Edifying Facts

Human population of United States: 243,000,000

Number of human beings who could be fed by the grain and soybeans eaten by U.S. livestock: 1,300,000,000

Percentage of protein wasted by cycling grain through livestock: 90

Pounds of grain and soybeans needed to produce 1 pound of feedlot beef: 16

Number of children who starve to death every day: 40,000

Number of pure vegetarians who can be fed on land needed to feed 1 meat-eating person: 20

Number of people who will starve to death this year: 60,000,000

Number of people who could be adequately fed by the grain saved if Americans reduced their intake of meat by 10%: 60,000,000

User of more than half of all water used for all purposes in the United States: Livestock production

Water needed to produce 1 pound of wheat: 25 gallons

Cost of hamburger if water used by meat industry was not subsidized by U.S. Taxpayers: $35/pound

Nær of U.S. medical schools: 125

Number of U.S. medical schools with a required course in nutrition: 30

Training in nutrition received by average U.S. physician during 4 years of medical school: 2.5 hours

How frequently a heart attack strikes in U.S.: every 25 seconds

How frequently a heart attack kills in U.S.: every 45 seconds

Most common cause of death in U.S.: Heart attack

Risk of death from heart attack by average American man: 50%

Risk of death from heart attack by average American pure vegetarian man: 4%

Amount you reduce heart attack risk by reducing consumption of meat, dairy products and eggs 50%: 45%

Amount you reduce heart attack risk by reducing consumption of meat, dairy products nd eggs 100%: 90%

Rise in blood cholesterol from consuming 1 egg per day: 12%

Rise in heart attack risk from 12% rise in blood cholesterol: 24%

Hollywood celebrity paid by Meat Board to tout beef as "Real food for real people": James Garner

Medical event experienced by James Garner in April 1988: Quintuple coronary artery bypass surgery

Pesticide residues in the U.S. diet supplied by meat: 55%

Pesticide residues in the U.S. diet supplied by dairy products: 23%

Pesticide residues in U.S. diet supplied by vegetables, fruits, and grains: 11%

Percentage of U.S. mother's milk containing significant levels of DDT: 99%

Percentage of chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticide residues in American diet attributable to meats, dairy products, fish and eggs: 94%

Percentage of total antibiotics used in U.S. fed routinely to livestock: 55

Percentage of staphylococci infections resistant to penicillin in 1960: 13

Percentage of staphylococci infections resistant to penicillin in 1988: 91

Response by European Economic Community to routine feeding of antibiotics to livestock: Ban

Response by American meat and pharmaceutical industries to routine feeding of antibiotics to livestock: Full and complete support

Facts excerpted from Diet for a New America (1987). Copyright 1987 by John Robbins, Stillpoint Publishing, Walpole, NH $10.95

Copyright © 1996. The Light Party.