Diet, Health, and the Environment
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June/July 2000
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Features
Cleaner Air Coming to Detroit
Henry Ford Hospital to Close Incinerator
by Mary Beth Doyle
Selling Their Future Short?
Engler Panel Ignores Doctors' Advice
by Dave Dempsey
Recycling Land
Brownfield Redevelopment is a Balancing Act of Priorities
by Mike Tolinski
Dumbing Down the Children
Michigan, Other States Ignore Federal Lead Testing Law
by Peter Montague
Columns
Tiny Township Turns Down GM
Rural Milan Residents Reject Rail-Car Yard, by Aretta Schills
Diet, Health, and the Environment
An Interview with John Robbins, by Rachel Shaw
Healthy Home and Garden
Energy Star Products Save Cash and Power, by Kristi Jacques
Huron Valley News
Webster Township Holds Sprawl Forum, by Ernie Becker
Science for the People
Pesticides Linked to Decreased Fertility, by Mary Beth Doyle
By Rachel Shaw
Raised with the expectation that he would one day step into the leadership of a giant corporation, Baskin-Robbins heir John Robbins has instead devoted his life to investigating how American food choices and food raising practices affect both human and environmental health. The author of several books, including Diet for a New America and Reclaiming Our Health, Robbins is also the founder of EarthSave, an organization which promotes the benefits of a plant-based diet. This interview was first printed in The Lookout, the newsletter of the Sierra Club's Huron Valley Group, and is reprinted with the permission of the Group and the author.
Q. What is a healthy and appropriate diet for Americans today, and why?
A. The best thing is to eat low on the food chain. Eat less meat, for health and for the planet. The resources expended on the production of meat are extravagant and wasteful. The pollution produced is quite extreme. It's important to reduce reliance on animal protein.
Q. What are some of the obstacles to the average person's eating a healthy diet?
A. The USDA. They are out to lunch when it comes to this. They are controlled by the food production industries to an extraordinary extent. For example, the USDA establishes dietary guidelines. They're working on new ones-the Dietary Guidelines 2000. The advisory committee members for developing these guidelines are a mix. Six of them have or have had ties to the meat and dairy industry. The chair, Cuthberto Garza, is involved with Nestle, was a visiting professor with the National Dairy Council, is on the Board of Directors of Dannon, and organizes symposia for Meade-Johnson Company.
Another member, Scott Grundy, has for the last 30 years served on the National Egg Board Grant Reviewers Committee. Johanna Dwyer is on the grant reviews committee for the American Meat Institute. The point is, the Advisory Committee will make recommendations consistent with the background of committee members, more than with the public or environmental health interests that government should be involved in.
Q. Can you say a little more about the effect of our food choices on the environment?
A. They are grievous. There is a more positive effect if we eat organic, locally grown food and lower on the food chain. Last year in a major report the Union of Concerned Scientists said that the two most environmentally damaging things people do are driving and eating meat. The energy use in the production of meat is extraordinary. And cattle are one of the primary sources of methane. Also important is the waste they produce. Cattle alone produce many times more waste than humans. Feedlots and factory farms concentrate large numbers of animals. It's not cost effective for them to roam free. As a result there are concentrated piles of manure.
Water use is also an issue. Half the water used in the U.S. is for meat production. More than half of all feed is grown on irrigated land. Enormous amounts of land and water are used. It takes less to grow grain. It takes 16 pounds of grain to equal one pound of feedlot beef. It's very wasteful.
The single most important thing an individual can do towards conserving natural resources is to eat less, or eliminate, meat. It's ironic that health authorities are calling for the same thing for health reasons. The planet's health and individual health come together. I'm not trying to play "more vegetarian than thou". But people need to make informed choices, in line with their values. We're being brainwashed by a constant barrage of advertising from places like McDonald's. The USDA doesn't help by being in the pockets of industry.
Q.In your book Reclaiming Our Health you use the term "medical myth". Can you talk a little bit about that?
A. The medical myth is that health comes from doctors and hospitals. In truth, it comes from the choices we make. Primary care should be self care. We go to the doctor as if the doctor had health they can sell you. As if taking a pill will make you healthy. Medical treatment is not health care, it's disease care. Health care means caring for ourselves, our spirits, the environment. Drugs are only of use after you get sick.
Q. What can we do to reclaim our health?
A. That's a huge topic, obviously. Briefly, eat lower on the food chain, exercise, and deal with all different aspect of our lives as individuals and communities. It's not just individual choices. If the air is poisoned, it will damage you. If the water is polluted, I don't care how many vitamins you take. The issue of what we need to be healthy is a matter for the whole community.
Rachel Shaw is a freelance writer with a background in natural resources. John Robbins will be speaking in Ann Arbor on April 2.
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