Beautiful People & Wonderful Events

Mr. Lyman is a fourth-generation family farmer with over 35 years of personal experience. His farming experience includes: working in a large organic dairy farm, owning a large factory feedlot, raising chickens, pigs and turkeys, farming thousands of acres of grain; and raising a herd of over one thousand commercial beef cows.

His story begins in 1979 when he became paralyzed from the waist down due to a tumor on his spinal cord. The doctors predicted, that since the tumor was located inside his spinal cord, an operation would give him one chance in a million of ever walking again. He made a promise to himself the night before the operation that no matter what the outcome of the surgery, he would dedicate the remainder of his life to doing what he believed was right.

After a 12 hour operation, the doctors removed the tumor. He made a successful recovery and a few days later, walked out of the hospital. It was this experience which changed his life. He believes that the reason he is able to walk today is that God has a mission for him to accomplish.

After this experience, Mr. Lyman reflected on how, following all the modern advice, he had converted his small organic family farm into a large corporate chemical farm. He had witnessed his organic soil change from a living productive base to a sterile, chemically saturated plot as a result of the so-called modern methods of farming. He also began to perceive the inhumane way animals are raised in factory feedlots.

So he decided to re-educate himself on the effects of chemical farming. After much reading and studying, in 1983 he sold his farm and began working with other farmers who were in financial trouble; this lead to a position with the Montana Farmers Union. In 1987, Mr. Lyman moved to Washington, DC, to serve as a lobbyist for the National Farmers Union. He spent five years in politics on Capital Hill and had some small successes such as the enacting of the National Organic Standards Act, but realized that much more was required. He became convinced that the needed changes had to come from the producers and consumers at the grassroots level.

Commenting on the root cause of our health and environmental problems, Mr. Lyman said, "Whether it's the loss of the rain forests, world hunger, loss of top soil or our own health, they are all part of a wheel and the fork with which we eat is the axle. Our fork is the most dangerous weapon in the arsenal of Homo sapiens. We're digging more graves more with our forks than with any other tool."

In 1992, Mr. Lyman, as the Executive Director of the "International Beyond Beef Campaign" organized a massive public education campaign. More than 10,000 people distributed over 1,000,000 pieces of information in one day at over 3,000 separate locations around the world. The objective was to educate consumers about their food choices and the benefits of a vegetarian diet. He went on to become the Director of the "Eating With Conscience Campaign" for the Humane Society of the United States and the President of the International Vegetarian Union.

In these roles, during the past five years, he traveled more than 200,000 miles annually and in 1996 alone, spoke on over 4,000 radio stations and 300 television stations, and gave over 1000 interviews. He has spoken to thousands of groups ranging in size from small audiences to an assembly exceeding 25,000 people at the Earth Day Celebration in Oakland, California.

He talks to people about changing their diet from an animal base to a vegetable one, emphasizing that they can live longer and healthier by eating with conscience. He encourages everyone to ask: Who produced my food? What did they use on it? What is it doing to me, the environment and the animals? He commented, "My life is dedicated to sharing the belief that each one of us can make the world a better place and if there is to be a bright future for our children and grandchildren, it will come from consumer support of producers who work in concert with nature -- organically, sustainably and humanely."

When asked about Mad Cow disease, Mr. Lyman said that it is believed to be caused by an abnormal protein called a prion that was first recognized in Britain in 1986. He reported that this protein can survive 340 degrees centigrade; has no DNA or RNA; can be buried in the soil and still be infectious. Furthermore, if it is placed in the strongest disinfectant, it will survive for five years and emerge more vigorous than when it went in. Prions are thought to multiply by setting off chain reactions in the brain that damage healthy cellular proteins, thereby converting normal proteins into abnormal ones.

The disease is believed to be transmitted by the cost-saving practice of recycling the remains of slaughtered animals into a protein residue and feeding it to cows. Because some of the slaughtered animals are diseased, the agent that causes the disease, which is not easily detected or destroyed, can end up in animal feed. Mr. Lyman said that the estimated number of human cases of the equivalent form of the disease in England is about 100 and that in a few years that number could increase from 5000 to over 1 million. He went on to say that even though the US government claims that there are no confirmed cases in the US, he believes there are indicators to question the veracity of this statement.

Mr. Lyman noted that half of all Americans are dying today from heart disease and the main contributing factor is saturated fat, obtained mostly from animal products; and cholesterol, which only comes from animal products. One of every three Americans today will acquire cancer and one of four will die from it. Of all the carcinogens and toxins that go into the human body, 75% are from animal products while only 16% are from vegetable products. He explained that 91% of all carcinogens and toxins that cause cancer can be removed by doing two things: removing animal products from the diet and eating organic vegetables. He went on to say, "The thing that I am most proud of today is that no animal has to die for me to live a long, healthy and productive life. If I have the ability to live without the need for any animal to die, then why put my hands in the blood of another living being who has feelings just like humans and enjoys life probably as much as I do. This is a win-win situation. I live longer by not eating them, they live longer by me not eating them, and everyone who picks up their fork should be concerned with this situation."