MAD
COWBOY:
Plain
Truth from the Cattle Rancher Who Won't Eat Meat
The
best-selling book by Howard F. Lyman (with Glen Merzer)
In
the tradition of Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" and
Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring," an alarming exposé
about the beef industry that could change the way you eat forever...
Howard
F. Lyman has brought the issue of the dangers of eating beef to
light like never before. A former cattle rancher-turned-vegetarian
and food safety activist, in 1996, Lyman revealed, to a national
television audience, how the cattle industry potentially exposed
Americans to Mad Cow Disease
by feeding cows the remains of live animals - including other
cows. As a result of his remarks, Lyman was named a co-defendant
with Oprah Winfrey in the infamous "veggie
libel" case brought by Texas ranchers in Amarillo.
In
this shocking and powerful book, Lyman uncovers the dangerous
and potentially deadly practices of the cattle and dairy industry.
MAD COWBOY is a passionate manifesto for change from an industry
insider whose firsthand experiences will alter the way you think
about your food, and the people who produce it, forever. "Sure,
I used to enjoy my steaks as much as the next guy," writes Lyman.
"But if you knew what I know about what goes into them and what
they can do to you, you'd probably be a vegetarian like me."
A
fourth generation dairy farmer and cattle rancher, Lyman became
enamored of the "bold new age of chemically enhanced agriculture"
as a student in agricultural college. Spurning the organic farming
methods of his father and grandfather, he became a convert to
modern chemical farming techniques: he fed his cows with hormones
and antibiotics, and blanketed his farm with pesticides and herbicides.
With his mind relentlessly focused on profits, he refused to acknowledge
the harmful effects that this steady stream of chemicals might
pose for the environment and for consumers who would later ingest
these chemicals as meat. Admitting that at the time he "never
met a chemical he didn't like, " Lyman says that he, like other
dairy and cattle farmers, poisoned his animals and polluted his
farms.
FOR
EXAMPLE:
Cattle
ranchers turned cows into cannibals. Until August 1997,
cattle were routinely fed the remains of other cows. The Department
of Agriculture and the FDA banned the practice, fearing the
spread of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, better known as
Mad Cow Disease. But it remains legal to feed cows "rendered"
-- dead and ground up -- parts of certain animals, including
the blood of other cows, despite the fact that this practice
may allow deadly illnesses to enter the food chain. In 1995,
five million tons of processed slaughterhouse leftovers were
sold for animal feed.
In
an effort to prevent disease, Lyman, like other ranchers, fed
his cows antibiotics even before they became ill. Soon,
Lyman was on an "antibiotic treadmill" constantly changing drugs
as the cows became resistant to them, and even using antibiotics
after they were banned because of the dangers they posed to
human health. Every day, Lyman sprayed his feedlot with insecticides
which would then fall into the cattle's food and water -- and
eventually become part of someone's dinner. Ranchers relentlessly
used growth hormones, particularly DES, which they stockpiled
when it was banned.
To
increase their profits, ranchers also routinely fed growth hormones
to cattle within two weeks of their slaughter, despite a
government ban on the practice. Dairy ranchers continue to use
recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH) to enhance milk production,
despite the fact that this chemical -- which has been implicated
in causing cancer and other diseases -- shows up in milk.
In
1989, the discovery of a rare spinal tumor led Lyman to examine
his life. In MAD COWBOY, he tells the moving story of his
own personal transformation, and how he became a crusader for
organic farming and more conscious eating habits. Lyman describes
the devastating effects that modern feed lot operations are
having - and will continue to have - on the environment, and
also outlines the profound health benefits that switching to
a vegetarian diet offers, including reducing the risk of cancer,
heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. After adopting a vegetarian
diet, Lyman himself lost 130 pounds and lowered his cholesterol
by more than 150 points.
"...I
felt better knowing that there was one answer to many of the different
ills afflicting both ourselves and our environment. Everything
revolved around the fork." (MAD
COWBOY, p. 81)
MAD
COWBOY is an honestly written, urgent wake-up call to America,
a heartfelt plea for all consumers to take a closer look at the
food they eat, and how it is grown.
ABOUT
THE AUTHOR:
Howard
F. Lyman is a fourth-generation family farmer from Montana. After
20 years of operating a feed lot, he sold his ranch and started
working for farmers in financial trouble. He was a lobbyist in
Washington, and ran for Congress in 1982.
He
is the former Director of the "Beyond Beef Campaign"
& the Humane Society of the United
States' "Eating With Conscience" Campaign; past President
of both the International Vegetarian
Union, and EarthSave International;
and is currently President of Voice
for a Viable Future.
Howard
travels over 100,000 miles every year as a speaker and lecturer.
A Feature Documentary on his
life is now in post-production. He lives in Alexandria, Virginia,
with his wife Willow Jeane, and his cat, Ceasar.
Glen
Merzer, playwright, screenwriter, and vegetarian, lives in Santa
Monica, California.
