On Dec 18, 2018, at 8:58 PM, John Lute <johnlut...@gmail.com<mailto:johnlut...@gmail.com>> wrote: Hi Marty, Are there any specific toxins that have you are concerned? From a food microbiology viewpoint, commercial beef suet for birds should be no cause for alarm in regards to toxins. I guess if the temperature gets too hot and the suet turns rancid, you could have a concern; but in that case, birds are smart enough to shun it. Happy holidays, John Lute p.s. I would have responded to the list-serve but I am not 100% sure about the correct procedures.
Hi John, and others on the list: Yes. I’m not a microbiologist, but when I see things like the following, I wonder how much effect the pesticide and herbicide and biocide components in cow have on the formation of kidney and loin fat that we put in suet containers. I imagine that hatever is there must have a greater effect on their small bodies than it does on human bodies. Marty From <https://medium.com/center-for-biological-diversity> (slightly condensed) Cows, pigs, chickens and sheep can all be directly dosed with pesticides to prevent pest infestation in the overcrowded and unsanitary conditions that exist on factory farms. But perhaps more important is the extent to which animals are exposed to crop pesticides through their food. Pesticide residues are found in meat and animal byproducts, including, disturbingly, long-banned pesticides<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2898856/> like DDT. These pesticides mostly come from the food that animals eat and end up getting stored in their fat, accumulating over time. Unfortunately government agencies charged with ensuring the safety of our food are not taking adequate action. The Office of Inspector General found<http://www.usda.gov/oig/webdocs/24601-08-KC.pdf> that the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Environmental Protection Agency and Food and Drug Administration did not do enough to protect the public from pesticides, veterinary drugs and heavy metals in meat… Environmental Working Group estimates that a whopping 167 million pounds of pesticides<http://www.ewg.org/meateatersguide/a-meat-eaters-guide-to-climate-change-health-what-you-eat-matters/climate-and-environmental-impacts/> are used each year just to grow food for animals in the United States. For glyphosate, the most commonly used pesticide in the world, residues<http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=2c85909360c7c5aff63ddd1447545d6a&mc=true&node=se40.24.180_1364&rgn=div8> allowed in animal feed can be more than 100 times that allowed on grains consumed directly by humans, and the amount of glyphosate allowed<http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=2c85909360c7c5aff63ddd1447545d6a&mc=true&node=se40.24.180_1364&rgn=div8> in red meat is more than 20 times that for most plant crops. So we are essentially dousing animal food, typically genetically engineered corn and soy, with so much pesticide that the animals feeding on it can have higher levels in their tissue — what ultimately becomes a burger or steak — than plants grown for your supermarket produce department…. -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
