Published: Saturday, June 26, 2010
GUEST COMMENTARY / ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION
What the chickens are telling us
With our attention justifiably fixated on the continuing disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, many may have missed a small item of news recently.
Researchers in Taiwan found that “free-range” chicken eggs contain far more industrial pollution than eggs from caged chickens. It was noted that not only were the free-range eggs more polluted, but 17 percent of the eggs had levels of pollution high enough to be deemed unsafe to eat by European standards.
A little investigating uncovered that this is not simply Taiwanese problem. Similar findings have emerged regarding free-range eggs in Europe as well. And no, the research wasn't funded by the egg industry.
And this is important because??
People tempted to quibble over, “Why eat free range anyway?” miss the point. Consider: Open land has become so polluted by industrial waste that chickens feeding on it can ingest enough toxins to make eating their eggs unsafe. If ever there were canaries in the mine (if you'll forgive a mixed metaphor) clucking at us to wake up, it's the chickens laying these eggs.
Just a month ago research uncovered that “acceptable” levels of pesticides in our fruits and vegetables are at least a factor in, if not a cause of, a rise in ADHD in our kids.
So what does it tell us when chickens that forage in “free range” have started to produce eggs that aren't fit to eat? A lot, I think.
Admittedly, it's hard to listen just now. Given two wars, a huge national debt, a recession that almost became a depression, and a monumental environmental catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico, we can be forgiven if we find ourselves on overload.
But we need to take a breath and think.
Some of us are talking about the immorality of leaving to the next generation a huge national debt. I would like us to consider the immorality of leaving to the next generation a poisoned planet. We're not there yet. The sky isn't falling. Chicken Little can stay home. But we are headed in the wrong direction, and the time to change directions is now — not when the sky is falling, but now.
If we continue as we are, we will be bequeathing to our children a planet where just breathing the air is harmful (it already is on “burn ban” days). We will be bequeathing to our children a planet where eating government proclaimed “safe” fruits and vegetables may lead to ADHD. We will be bequeathing to our children a planet where eating any food from the “free range” can be toxic.
Miners take canaries into mines for a reason. If the canary dies, they realize the air is bad and they get the heck out of the mine! Can you imagine the insanity of saying, “Oh well, it's just a canary, and our jobs depend on mining so let's just keep digging”?
I'm not an economist. I'm a minister. I will let economists talk economics. But I do believe that leaving to our children and grandchildren a planet that is toxic to them is morally and spiritually bankrupt.
Steven Greenebaum is pastor at the Living Interfaith Church in Lynnwood.
Researchers in Taiwan found that “free-range” chicken eggs contain far more industrial pollution than eggs from caged chickens. It was noted that not only were the free-range eggs more polluted, but 17 percent of the eggs had levels of pollution high enough to be deemed unsafe to eat by European standards.
A little investigating uncovered that this is not simply Taiwanese problem. Similar findings have emerged regarding free-range eggs in Europe as well. And no, the research wasn't funded by the egg industry.
And this is important because??
People tempted to quibble over, “Why eat free range anyway?” miss the point. Consider: Open land has become so polluted by industrial waste that chickens feeding on it can ingest enough toxins to make eating their eggs unsafe. If ever there were canaries in the mine (if you'll forgive a mixed metaphor) clucking at us to wake up, it's the chickens laying these eggs.
Just a month ago research uncovered that “acceptable” levels of pesticides in our fruits and vegetables are at least a factor in, if not a cause of, a rise in ADHD in our kids.
So what does it tell us when chickens that forage in “free range” have started to produce eggs that aren't fit to eat? A lot, I think.
Admittedly, it's hard to listen just now. Given two wars, a huge national debt, a recession that almost became a depression, and a monumental environmental catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico, we can be forgiven if we find ourselves on overload.
But we need to take a breath and think.
Some of us are talking about the immorality of leaving to the next generation a huge national debt. I would like us to consider the immorality of leaving to the next generation a poisoned planet. We're not there yet. The sky isn't falling. Chicken Little can stay home. But we are headed in the wrong direction, and the time to change directions is now — not when the sky is falling, but now.
If we continue as we are, we will be bequeathing to our children a planet where just breathing the air is harmful (it already is on “burn ban” days). We will be bequeathing to our children a planet where eating government proclaimed “safe” fruits and vegetables may lead to ADHD. We will be bequeathing to our children a planet where eating any food from the “free range” can be toxic.
Miners take canaries into mines for a reason. If the canary dies, they realize the air is bad and they get the heck out of the mine! Can you imagine the insanity of saying, “Oh well, it's just a canary, and our jobs depend on mining so let's just keep digging”?
I'm not an economist. I'm a minister. I will let economists talk economics. But I do believe that leaving to our children and grandchildren a planet that is toxic to them is morally and spiritually bankrupt.
Steven Greenebaum is pastor at the Living Interfaith Church in Lynnwood.
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