity, that in itself was evidence that the pilot must continue flying.
In fact, pilots who continued to fearlessly drop bombs while flak filled the sky were truly insane, but since they never requested to be relieved from duty, they would continue to fly their missions.
In CATCH 22, Saul Heller wrote:
“There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one’s safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate
was the process of a rational mind.
“Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn’t, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn’t have to; but
if he didn’t want to he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful
whistle.
‘That’s some catch, that Catch-22,’ he observed. ‘It’s the best there is,’ Doc Daneeka agreed.”
Today’s Notmilk Catch-22
There is an antibiotic that is illegal to use on lactating dairy cows, because it is poison to humans. It’s called Gentocin, and residues from this antimicrobial remain within the flesh of treated animals for up to 18 months. FDA does not permit the use of Gentocin for cows which may may one day
enter our food chain.
Unfortunately, veterinarians are permitted to prescribe Gentocin, despite the fact that it’s not permitted. FDA & USDA call this “Off-Label Use”.
Unfortunately, unscrupulous dairy farmers can treat their milking cows with Gentocin, and nobody is on the farm to test the milk because cows being milked that day are not being sent to slaughterhouses…not that day. Tomorrow is a different matter, but that is not the dairy farmer’s concern.
FDA knows about this Catch-22 but does not test cows in slaughterhouses, USDA does. USDA does not regulate drugs for milking cows. That is a second
Catch-22 regarding illegal Gentocin use. Anybody see a serious flaw in the system?
It’s a Catch-22, all right, and like Yossarian (Saul Heller’s heroic pilot), you’ve got to be crazy to drink the milk or eat the meat.
If you eat chicken, are you safe? In 2012, some 15 billion pounds of rendered cow parts will be ground up and fed to chickens. Got antibiotics?
What gets injected into 9.3 million dairy cows at 4:00 AM and where are USDA and FDA investigators? When are the cows loaded onto a truck and shipped to slaughter? Six months or a year after the last Gentocin injection?
Which of the ten billion farm animals will be tested regularly by USDA for Gentocin residues? None! What part of the animal will be routinely tested? No part!
Gentocin is stored in the kidneys and breaks down into other dangerous substances. Residues can be found in the lungs. Do inspectors test the top round or rib steaks? Different percentages are to be found in different tissues.
A prohibited drug, prescribed by veterinarians. A dangerous drug, eaten by humans. Is there nothing that can be done to make the system work?
Of course there is. Can anybody guess the simple solution?
Bypass FDA. Bypass USDA and CDC and NIH and all of the government agencies with conflicts of interest that allow one Catch-22 after another to compromise our safety.
This past weekend, after spending a few hours of research, I found this publication in a Chinese journal regarding the gentocin people unknowing consume after eat meat and dairy:
Journal of Zhejiang University Science
(2009 April; 10(4): 280-284)
Persistence of gentamicin residues in milk after the
intramammary treatment of lactating cows for mastitis
Department of Veterinary Medicine, Zhejiang University,
Hangzhou 310029
The authors reported:
“Antibiotic residues in milk are of great concern to dairy
farmers, milk processors, regulatory agencies, and consumers.
The presence of antimicrobial drug residues in milk can
provoke allergic reactions in some hypersensitive individuals
(Dewdney et al., 1991; Dayan, 1993) and may induce resistant
populations of bacteria that do not respond to treatments
commonly used for human illnesses (Nijsten et al., 1996;
van den Bogaard et al., 2001).”
Eat a plant-based diet, and your body will thank you.
Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com
http://www.Twitter.com/TheRealNotmilk