Document NGjwjYXe6EJo1nkoOpwdv4XQR

ByBOBPINKUJ 1911 WAS A YEAR to which the quasi (or compassion grew Larger. Ovar 2,000 vege tarians from 40 countrlas came together lor 12 days at tha University of Maine at Orono from August 16 * 2Sth to learn, share, and bo together in Uielr quest for a more com passionate world. During August of 1976 hundreds, perhaps thousands, of vegetarians from nil over North America will come to Ithaca, New York to carry on that quest. Hosted by the North American Vegetarians of Malaga, New Jersey (the same grotqt which hosted the 1975 World Vegetarian Congress in Maine), this 1976 North American vegetarian convention will be a time of sharing, plan sing, learning, and being together for a period of about eight daye. What is all this about? For many vegetar ians the knowledge that one need not kill animals to live is enough of a reason to be come vegetarian and to htlp spread the word. For others the realisrtlon that one can live on less than naif the 2,l>00 pounds of grata required by an American flesh- enter these days If one consumes one's food directly rather than Inetflciortly via animals gives one reason enough .n a world eg hungry people to become vegetarians and tn apreed the word. For some compassion begins with the self, with the realisation that battar health la possible on a natural vegetarian diet. Still other people realise that a vegetarian diet costa less end thus enables us to do more with what money we may have than merely fatten the profits cl the agri-business giants. There are many reasons for vegetarian ism, and there are many vegetarian lournils which can help one to understand these reasons. North American Vegetarians, of 501 Old Harding Highway, Malaga, N.J., 02329, publishes *Vegetartan Voice* and offers autonomous affiliationtoanyvegetar ian group. "Vegetarian World*, published from suite 216, 9235 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angelas, Calif. 90042, offers diversi fied news to vegetarians, and membership In a book club. The *Vegetarlan Review A Digest*, published from Box 221,Haverford, Pennsylvania 19041, is a new vegetarian newspaper published on a quarterly basis, giving nows of Interest to vegetarians and others. , AU cl these groups and Journals help to provide a continental voice to those who see the need to relate to other forma of life in a manner which does not interfere with the right to live unmolested of those individuals who happen to be animals. Perhaps the de- velopmeot of a new consciousness which Is bound up with noo-lnterference in the life of other beings wlU result in a transference of that consciousness and an ultimate realisa tion that people are entitled to the same fraddom from Interference in their TUCSON, ARIZ. THE MATCH MNTMIY 2.000 FEB 1976 BECOMING A VEGETARIAN 1 once believed that one needed to use force to end oppression. Later, wttvn 1 examined (hat premise, It seemed that although It might be valid in certain eases on a practical basis, In one sense it rep resented a contradiction. For, how could one really teach others to cease the use of force by the use of force? Finally I realized that If in one's day-to-day actions one were an oppressor, whether of human beings for profit or power, or of animals (or food and clothing, then one would have to expect that oppression would become the rule of life. Oppressors In fact must expect not only to oppress but to be oppressed. If one could abandon oppression and live in peace and harmony with 'one's neighbors, not Inter fering with their lives, not eating or wear ing them, 1 realized, perhaps one could change one's realtlons with everyone, could build a better world. At this point vegetarianism became meaningful to me and Ibecaraeavegetarlta. I have been one since. Many, Isuspect.have become vegetarians for similar or identical reasons. To live without taking Ufa seems to be the basis for a compassionate world's creation. Putting this on a practical level, vegetarianism is a first and easily attain able step for anyone. It does not require forceful actions, demonstrations, bombings, or petitions, for anyone can become a veg etarian simply by switching one's dist. No .one's permission Is required but one's own. In this way one demonstrates an essential truth to oneself-- a truth of nonviolence by affirming our basic harmless natures as human beings. If we can abandon murder in dally life perhaps we can eome closer to the utopia of love and compassion which we all really want. Vegetarianism Is aprtmary and meaningful step In that direction. . AN APPEAL TO HEALTH Sterility, cancer, disfigurement, birth defects, liver dsmage,andotherhorrors are being attributed to one of the many modern chemicals found in foods of animal origin thsse days. That chemical is PC B,shortfor polychlorinated biphenyls, reported to be hundreds of times more toxic than DDT. PCBs have been widely used industrial chemicals In the past, In items as diverse as industry Itself is. A July, 1971 incident Involving a heat exchanger used In the manu facture of a. chicken feed supplement which leaked PC B into the supplement resulted in 77,000 chickens beiog destroyed rather than going to market. Burning dlscardedplastles and other materials in which these chemicals are used Is another way in which PC Be get into the environment. Plasti cize re, adhesives, transformers, tven newsprint --and the list Is endless--have la the past been found to contalj^C&fe PC Bs are getting into foods too. A 1972 study by the FDA showed one out of five samples of fish, cheese, milk sad eggs tested from 3,500 samples, contained a measurable level of PC B. Of 670 fish maples tested by the FDA in 1972, 54% contained pc B in amounts ringing from a trace to 35 parts per million. Eggs showed PC B in 29% of 550 samples tested; cheese and milk showed positive in 6% and 7%, respectively, of samples tested, although one milk sample had a P C B concentration of 27.2 parts par million. The significance et these levels- may be seen in the fact that HONS 032836  level or rive parts par munon in tne aw of mink on mink ranches in the Great Lakes . ration caused complete reproductive failure among the animals. Since then the mink ranches have switched to other foods than the Coho salmon previously used, and of ficiate have warned citizens not to eat the flab. Speaking in 1979, Russel Train, admin istrator of the federal Environmental Pro tection Agency, said: Well, we thought that the action back In the early part of the 70s In limit ing the uee of PCBs to closed sys tems would probably largely elimin ate the movement of PCBs In the environment. We are finding high PCB levels In salmon, striped bass, and other fish In the Great Lakes, the Upper Mississippi River, Southern California, the Gulf of Mexico, the . Hudson River, as -'ell as other waterways In New York, and I'm sure we would find them elsewhere In the United States...* In fact the U.S. Geological Survey found varying levels of PCB In the waters of New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Virginia, South Carolina, Florida,Mississippi, Texas, Arkansas, and California in 1972. Sinct than studies have continued. It was the knowledge gained from the Canadian Wildlife Service, however, which had found quantities of PCB In polar bears, seals, and Arctic fish -- thousands of miles iorth of the nearest site of industrial isage -- which prompted researchers to hike s major breakthrough on thsproblem. What they found Is frightening: In early sting of foodstuffs, FDA rsssarchsrs had Itten checking foods for levtls of DDT. In some of their tests it later was learned that what they were finding was not DDT at all. but PCB, as the substances are alike. With thi.t knowledge it was still later discovered that ultraviolet light degrades DDT vapor Into products that eventually become PCBs, Presenting their paper to a meeting of the American Chemical Society In Dallas, re searchers Kenneth Mollanen and Donald Crosby showsd how PCBs, which have been usel in solvents, coatings, and other Indus trial applications, could have been found thousands of miles from their nearest ob vious sources. DDT blown by ths winds and bur-\e on the waters of the world, reaches eve.-ywhere. "Since only a small fraction of the total amount of DDT svsr applied has been sccountsd for," their paper says, "our rest its give clues about the eventual fata of DDT In the environment." DDT survives for about four years In the Stmr.anher* ntantvnf ilm far the nHravfalat component oi sunngnt to accompnsn its degradation. < PCB ha* been shown to be twice as 1 effective as DDT in causing thinning of bird eggshells. Thus many species may h threatened with extinction by the presence Of PCB'a In their foods. PCB's have also been found to cause cancer In laboratory animals; and according to the Delaney Amendment, items which do this are sup posed to be banned from food* for human consumption. Studies linking diet to cancer described in the New England Journal of Madlelne show that food contaminants, a diet high In animal fat or alcohol or deficient in vitamins A and C may be causing various forms of cancer by enhancing the activity of cancer- causing agents or changing digestive microbes, resulting In formation of cancer- causing metabolites. According to the Na tional Canter for Health Statistics, figures for the first seven months of 1975 indicated a 5.2 % increase In cancer deaths. These statistics were corroborated by the Metro politan Life Insurance Company which found a similar unexplained rise In cancer deaths among Its policy - holders. DOES VEGETARIANISM HELP? ' Can being a vegetarian help in the fight to remain free of polluted food? The vege- tarlan publication AH1MSA had this to say i on the subject in 1972: : "We start with the spraying of a I poison, DDT, on the water of a lake I In California. The concentration waa i 1/50U1 part of 1 ppm,or 1:50,000,000. i Plankton, living In ths water, con- i centrated It until they had 5 ppm. Fish, ; eating the plankton, had anywhere i from 40 to 300 ppm of DDT in their bodies. At this point, spraying was \ halted; the lake waa measured, and t MO DDT could be found In it, so It i waa assumed to be back to normal. i but.^all the grebes died off (s grebe . is a diving /swimming bird with wtbbed feet). The grebes were killed ' by the DDT they had taken in with their food (fish), carnivorous fish in the lake had built up a concentration . of an astounding 2S00 ppm. Upon examination of the dead grebes,their > fatty tissue was found to be loaded with 1600 parts per million of DDT, and die grebe colony dwindled to 30 pairs,.. These pslrs mated In vain. ...CThls concentration of poison is one of the most powerful arguments for vegetarianism today, from ths health standpoint). Although we are not con cerned hers with radioactivity, con centration will be similar in pattern. ...On the Columbia river, which has eight reactors on it, ths water con tained "traces* of radioactivity. The plankton, living in ths water, had 2000 times as much radiation. The fish that ate the plankton had 19,000 times as much as the water. The ducks that lived there and ate both had 40,000 times more. The eggs that were laid around the river con tained e million times the radio activity. You see the progression? From a trace up to a million times of s 'trace'.* One thing we can do la avoid such products as fish, cheese, eggs, milk, or other products containing PCB's. But even If we merely become vegetarisn without going to this extreme, much danger of PCB will already have been averted. The future of our planet and the future of each of ua who inhabit It la tn our own hands. Together we can help to ereate s brlaht future for all. ^ HONS 032837