Things I Like

1) Foods
2) Music
3) Socializing
4) Shopping
5) Dancing
6) Dancers (they are hot!)
7) People that are fun to be with
8) Photography
9) Playing tennis
10) Chatting

Survey

On Monday (03/07/11), me, Celine, Jasmine, and Eva made a survey together since we are doing the same topic. The purpose of doing this survey is to complete our primary research. It was made to help us know more about what people consider to be doing and so it could help make our topic stronger. Below is our survey. Please fill them out and comment on it if you are willing to.

1) You buy organic meat on a regular basis.
     True                       False

2) What kind of meat do you like the best?
     Beef            Chicken           Lamb          Pork          Fish

3) Hormones should be added to meat to make it cheaper for consumers and farmers and make the meat grow fatter & faster.
     Strongly agree          Agree            Neutral             Disagree          Strongly disagree

4) If there is a direct correlation between eating meats that have been injected with hormones and not being able to have children, would you still eat meat?
     Yes            No

5) Has the thought of being a vegetarian ever crossed your mind?
     a) No. Please explain.
         ______________________________________________________________
     b) Yes. Please explain.
         ______________________________________________________________

My Year of Meats

"DES, or diethylstilbestrol, is a man-made estrogen that was first synthesized in 1938 [...] The males develop female characteristics -- plum breasts and succulent meats -- desirable assets for one's dinner [...] Sure, there were accounts of farmers who accidentally breathed or ingested DES powder and started showing symptoms such as impotence, infertility, gynecomastia (enlarged and tender breasts), and changes in their voice register [...] Meanwhile, all this time, since it was first synthesized, DES was being used for another purpose entirely. Researchers and doctors were prescribing it for pregnant women in the belief that DES would prevent miscarriages and premature births [...] DES exposed daughters were suffering from irregular menstrual cycles difficult pregnancies, and structural mutations of the vagina, uterus, and cervix. DES sons developed congenital malformations including undescended and atrophied testicles, abnormally undersize penises, defective sperm production, and low sperm count, all of which increased the risk of testicular cancer and infertility [...] Today, although DES is illegal, 95 percent of feedlot cattle in the U.S. still receive some form of growth-promotiing hormone or pharmaceutical in feed supplements" (124-126).

      Up above is the compilation of the quotes from the book My Year of Meats that I think are related to the topic that I chose, which is about hormones in meat. I think that the idea of inventing DES at the first place was intelligent. After knowing all the side effects that it has on our health, I freaked out and I don't think DES should be used any longer. Almost everyone knows about this issue already, but I am just wondering, why are the meat producers still use DES for the meat to be juicier and cheaper to produced, when they already know the consequences? In my opinion, those people are selfish since they only think about themselves and not the others. All they think about is money, money, and money. They want to make profits by injecting DES to their meats because it will take less time and less money to pay the labors. For me, money isn't all I need. I know that it can make me satisfy, I can buy all the things I want, but it doesn't stay forever, right? It is better to live longer and happier that meat with DES is no longer produced and so no one would turn sick because of it, than die young just because of money. Not just die young, but it also harm others and damage their health at the same time.
     This book is related to my topic about hormones in meat because this book mentioned a lot about the effects of unhealthy hormones on people, for example Rose, Jane, Jane's mom, and Gale. Rose had breasts even though she was still a little kid. "I think she's received some sort of hormone poisoning, probably from the drugs around the feedlot, and that's why she's got breasts. There's a name for it. It's called premature thelarche" (273). Jane had a miscarriage and it was hard for her to be pregnant. She also had her tumor operated in Japan because of cancer. Jane's mom also had a hard time to be pregnant and had 3 miscarriages before Jane was born. Gale was a guy and his breasts enlarged and his vocal elevated.

Depressing Things

Grades below "A"
Being in the middle of a problem
Being forced to lie
When my apartment is messy
Seeing dirty dishes in the kitchen
Seeing delicious but fattening foods while I'm on a diet
When I'm hungry at night
Guilty pleasure after shopping
Bad hair day
Dilemma
Being blamed for something that I did not do
Homeworks & tests
Alarm tone

A Trip to The Library

     Last Wednesday (03/23/11), me and my classmates went to the library to do some research for the assignment that Mrs. Marilyn Patton gave us for EWRT 2 at De Anza College. She gave us a handout of some books that might be useful for the topics. I chose "hormones in meat" as my topic, so I looked through that part in the handout. She gave us some random numbers and letters, and I thought that would be the ISBN of the book. After she explained about it in class, then I found out that those numbers and letters represent the location of the book in the library. I didn't know that because honestly, it was kind of my first time looking for books in the library. I did before, but the school libraries back in my country suck compared to the ones here, and system is totally different too. So we all went to the library together, as if we were having a field trip! Mrs. Patton led the way and gave us an example on how we were supposed to search for the book by its codes. Then me and my friend, Celine, found a book that we thought were useful, so we shared it and copied it together. The books that we found were Human Nutrition by Helen A. Guthrie & Mary Frances Picciano and Food, Inc. by Karl Weber.

     From Human Nutrition, I learned that bST stands for bovine Somatotropin, and bGH stands for bovine growth hormone. "FDA regulations require that the amount of any hormone administered to an animal must not exceed 1% of the amount normally produced by the animal" (649). I didn't really get anything from this book since it has a lot of scientific terms and it used a lot of percentages too. Overall, it was still useful.

     I have more informations to share from the book Food, Inc.. rGBH stands for recombinant bovine growth hormone and it is an artificial growth hormone that is injected into dairy cattle to increase their milk production. 

According to...

http://www.sustainabletable.org/issues/hormones/

"In 2005, 32.5 million cattle were slaughtered to provide beef for US consumers . Scientists believe about two-thirds of American cattle raised in for slaughter today are injected with hormones to make them grow faster and America’s dairy cows are given a genetically-engineered hormone called rBGH to increase milk production. These measures mean higher profits for the beef and dairy industries, but what does it mean for consumers? Although the USDA and FDA claim these hormones are safe, there is growing concern that hormone residues in meat and milk might be harmful to human health and the environment."

     From this website, I have learned that the hormones that we consume from eating meat is actually really dangerous for our health; it may obstruct human hormone balance, developmental problems may happen, reproductive system may be interfered, and it can also lead to the development of breast, prostate, or colon cancer. It affects children, pregnant women, and unborn babies the most. The residues in cow manure are also dangerous since it contaminates surface and groundwater. [Paraphrased]
     This is a useful website for my topic "hormones in meat" because it talks about how hormones have numerous of negative effects on our health. It also tells us about how what we should do in order to protect us from hormone-related health risks. 

http://envirocancer.cornell.edu/Factsheet/Diet/fs37.hormones.cfm

"Studies done so far do not provide evidence to state that hormone residues in meat or dairy products cause any human health effects. However, a conclusion on lack of human health effect can only be made after large-scale studies compare the health of people who eat meat or dairy products from hormone-treated animals, to people who eat a similar diet, but from untreated animals."

     This second website is more detail than the first one, but basically they both are almost about the same thing. It explained about what hormones are, why it is used in food production, why consumers are concerned about it, what kind of hormones they use in the production, the effects of hormones, and a lot more including some tips at the end of the website. 

     Based on the article, hormones are used to make young animals gain weight faster, and so less amount of feed to give and less waiting time, and so more profit can be made. It is also used to increase milk production in cows. The six type of hormones that are approved by FDA for being used in the food production are estradiol, progesterone, testosterone, zeranol, trenbolone acetate, and melengestrol acetate. The tips that this website offer are to eat a varied diet, rich in fruits, grains and vegetables, to eat meats in moderation, well cooked, but not charred, and to eat more lean muscle meat, less liver and fat. [Paraphrased]

Reasons Why I Still Eat Meat

Meat, oh, meat
Hormones all over
Why do I still eat it?

1) Delicious
2) Can be cooked in various ways
3) Great source of protein
4) Rich in iron and amino acids
5) High in phosphorus
6) Life is apparently too short!
7) Used to eating meat almost everyday since I was small
8) Majority of my family & friends are not vegans
9) Almost all foods I like contain meat



It's just... irresistible! 

"If Slaughterhouses Had Glass Walls, Everyone Would Be A Vegetarian"

     I was beyond terrified after watching this video by PETA starring Paul McCartney. I couldn't stand looking at those pitiful animals being tortured and slaughtered. I did not know that meat production would be this sadistic. As you saw it in the video, the cages were so tiny that they could hardly move around. Chicken couldn't spread a single wing and their sensitive peat were cut off with hot plate that causes pain to them. Chickens and turkey were forcefully packed. Every of the animal's throat were cut too and all the tortures caused stresses to all those animals.

     Honestly, I wasn't really able to watch the entire video. I didn't skip it but I'd rather not watch the video and only listen to what Paul McCartney was saying. It was too hard to watch them being slaughtered. I actually agree to what Paul McCartney said about slaughterhouses having glass walls and everyone would turn vegetarian since all the processes of animals being slaughtered were too horrifying for us people to see. This might be a dumb thing to do, but I somehow did The Role Exchange Test of me being them or their relative. If I were one of the animals, I probably would have been a little happier if I were treated better and be killed in peace instead of being sadistically killed. Animals may don't have feelings like we do, but if they do have feelings, if I was one of their relatives, I would be in deep despair to see humans torture my relative and knowing that I am going to be killed next too. Just an imagination of mine.