One of the worst examples is antibiotic resistance. When antibiotics were discovered, bacteriologists seem to have completely ignored evolution. They thought that antibiotics would always work, and they are still often prescribed with reckless abandon for conditions they are useless for--like the common cold--instead of saving them for when they are really needed. Some even declared victory over infectious diseases, and claimed they would soon be gone forever.

Now antibiotic resistance is becoming commonplace. Some microbes are immune to most or all antibiotics already, and their numbers are increasing. Yet, not only are people still abusing them, but factory farmers are also feeding antibiotics to livestock every day to prevent illness and death from cruel, overcrowded conditions. When the livestock are fed to us, more genes for antibiotic resistance can easily jump from one totally different bacterium to another within the body.

If this isn't bad enough, managed care insurance in America has created a situation where doctors must see far too many patients every day to stay in business. They don't have much time to spend with them or think about their cases. They are overwhelmed, overworked, and exhausted.

In addition, although they are mostly honest and well meaning themselves, they can not possibly keep up with the latest advances.(A physician could read new medical journals eighteen hours a day instead of seeing patients and still not keep up with everything.)

They also are often misled by drug companies, and other organizations that do not have patients' best interests in mind. For example, I once had a physician recommend Neurontin for pain. Later, I discovered that the FDA sent a warning letter to Pfizer, the company that makes Neurontin, for promoting unproven new uses(It was only approved to treat seizures.) of that drug to doctors, resulting in increased sales, and that there is also a lawsuit. (For more information see the following articles from Public Citizen and the San Francisco Chronicle.)

What is the obesity myth this book exposes?

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It's the idea that bodyfat is unhealthy.

That's right. Your eyes are not deceiving you. Bodyfat is not bad. The myth that it is has been repeated so often that it seems obvious, but it is actually...read more.

Humans have been HUNTER GATHERERS for most of our history. We have evolved to be healthy and happy when following that lifestyle. (See the section about Daniel Quinn for more information.) Farming is a relatively new development--10,000 years or less is only a small fraction of hominid history. Farming can support larger, settled populations, but farmers tend to have poorer health.

Although farming can produce a higher yield of food per acre of land, its nutritional quality is poorer. Farmers are also more likely to starve as a result of crop failures. This is because they depend on larger quantities of fewer types of food. The most famous example was the Irish potato famine.

One way poor nutrition can be identified is by examining people's skeletons. Historically, the skeletons of individuals from farming communities tend to be smaller, show more signs of starvation, smaller jaws and poorer teeth, more disease, etc. (When the Spanish invaded what is now Florida, the average Spanish man was about five feet tall. The Native Americans of that region were primarily hunter gatherers who were over six feet on average. They seemed like giants to the Spanish.)

The problem is that evolution is much slower than technological change. We live in the information age, but our bodies are still the bodies of hunter gatherers.

Eating animal products is NOT bad for the environment. Not all lands are arable. (You can't raise crops there sustainably.) When humans dig the ground in these areas, it causes erosion and creates deserts. Even lands that are arable have occasional slopes and hills. Disturbing the soil there causes erosion, too. Fields need to be rotated and lie fallow(no crops) periodically to keep their fertility.

Livestock can graze these areas. They can make food for humans from plants we can not eat. Their manure provides fertilizer (It's much better than the synthetic kind, which acts like unhealthy fast food for plants. Then it runs off and pollutes the water.) and even fuel. Animals are a normal part of the earth's ecosystem and can not be safely excluded from the farm, either. (See also Myths of Vegetarianism by Stephen Byrnes--includes more about environmental & health dangers of vegetarianism.)

The real environmental threats are factory farming and transportation of food over long distances:

Large, factory farms spray pesticides on crops, use artificial fertilizers, destroy topsoil, deplete water aquifers, etc. (See They Hailed It As A Wonder Food: Soya Not Only Destroys Forests and Small Farmers - It Can Also Be Bad For Your Health by Anthony Barnett from the British newspaper, The Observer.) Factory farms also confine animals in small areas where they never see the sun. They create mountains of manure: mountains that become pollution instead of fertilizer, because there is so much to dispose of. When you confine animals in small spaces that also spreads disease. Factory farms couldn't function without large amounts of antibiotics (See antibiotic resistance.) given to prevent infection.

In addition, the fresh fruits and vegetables sold out of season in supermarkets travel long distances from far away places. This uses up an incredible amount of fossil fuel. The calories of energy needed to transport that lettuce far exceed the calories in a steak.(Of course, most meat is transported long distances, too.)The best answer is to eat locally grown, humanely raised and pastured organic vegetables and animal products from family farms.

Even if we all stopped eating animal products tomorrow, (although this would be unhealthy) and freed every domestic animal, it wouldn't actually help them:

(This is why many older breeds that are not suitable for factory farming are endangered.)

(All herbivores have and need predators. For example, deer without wolves or other predators overpopulate. Then they either starve to death in the winter, or end up as nuisances in suburban backyards. There are more deer in the U.S. now than in colonial times. I doubt it would make much difference to domestic animals whether they were killed and eaten by humans or wolves. They just need to be well treated and happy while alive--remember we all have to die from something.)

We simply have to learn to accept, as our ancestors did, that we must kill animals and plants to live, as we ourselves will eventually die and feed other creatures. (Indigenous peoples like Native Americans consider hunting to be part of a sacred ritual. They believe they must show proper respect to the spirit of the animal they have hunted and killed. If they don't, it will not allow them to catch it again in its next life, and they will starve.) Even if you are not hunted and killed by a predator, and this includes microbes, your body still decomposes after death. It fertilizes plants that will become food for a new generation of animals.(See The Ethics of Eating Meat: A Radical View by Charles Eisenstein.)