Diet & Health
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1994:
A 10-month study published in the
June issue of Cancer Causes and Control, the
journal of the Harvard School of Public Health,
found that children who eat more than 12 hot dogs
a month whose fathers have a history of similar
consumption have nine times the normal risk of
leukemia. The study compared 232 leukemia
patients under age 10 with a similar group of
leukemia-free children. Wrote Dr. John Peters,
who led the University of Southern California
study team, “These findings, if correct, suggest
that reduced consumption of hot dogs could
reduce leukemia risks, especially in those con-
suming the most. Until further studies are com-
pleted and this issue becomes clearer, it may be
prudent for parents to consider reducing consump-
tion of hot dogs for themselves and their children
where consumption frequencies are high.” About
2,600 children a year get leukemia; 72% survive.
Hot dogs may eventually be dropped
from federally subsidized school lunch menus
under a plan to reduce fat content by 30%
announced June 7 by Agriculture Secretary Mike
Espy––the first major change in the menus since
the program began in 1946. However, the
changes won’t take full effect until July 1998.
The conservative news weekly Human
Events recently reported that U.S. president Bill
Clinton, weaned from hamburgers by heart expert
Dr. Harry Ornish, has become addicted to low-fat
vegetarian “Boca burgers” made from soy beans
by Sun Foods of Boca Raton, Florida. Clinton
and White House staff ate 1,920 of the veggie
burgers in May alone.
An estimated 150,000 asthma suffer-
ers thronged to Hyderabad, India, on June 8 for
the Goud family’s 134th annual administration of
the first of four doses of a secret medicine which
must be placed in the mouth of a live sardine,
who then must be swallowed whole. The Gouds
claim the treatment will cure asthma if taken for
three consecutive years.
U.S. seafood consumption rose to 15
pounds per person in 1993, according to the
Commerce Department, of which 53% was
imported. The June 7 announcement followed by
one week the conviction of former Food and Drug
Administration inspector Robert A. Vaccaro for
allegedly taking $65,000 in bribes while running a
ring of other corrupt inspectors who among them
exposed the public to at least 7.5 tons of sword-
fish with excess mercury; 645 pounds of decom-
posed lobster tails; and 1.5 tons of lobsters conta-
minated with fecal bacteria.
Despite the demise of former
Ethiopian dictator Haile Selassie in 1975,
whom Rastafarians believed to be the Second
Coming, Rastafarians say their numbers are
growing. Central tenets include belief in a black
God; the ceremonial use of ganja, a mild intoxi-
cant; and vegetarianism, based on a strict inter-
pretation of Judaic dietary law.
Zimbabwe, already exporting $25
million worth of crocodile skins a year, has
begun exporting the meat as well. Major buyers
are Hong Kong, Thailand, and Malaysia.
