Toxic Gumbo

This happened to be a random graphic novel I read way back in the day. I like gumbo, though haven't had any that would answer the description of toxic. What made me think of it was a book I've been reading lately, Toxin by Robin Cook. It deals with E. Coli bacteria coming from meat, which apparently is a problem. I've heard scare stories from the slaughterhouse, how things are unsanitary, and how bacteria and all kinds of bad juju like that gets into meat. Partly this is caused by rendering, wherein animal parts not generally edible by humans are turned into food for animals or fertilizer. Okay, fertilizer makes a good deal of sense- food seems like a bad idea though. There's a chance of recycling any bacteria through the animals, thus producing a higher chance of illness. And of course, there's all kinds of horror stories about the conditions meat is cut and packaged in- whether or not they're true, I don't know, but will have to find out. Personally, I'd like to think the animals don't suffer much- just a quick shot to the back of the head will sever an animal's spinal cord- death would be instant and painless. But like so many things in a free market, profit becomes god-like, and people are willing to sacrifice anything and everything for it.

Case in point, there's also another toxic gumbo out there- Lake Ponchartrain, in Louisiana. After the levees broke, there was a concern that the lake would be polluted, yet one more casualty of Hurricane Katrina. But the point here is, there's too much thought of profit and not enough of the human and ecological cost of the things we do. And it doesn't make sense, in a capitalist system- it should be self-sustaining, thus increasing the potential to continue on- dead men don't drink Coke, as far as I know. However, people seem to rarely act in their own best interest- I've long thought that Dante got it wrong- the lowest level of Hell should be reserved for lobbyists, people who buy influence against the people our elected leaders claim to represent. Just one more tragic example of what happens when we put profit before people.