February, 2000
		Get Ready for More Heart Attacks: World Bank Brings Factory Farms to China In the March-April issue of the Utne Reader, Brad Edmondson wrote of the approved $93.3 million World Bank loan to China that would be earmarked for the development of 130 cattle feedlots and five slaughterhouses. Supporters of the loan claim that it will ease the poverty of small farmers, and that there has be a rising demand for beef among the more affluent Chinese consumers. The loan, however, has its opponents, including the Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, as well as health advocates, such as Dr. T. Colin Campbell. Dr. Campbell believes that the loan would be dangerous because it would expose the Chinese, who typically have eaten a diet rich in grains and vegetables, to the foods that often lead to Western-type diseases, such as heart disease and certain cancers. Dr. Campbell, who headed the massive China Diet and Health Project, extrapolated from his data that those who ate a low-fat, primarily plant-based diet had a much lower incidence of the diseases that plague the affluent. Those who lived in more wealthy regions of China, however, consumed more animal products and thus had higher rates of cancer and heart disease. The World Bank loan is also unpopular among anti-globalization activists, who see the loan as a way to further put a Western stamp on the rest of the world, regardless of custom or the country in question's best interest. An interesting point made in the article was that in 1900, approximately 40 percent of deaths in the United States were caused by infectious disease, such as typhoid and pneumonia, while only 16 percent of fatalities were caused by cancer, stroke, or heart disease. By 1973, however, infectious diseases caused just 6 percent of deaths in the United States, while the three "diseases of affluence" had shot up to 58 percent. Health advocates such as Dr. Campbell believe that if China continues to live in a manner that mimics Western habits, the Chinese will begin to die of the same diseases: the diseases of affluence. ©1998-2000 Vegan Street