Letter: Doesn't trust food statistics

It’s good to hear from Howard Thatcher once again. He’s the fellow from Chico who would like everyone in America to become vegans – no meat of any kind in our diet. He thinks if we do this we can save the world from hunger. He states that food prices have skyrocketed in recent months, driven by rising fuel prices. I couldn’t agree more with him.

I don’t agree with his statistics that hunger afflicts one billion people, mostly women and children, and kills 24,000 people per day. I note that he does not provide any corroboration for  his statistics. He also stated that some U.S. stores are rationing food. I presume he is referring to a few stores that only allow the purchase of one 20-pound bag of rice per person per day. I don’t consider this a hardship and don’t know of any U.S. citizen who eats 20 pounds of rice per day.

I admire Mr. Thatcher’s altruism, but I believe he is living in fantasy land. He conveniently forgot the politics of the world.

Does anyone remember the recent tragedy in Myanmar (formally Burma) when a cyclone killed more than 85,000 people. Their government confiscated all the relief food and medical supplies while the people remained injured and starving.

Let’s take care of our own citizens first and after we solve all of our own problems, we can care for the rest of the world. By the way, this won’t be accomplished because we don’t eat meat.

David L. Gothrow Sr.
Arboga