jcp@osiris.UUCP (Jody Patilla) (02/18/86)
Yes, geese and ducks are slaughtered and *then* plucked. To pluck
a living bird would be pretty useless as they would be left featherless
then (unless they were molting and feathers were growing in anyway). As has
been noted, most of the down now available comes from China. If you are buying
a down product, look for "white goose down", as anything else will probably
have coarser duck down and feathers in it. (These terms all being controlled
by law)
On a different topic, the problem of cholesterol is significantly
less for vegetarians and mostly-veggie eaters, not only because you eat
less or no meat, but because the grains and legumes eaten instead push up
your HDL (high density lipids) count which lowers the LDL (bad) in the blood.
Remember that *solid* fats, such as coconut oil, and hydrogenated fats (like
Crisco) are saturated and thus bad for you. Corn, safflower and sunflower
oils are good for you (polyunsaturated) and peanut and olive oils don't hurt
or help one way or the other (mono-unsaturated).
--
jcpatilla
..{seismo,allegra}!umcp-cs!aplcen!osiris!jcp
"Not faint canaries but ambrosia.."
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