Source:  Ann Bagel Storck, MEATINGPLACE.COM, 11/3/09

A new nonfiction book by novelist Jonathan Safran Foer — "Eating Animals," published Nov. 2 — addresses industrial agriculture from a number of perspectives: animal welfare, the environment, the price paid by rural communities and economic costs.

In an opinion piece on CNN.com, Safran Foer blamed many cases of "stomach flu" in humans on food-borne illness spurred by what he called "factory farming." He wrote that these victims "didn't 'catch a bug' so much as eat a bug. And in all likelihood, that bug was created by factory farming."

Safran Foer contended, "Although there are many respectable ways to think about meat, there is not a person on Earth whose best instincts would lead him or her to factory farming."

He also detailed his views on the growth of antimicrobial-resistant pathogens and how he believes industrial agriculture and the pharmaceutical industry are exerting their power over public health professionals.

"When we eat factory-farmed meat, we live on tortured flesh," he wrote. "Increasingly, those sick animals are making us sick."

To read the full opinion piece, click here.

For more stories, go to www.meatingplace.com.