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LY DD © oF VEN? WHAT'S IN THE MEAT THAT AMERICANS EAT? mericans are just beginning to learn exactly what goes into their beefsteak, pork spare- ribs and hamburgers. Among some of the additives fed to cattle and pigs in our mod- ern age are sewage sludge, dead cats and dogs, slaughterhouse waste, chicken manure and old fat from restaurants and grease traps. It all started coming to light when agricultural inspectors tried to trace the source of contaminat- ed hamburgers from a food plant in Columbus, Nebraska. It soon became apparent that the Columbus problem was just one example of many threats to the nation's meat supply. Chicken manure, which costs from US$15 to $45 per ton (in comparison to alfalfa at around $125 per ton), is increas- ingly being used as feed by cattle farmers across the nation. Researchers found that the following is routinely fed to the nation's cattle and pigs: agricultural waste (corn cobs, rice hulls, fruit and vegetable peelings, plus by-prod- ucts of baked goods, cereals and beer pro- duction); slaughterhouse waste (blood, bone, viscera); plus the remains of millions of euthanised cats and dogs passed on from veterinarians and animal shelters. They have also found that animal feed manufacturers have begun using dehydrat- ed food garbage, fats from restaurant fry- NCI study as positive proof that a -” risk does not exist from long-term exposure to electromagnetic fields—did not take the time to examine critically what the study had actually found. In the study (published in the New England Journal of Medicine on 3 July 1997), NCI researchers actually acknowledge, in no less than four places, a statistically sig- nificant increase in acute lym- phoblastic leukaemia (ALL) in chil- dren exposed to powerline magnetic fields in excess of three milligauss (mG). This is a confirmation of many previous studies which have shown a similar level of association between childhood leukaemia and magnetic fields from electricity. An article in The Australian (4 July 1997) mentions that the researchers dismissed as a "statistical fluke" a 24% increase in leukaemia risk for children exposed to what is termed "especially high magnetic fields". The NCI researchers were able to dis- miss this fact by arbitrarily setting a 2 mG level as a cut-off limit. The fact is that if they had used the 3 mG level as a cut-off point in their calculations, the conclusions would have been exactly the opposite— that there is a significant risk. Professor Ross Adey, one of the most respected bioelectromagnetics researchers in the US and author of numerous books and research papers on the biological effects of EMFs, made the following com- ments in response to a 4 July e-mail from the EMFacts Information Service: "A number of us worked on the NCI paper through last weekend. Sam Milham, the Washington state epidemiologist and a pioneer in this field, points out that if they had included the 3 mG level in their cutoff, the conclusions would have been exactly the opposite—that there is a significant risk, and selection of 2 mG is quite arbi- trary." (Source: Electromagnetics Forum, Volume 1, No. 3, Winter 1997) ers and grease traps, cement-kiln dust, newsprint and cardboard, cattle and pig manure, and even human sewage sludge. (Source: The Sunday Mail, Brisbane, 31 August 1997) MEDIA SPIN EXPOSED ON EM FIELD DANGERS i early July 1997, major media organisa- tions featured stories about the just- released US National Cancer Institute study, conducted by Dr Martha Linet, in which it was claimed that there was no evi- dence that powerline electromagnetic fields increase childhood leukaemia risks. It is unfortunate that reporters and so- called experts—who are now quoting the ExcuSE ME, Dod You RAPPEN ‘yo KNOW WHAT THE CHOLESTEROL RATING] 1S FoR THAT MOBILE PHONE ? ie Le Cn Bi Ep NUCLEAR WASTE PUMPED INTO LONDON'S DRINKING WATER ik recently came to light that up to 20,000 gallons of water containing tritium and other radioactive substances have been pumped into London's drinking water sup- ply every day for the past 50 years. 6 = NEXUS OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 1997