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But What About Those Lamb Chops?

by Selina Bendix

‘Science for the People’ Vol. 3, No. 5, November 1971, p. 23

The following item also appears in the July, 1971 issue of Freedom News.

Once again the profit seekers are proceeding without regard for chemical pollution and the health of man. The chemical that is being proposed to make it cheap to get the fleece off of sheep is supposed to be safe: “So far there is no evidence that the chemical hurts the meat of the animal if it is to be slaughtered,” says an AP dispatch in the June 19, 1971, San Francisco Chronicle.

This “harmless” chemical is cyclophosphamide, a potent drug that is used to treat leukemia because it destroys lymphatic and blood forming tissues in the body. Common side effects of therapy with cyclophosphamide are: loss of hair, vomiting and anemia. The drug belongs to a family of drugs, called alkylating agents, which are known to cause mutations. Wouldn’t you like some cyclophosphamide in your lamb chops so that your wool coat can be more profitable for someone else?

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