The life expectancy of National Football League players might have as much to do with teaching art as the factory farming fired middle school teacher Dave Warwak is accused of teaching.
But it formed the backbone of Cornell University Professor Emeritus Dr. T. Colin Campbell's testimony at the Board of Education hearing into the middle school teacher's dismissal in Fox River Grove, IL, population 5,000, in April.
NFL players are only expected to live to 56 because "they are dying of cancer, heart disease, diabetes and diet related illnesses," testified Campbell in defense of Warwak's classroom charge that animal foods will shorten lives.
Campbell, Professor Emeritus of Nutritional Biochemistry, is author, with son Thomas M. Campbell II, of the 2005 nutrition bestseller, The China Study, which links premature death and many diseases to diet and was called the "Grand Prix of Epidemiology" by the New York Times.
After reading The China Study, the Kansas City Chiefs' Tony Gonzalez dropped animal products from his diet. testified Campbell, and "this past season he broke the all-time record for the most catches, the most touchdown passes and the most yards gained of any NFL tight end in the history of the National Football League."
The China Study also converted Minnesota Twins pitcher Pat Neshek to an animal free diet says a June ESPN report which also cites vegan diets of Detroit Lion Desmond Howard, Miami Dolphin Ricky Williams, former St. Louis Ram D'Marco Farr, Milwaukee Brewer Prince Fielder and Atlanta Hawk Salim Stoudamire.
Forty-five year old middle school art teacher Dave Warwak was dismissed last fall from the District 3 school system where he had taught for eight years for, "turning his classroom into a forum on veganism," abandoning the art curriculum and asking students to keep it a secret from their parents according to school board documents.
What began as a simple be-kind-to-animals project approved by administrators who even participated--marshmallow Easter "Peeps" were made into "pets" to be cared for--got out of hand when Warwak put the "pets" in cages, pots and pans and between slices of bread.
"The problem was when it turned into a PETA advertisement and it was against the school lunch program," testified Fox River Grove Middle School Principal Tim Mahaffy at the Illinois Board of Education's three day closed hearings into Warwak's dismissal conducted at the Fox River Grove City Hall in April.
Despite hearing officer Barry Simon's repeated admonishments that the case was not about whether veganism, "is right or wrong or good or bad," feeding children animal products was the 300 pound Peep in the room as Warwak, acting pro se, questioned Mahaffy.
Q: Would you say the school lunch goes against humane education?
A: I disagree. I don't see the connection.
Q: The humane education says be nice to all things; the school lunch says, well, not animals?
Robert E. Riley (counsel for District 3): Objection. Arguing with the witness.
Q: Does the school promote meat and dairy one-sided or do they allow other viewpoints on it?
Kucinich almost died at an early age from Crohn's Disease. He was given last rites. But today, if you are near him, you will see this 60+ man with the clearest skin and the almost perfect eyes who can glow without any kind of artificial anything. He is a vegan, he keeps to that diet and so does his wife. While some may not agree with his politics, though, I am not sure why, his vegan diet has kept him healthy and alive after a very rough growing up period that was filled with the worst diet imaginable.
by
Deborah Emin (15 articles, 1 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 62 comments)
on Tuesday, June 24, 2008 at 12:15:59 PM
The amount of poisons that our meat and dairy products contain is astronomical, only one of which is the genetically engineered Bovine Growth Hormone. It is quite possible that the reason illnesses are on the rise is due to the poisons and not to the actual products such as milk. Raw milk, if handled properly, is healthy. Pasteurized milk from poisoned cows is deadly.
by
Barbara Peterson (46 articles, 80 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 416 comments)
on Tuesday, June 24, 2008 at 2:29:47 PM
2 comments
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