Imagine yourself in ignorant bliss, sinking your teeth into a medium rare steak. It’s delicious, the juices dribbling down your chin, the smoky flavor satisfying your hunger. Now imagine sinking your teeth into a steak infested with Mad Cow disease.In his book called Mad Cowboy, Howard F. Lyman, an ex cattle rancher, makes it clear that Mad Cow disease is spreading in this country.

With his insider expertise, Lyman explains what we are really eating when we eat meat: high doses of pesticides, growth hormones, and most astonishing, ground-up remains of other animals.

Lyman says that there are two things wrong with meat: “what we know for sure is in it, and all the other stuff that might be in it.”

Apparently, beef used to be fed rendered parts of other cattle, sheep, or goats, which is what caused the Mad Cow disease outbreak in Europe. But because of a new FDA regulation that banned feeding ruminant protein, cows no longer feed on “solid parts” of other animals. Instead they feed on “ground up parts of dead horses, dogs, cats, pigs, chickens, and turkeys, as well as blood and fecal material of their own species and that of chickens.” How appetizing is the idea of eating cows who have become cannibals and who eat poop? How hungry are you to eat a piece of meat that could end up killing you in 15-40 years?

It’s not just cows that are being fed an awful diet. Lyman reports that chickens and fish are also fed unhealthy substances.

In fact, chicken accounts for many cases of food poisoning in America. “Contaminated chicken still manages to kill at least 1,000 Americans a year, and estimates of how many they sicken range as high as 80 million.”

Because of high chemical contents in both fresh water and salt water, fish, who absorb these chemicals into their flesh, are very dangerous to consume. “The Consumer Reports study found PCB’s in 43% of salmon and 25% of swordfish. Catfish had significant levels of DDT, clams had high levels of lead, and 90 % of swordfish contained mercury.”

Lyman also points out how inefficient eating cattle is, especially with the world population growing so quickly. “As our population increases,” he said, “we will basically face the choice of whether to continue feeding our corn, wheat, barley, oats, and soybeans to animals, while letting untold millions go hungry.” It’s astonishing how many people would not starve if people ate less meat: “It takes 16 pounds of grain to create one pound of beef. If a subsistence daily ration of grain is about a half pound, then the same amount of grain needed to produce one pound of meat could feed 32 people.”

Howard F. Lyman is not only a powerful writer, he is also an excellent speaker. He came to Guilford last month to explain first-hand the dangers associated with eating meat and the propaganda of our government and of the meat and dairy industries. Lyman’s book is an easy summer read that could save your life.