Dear Nature Doc,

Why is hoof and mouth disease and mad cow disease striking cows and causing the state to destroy thousands of them? Do humans need to worry about the disease?

Nature Doc Replies:

Factory farming methods of raising animals cause livestock diseases, the water shortage we are expecting in our region, and water pollution. Most of our water is used by the meat industry, subsidized by taxpayers. There are over 60 times more animals raised for food than there are humans in this country. Huge amounts of water carry their feces (manure) away, a major source of nitrate water pollution. As important as it is for each of us to save water, the best way to do that is to eat less meat.

Living organisms have an electromagnetic field. Illness, whether it is in humans, cows or other animals, or in plants, is due to an energy imbalance. Disease occurs when the imbalance results in tissue damage. Many western holistic physicians focus on nutrient deficiencies. Most illness can be cured by providing the required nutrients in whole food form, with supplements of concentrated nutrients.

Providing a healthy diet for cows costs a little more than the poor quality diet they get in factory farms, but as we see from the response to hoof and mouth disease and mad cow disease outbreaks, there are tremendous hidden costs associated with “modern” farming methods.

Homeopaths, Acupuncturists, and Naturopaths are among the western holistic practitioners who look beyond nutrient deficiencies and treat energy imbalance, or illness, with energy medicines. One could cure hoof and mouth disease, if the tissue damage is not too advanced, with an orthomolecular approach (vitamin, mineral, amino acid and essential fatty acid supplementation). One could quite easily cure the disease with homeopathy.

The slaughter and destruction of so many animals is thus wasteful and cruel beyond belief. It says so much of our culture. It reminds me of the cold war slogans “better dead than red,” or “we must kill them to save them.”

Our medical system’s blackout of information on holistic therapies, whether in treating humans or animals, is beyond negligent; it is criminal. Huge numbers of people and animals die premature and horrible deaths under the current system. Although I am not licensed as a veterinarian, and I am appalled by the factory farming system of raising animals, I would gladly work with anyone in the industry at no charge to help them save the lives of so many living creatures. By killing all of them, so many more animals will have to go through the horrifying process of being born and raised in our meat industry.

Watch the video Diet for a New America, by John Robbins to get the full impact of the current system.

My recommendation to people who eat meat is to reduce the quantities you eat, and only eat the flesh of organically raised animals. Because organically raised foods including meat are higher in nutrient content, eating less is appropriate. Supplement with other high protein foods such as beans, nuts, seeds, and eat root vegetables and whole grains instead of refined grains.

Organically raised animals are healthier because they are more likely to be fed foods they were designed to eat. Cows were meant to eat fresh plants, period. Not ground up cows, pigs, sheep, or even dried corn or wheat. You are damaging your health by eating conventionally raised meats. You set yourself up for corn and wheat allergies, because most are “grain fed.”

The flesh of these animals contain significant amounts of artificial hormones known to cause cancer. DES is a synthetic estrogen formerly given primarily to middle-class women during their pregnancies. It causes clear cell adenocarcinoma of the vagina and cervix, and it is fed to cows. Factory-raised animals are also high in antibiotics which damage the immune systems of the animals who eat the antibiotics as well as of those who eat the animals.