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1.
DISEASE: WHO HEAD IMPLICATES POULTRY PRODUCTION
Intensive farming, a burgeoning human
population, and changes in sexual behavior have created
an incubator for new diseases, according to a World
Health Organization (WHO) report. Diseases are emerging
at an historically unprecedented rate of one per year
and are increasingly spread from animals, WHO Director-General
Dr Margaret Chan said at the debut of the organization’s
World Health Report 2007. This includes the majority
of the 40 new pathogens identified since 1967. Chan
said intensive poultry farming may account for the
global spread of bird flu. She called for poultry
farming to be reexamined, stating: "The intensity
of poultry farming is such that we really need to
look at how the human animal interface is managed.”
It has recently been confirmed that avian influenza
can be transmitted from human to human, increasing
fears of a human pandemic. See: http://tinyurl.com/274jew
POULTRY FARMING MUST BE RE-EXAMINED:
WHO - SUMMARY
Earth Times, DPA, August 23, 2007
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/97274.html#
WHO TIES RISING POPULATION, NEW DISEASES
Associated Press, Erica Bulman, August 23, 2007
http://tinyurl.com/34cvgk
2.
MEAT-EATING ENVIRONMENTALISTS?
“…[T]he most inconvenient
truth of all is that raising animals for meat contributes
more to global warming than all the sport utility
vehicles [SUV] combined.” This is the contention
of animal rights activists, according to a New York
Times article about how the activists are taking former
U.S. Vice-President Al Gore, star of the global warming
documentary “An Inconvenient Truth,” and
environmental groups to task for not pointing out
the contribution of meat production to global warming.
The SUV point is based on a report by the United Nations’
Food and Agriculture Organization which stated that
animal agriculture produces more greenhouse gas than
do all forms of transportation combined (see: http://tinyurl.com/26atm7
). People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)
says it has written to more than 700 environmental
groups urging them to promote vegetarianism. The organization
is threatening to send a Hummer with a banner noting
the meat/global warming connection to the groups’
headquarters “if they don’t start shaping
up.” PETA also plans to send trucks with billboards
to Gore lectures. The Humane Society of the U.S. is
running ads in environmental magazines making the
car/meat point, while Vegan Outreach is taking out
blog ads about it. “You just cannot be a meat-eating
environmentalist,” said PETA’s Mr. Prescott.
Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club,
responds: “We’ll encourage companies to
make more efficient S.U.V.’s, and we’ll
encourage consumers to buy them…but we do not
find lecturing people about personal consumption choices
to be effective.” While Environmental Defense
agrees about eating less meat, it says it would rather
spend its resources working legislatively to get greenhouse
gases regulated. A Gore spokesperson merely notes
that the book version of An Inconvenient Truth suggests
eating less meat, on page 317.
“Global Warming: The Animal Connection”
is the topic of the annual conference of the New York
City Bar Committee on Legal Issues Pertaining to Animals,
to be held September 29th. See: http://tinyurl.com/3d63lw
TRYING TO CONNECT THE DINNER PLATE TO
CLIMATE CHANGE
The New York Times, Claudia H. Deutsch, August 29,
2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/29/business/media/29adco.html
3.
U.K. CLIMATE CHANGE ACTION PLAN
While the U.S. has been slow to discuss
climate change, the topic is commonplace in Europe.
In the United Kingdom (U.K.), the agricultural community
is preparing an action plan. Greenhouse gases are
considered the leading cause of climate change. While
carbon emissions, mostly attributed to vehicles, garner
the greatest attention, agriculture only accounts
for 1% of the UK’s carbon emissions but 57%
of its nitrous oxide and 39% of its methane emissions.
Overall, agriculture accounts for 7% of the country’s
greenhouse gas emissions. The UK's Meat and Livestock
Commission (MLC) is studying how much greenhouse gases
are released into the air for every kilogram of beef
produced, and will compare emissions to those produced
in North and South America.
NFU and various partners have published 14 fact sheets
on the topic. They explain how the anticipated 1.5
to 5°C rise in average temps over the next century
will impact agriculture. Animal breeds better able
to adjust to extreme weather changes or deal with
hotter, drier conditions may be needed, NFU says.
It also suggests looking at breeds that produce less
methane. Consumer demand may also change. In warmer
climates, the demand for “red meat” is
lower while demand for “white meat” and
fish goes up. Vice versa for colder climates. Water
availability will also be altered, and insects and
disease will adapt. Climate change “is in the
consciousness now and is a recognized thought process
in everything we do," a MLC spokesperson says.
See also (PDF file): http://tinyurl.com/34tc2s
UK DRAWING UP LIVESTOCK PLANS FOR GLOBAL
WARMING
BEEF, Meghan Sapp, August 30, 2007
http://www.beefmagazine.com/cowcalfweekly/uk-livestock-plans-for-global-warming/index.html
4.
VIOLATIONS OF ORGANIC DAIRY RULES
Aurora Organic Dairy, one of the nation's
largest organic milk producers, has been found to
be in violation of federal organic grazing rules.
The company, which has five farms in Colorado and
Texas, supplies milk for such private-label brands
as Wild Oats and Wal-Mart and also sells milk under
the High Meadows label. The Cornucopia Institute accused
Aurora of keeping cows in feedlots rather than grazing
them on pasture as required by law (see: http://tinyurl.com/yphorg
). In an agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture,
the company will sell 1,000 cows, increase pasture
for other cows, and address other rule violations.
Aurora will be on probation for one year, and further
violation could result in revocation of its organic
certification. Cornucopia said the violations enabled
Aurora to depress organic milk prices and expand its
market share, and that it should have been penalized
accordingly. The company could have been fined up
to $10,000 per violation. See also: http://tinyurl.com/ywzbmq
ORGANIC MILK SUPPLIER MUST REDUCE HERD
The Associated Press, August 30, 2007
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/5095500.html
AGRIBUSINESS AS USUAL
Daily Grist, August 31, 2007
http://www.grist.org/news/2007/08/30/agribiz/index.html
5.
REVOCATION OF EGG COMPANY OPERATING PERMIT REVERSED
The Ohio Department of Agriculture’s
revocation of the operating permits for Ohio Fresh
Eggs (OFE), Ohio’s largest egg producer, has
been reversed. The company took over the 14-million-hen
Buckeye Egg Farm in 2004. Since October 2004, OFE
has been cited 15 times, mostly for manure problems.
The state revoked the permits last November on the
basis that OFE did not disclose that a former owner
and “habitual violator” of environmental
laws (see item #3: http://tinyurl.com/ypl5m4
) was still involved in the company’s daily
operations. On August 23rd, an environmental appeals
panel said the state hadn’t proved that the
company obtained the permits by misleading officials.
The state can appeal the ruling to an appeals court.
OHIO: PANEL REVERSES PERMIT REVOCATION
Associated Press, John McCarthy, August 24, 2007
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/08/24/ap4052101.html
6.
BON APPETIT CEO: CRUEL AGRIBUSINESS PRACTICES SHOULD STOP
A recent survey found animal welfare
to be among the top three issues of concern to restaurant-goers.
“[M]ore and more of us are realizing that farm
animals have the capacity to suffer - an attribute
that should warrant any caring person's attention...”
states Bon Appetit CEO Fedele Bauccio in an opinion
piece in the San Jose Mercury News. Bon Appetit Management
Co., a nationwide food service company, is moving
toward suppliers that don’t confine animals
in cages or crates, and is encouraging less inhumane
methods of poultry slaughter. “It's a good start
we're certainly proud of, but by no means an end,”
Bauccio writes. He notes that chickens “have
individual personalities and their own preferences
and interests, just like our dogs and cats. Unfortunately,
most birds raised for egg production on American factory
farms endure miserable lives…[and] chickens
raised for meat often suffer during slaughter.”
Bauccio explains that pigs are inquisitive and “social
animals [who] have an innate desire for interaction
and bonding with others in their herd,” but
that “today's factory farms treat pigs as if
they're meat-producing machines.” He concludes:
“While there may be a legitimate discourse to
be had about the general use of animals for food,
there is an emerging consensus that many of the now-standard
agribusiness practices are cruel and should be ended.
With the abuses faced by farm animals today, how we
treat those we eat has become a very pressing issue
facing the food industry. Those of us in the business
have a responsibility to balance financial success
with an ethical duty to reduce animal suffering.”
CRUEL AGRIBUSINESS PRACTICES MUST BE
HALTED
San Jose Mercury News (Opinion), Fedele Bauccio, August
24, 2007
http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_6706352
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