Cattle Byproducts in the Medicine World
In a country that boasts so highly of knowledge and power, we are vastly underestimating and misunderstanding one of the most crucial assets this country has: cattle.
After centuries of letting beef be the base of our diets and using cattle in many day-to-day necessities, this country is now fighting to eliminate them without even realizing the many benefits we all take advantage of in our day to day lives. With no exception, the medical world is full of by-products from cattle, many essential to the health, wellbeing, and literal survival of many Americans and people around the globe.
First, know that there are primary products of an animal, which is anything like beef, milk, eggs, leather, etc. Then, there are secondary products, or “by-products,” that are anything created by humans with the use of “leftover” parts of the animal, such as tennis rackets, shampoos, and toilet paper (yes, your toilet paper was made with the help of a cow!). Cattle are not only beneficial and crucial for a healthy, well-balanced diet through their primary products like beef, their by-products are just as vital.
If you were to open your medicine cabinet and find vitamins, you can thank a cow! Do you have bad cartilage and need glucosamine supplements? Thank a cow! Have you been low on iron lately? Use various ointments and bandages? Do you rely on allergy medicine to make it through a beautiful spring day? Thank a cow, and the rancher who helped raise it!
Move beyond the traditional medicine cabinet to things like prolactin to promote lactation in nursing mothers. Even collagen, lip fillers and many other plastic surgery materials come from cattle. According to Beef Magazine, one cow can help produce 100 individual drugs. Heart valves, surgical sutures, dental fillings, and even bone screws are byproducts of cattle! Cartilage for those with osteoporosis comes from a cow. Even some of the first insulin treatments were created through cattle insulin in 1922. Humans could take the insulin from cows already being processed for meat and could get way more than from a dog or a pig. Although it’s not as commonly used today, it’s important to note that many people have claimed they never felt sick, or suffered unwanted side effects when they received insulin from cattle but have been reported to do so after receiving human insulin.
Cattle were one of the first species to be domesticated as early as 10,500 years ago! Cattle have almost always been one of our greatest resources for food, clothing, tools, shelters, and load bearers. Cattle have kept up mankind’s health and the literal survival of many throughout the history of the world! They are a natural product that have produced countless necessities in helping the human world.
Keep in mind that all these incredible byproducts will not be possible to be created from fake meat in a lab. And the crazy amount of resources we need to build just to replace cattle byproducts would be expensive and have little to no benefits for the environment. Cattle are a part of our natural resources and we must remember how crucial cattle are to our everyday lives. They cannot be replaced with the resources or technology that we have at our fingertips. For the last 10,000 years Nature has known exactly how to provide, and we’d be better off to remember that.