Zero Draft

As I've mentioned before, I am writing a research paper about growth-hormones in meat. That being said, as an assignment I have to write a zero draft, which is pretty much a free write about my topic, as a blog post.

Here it goes!

It is a common practice among cattle factories to inject their meats with steroids and hormones to increase their functionality. These hormones can be detrimental to the health of consumers. There have been studies that show that consuming meat with growth-hormones and steroids while pregnant with a male can decrease their sperm count. Along with this, my friend had to become a vegetarian because the hormones in meat made her anxiety go crazy - doctors orders. Along with this, the European Union banned hormone injected meat in the 80s because they realized the health risks, whereas the United States just kept injecting their meat with more hormones. Usually, chickens take three months (90 days) to become fully grown, but with extra hormones and steroids, it only takes a month and a half (45 days). The chicken who is given hormones is full of meat, but cannot stand on it's own because it's just genetically modified. Is this how we want our animals being treated? Wouldn't you feel more comfortable if the meat that you ate came from a nice farm where the cows roamed freely until their time, not where they spend their whole lives boxed in a cage. I recently saw a video of cattle being freed from a factory farm and going outside for the first time. They literally were jumping for joy.

The FDA says that the hormones used to boost the functions of cattle are safe and have no bad side affects on consumers, however, there is much evidence to prove otherwise. Countries in the European Union cut out growth-hormones in the 80s and they have proven to be healthier than the United States. There also hasn't been much research on the subject, but when the FDA first approved growth-hormones for meat in the 80s is also the same time where obesity rates began skyrocketing. There has got to be some sort of connection.

Meat was edible for centuries before we started messing with it. It's much healthier naturally and I think that we shouldn't take away from that. America as a whole was much healthier before we started genetically modifying everything, including animals. It's understandable on crops because we wouldn't be able to sustain ourselves organically, however, on animals it's just cruel. There are many farms that still treat their animals with kindness and humanity before slaughtering them for meat. We have to find a solution, which is what I will hopefully do by the last draft of this paper, to this issue. There must be a better way to have enough meat.

Sorry it's so short. I'm pretty sick and the doctor's think it's strep (I'll find out tomorrow), so they told me to rest!