Christian Vegetarian Association Blog


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CVA Blog
Monday, July 12, 2010

Ethics or Profit?

1. Medical Center’s Café Goes Veg

2. Famous Quote – Walter Willett, M.D., of Brigham and Women's Hospital, director of a study that found a close correlation between red meat consumption and colon cancer.

3. Profit Trumps Ethics: the Overuse of Antibiotics in Factory Farmed Animals

4. Bible verse – Jeremiah 17:9-10

5. Insurance Companies Invest in Fast Food Chains

6. This Week’s Video – Caldwell Esselstyn MD

1. Medical Center’s Café Goes Veg

Hospitals and their staff should promote healthy lifestyles. In Maine, a great example to follow can be found at Parkview Adventist Medical Center in Brunswick. In this hospital's cafe (open to staff and visitors) the menu is 100 percent vegetarian, about 70 percent organic and locally sourced whenever possible. Moreover, all products that contain high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils or genetically modified ingredients are avoided. "The idea is, we're the hospital and we should set an example of promoting health," said Chef Oleg Opalnyk, Parkview's head of nutritional services.

To read the full article please search online for Medical Center's Cafe Promotes Health With Vegetarian Menu

What a fantastic example this medical center is setting! Hopefully, other health institutions will learn about the benefits of a plant-based diet and make changes that will reflect their desire to promote healthy habits.

2. Famous Quote

"If you step back and look at the data, the optimum amount of red meat you eat should be zero."

~Walter Willett, M.D., of Brigham and Women's Hospital, director of a study that found a close correlation between red meat consumption and colon cancer.

3. Profit Trumps Ethics: the Overuse of Antibiotics in Factory Farmed Animals

Donald Kennedy, a former commissioner of the United States Food and Drug Administration, currently a professor emeritus of environmental science at Stanford, writes about the prime example in which profit has trumped ethics: the overuse of antibiotics in factory farmed animals.

Kennedy explains how in the last 30 years the meat industry's interests have overpowered Congress, leaving Americans at the mercy of the consequences of intentionally ignoring the overwhelming evidence that the overuse of certain antibiotics in farmed animals is linked to the evolution of antibiotic resistance in bacteria that infect humans. To read the full article please search online for Cows on Drugs

It's not hard to see that the meat industry is governed by the desire of power and profit. So, why do most people in the US still support it by consuming their products? It's important to remember that we can not "wash our hands" and claim innocence while we are contributing to this industry. Being good stewards of God's Creation calls us to support those industries that promote health, harmony and restoration in God's Creation.

4. This Week’s Bible Verse

(RSV) Jeremiah 17:9-10

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately corrupt; who can understand it? "I the LORD search the mind and try the heart, to give to every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings."

Jesus teaches us that what is in our hearts is what counts. We should relate to all of God's Creation with a compassionate heart that shows love and reverence.

5. Insurance Companies Invest in Fast Food Chains

Interestingly, though not surprising, health and life insurance companies invest billions in the fast-food industry. After analyzing insurance companies’ holdings in the fast-food industry researchers from Harvard University’s Cambridge Health Alliance found that insurers own $1.88 billion dollars worth of stocks in McDonald’s, Jack in the Box, Wendy’s/Arby’s, Yum! Brands (owner of KFC and Pizza Hut), and Burger King.

To read the full article please search online for Insurance Invest Billions in Fast Food

Sadly, this is another case of interests vs. ethics where interests and profit trump ethics. Therefore, it is the consumer who has the responsibility and the power to take care of his/her health by making wise decisions such as the transition to a well-balanced plant-based diet, which is lower or void of fast food (laden with animal products, cholesterol and saturated fat).

6. This Week’s Video: Caldwell Esselstyn MD

With the recent news that 45% of Americans suffer from high cholesterol, high blood pressure or diabetes (all leading causes of heart disease), it’s imperative to learn what is causing this and how these percentages can be lowered. Caldwell Esselstyn Jr. M.D. explains how the choice of diet can be the defining factor of a healthy heart.

Please search online for Make Yourself Heart Attack Proof with Caldwell Esselstyn MD to watch his presentation at the Health Expo 2003.

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