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1.
CHANGES TO WIC PROGRAM
Tofu and soy beverages, along with fruits,
vegetables and whole grains have been added to a U.S.
Department of Agriculture (USDA) food program for
low-income women and their children, while the amounts
of milk, cheese, and eggs it permits have been reduced.
It’s the first time in 30 years that the guidelines
for WIC (the Women, Infants and Children program)
have been revised, “to better meet the nutritional
needs” of the 8.5 million people it serves,
a USDA spokesperson said. The changes were based on
suggestions made by the Institute of Medicine. After
proposing them last year, the USDA received more than
46,000 public comments about the changes, most in
favor of them. As revised, annual sales of milk and
cheese through the program will be reduced about $400
million to some $960 million. Egg sales will be nearly
halved, from $120 million to $67 million. The changes
will come into effect February 2008, after which state
agencies will have 18 months to implement them. An
interim final rule comment period ends on February
1, 2010. The USDA will then issue a final rule after
review and analysis of the public comments (see: http://tinyurl.com/ypelks
).
WIC FOOD PROGRAM RECEIVES OVERHAUL
Fox News (Associated Press), Frederic J. Frommer,
December 6, 2007
http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2007Dec06/0,4670,DietWICFoods,00.html
2.
FOOD ADS IN SCHOOLS
About 67% of all schools nationwide
allow for advertising by companies that sell "foods
of minimal nutritional value," according to a
study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which
also found that “food high in fat and sugar
conduct the majority of the marketing that is found
in schools.” In Seminole County, Florida, students
at the 37 elementary schools receive their report
cards in envelopes bearing the image of Ronald McDonald.
Those with high grades or good attendance records
are eligible for a free “Happy Meal.”
The company also has a program whereby Ronald McDonald
visits schools to teach children about fitness. School
boards defend the programs as providing needed funding.
Critics point to the 20 million overweight children
in the U.S. Responding to criticism about the “food
prize,” McDonald’s released a statement
explaining: “McDonald's provides parents with
Happy Meal choices including chicken McNuggets made
with white meat, hamburgers, cheeseburgers, Apple
Dippers, apple juice and low-fat milk, so they can
choose the Happy Meal that is appropriate for their
child."
JUNK FOOD COMPANIES MARKET TO KIDS AT
SCHOOL
ABC News, Russell Goldman, December 10, 2007
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=3971058&page=1
3.
PETA ACCUSES SMITHFIELD PIG SUPPLIER OF TORTURE
Eyes gouged out of pigs; injured pigs
dragged by their ears, snouts and legs; pigs hit and
jabbed with 2-foot metal rods; tails and testicles
amputated without pain relief from screaming piglets
in the presence of their mothers. These are among
the abuses a PETA investigator claims to have documented
at a 2,200-pig Murphy Family Ventures (MFV) farm in
Garland, N.C. (footage at: http://tinyurl.com/ywtpwm
). The company supplies pigs to Smithfield Foods,
the nation’s largest pig meat producer (see:
http://tinyurl.com/2bqbp5
). The investigator worked at the facility from September
13th until November 2nd, after PETA reportedly received
a tip from a former MFV employee who told of similar
abuses at another of the company’s farms. He
said he quit out of fear that his co-workers were
becoming suspicious of him since he was the only person
there who was not abusing the pigs. The investigator
had been instructed to do so, and the PETA footage
includes a worker vulgarly describing how he viciously
assaults pigs.
PETA contends the actions violate state
anti-cruelty laws and it wants criminal charges brought
against the filmed workers. The organization has turned
its evidence over to the Sampson County District Attorney.
He stated that he will announce whether charges will
be filed after the allegations are investigated. PETA
is also demanding that Smithfield install surveillance
cameras at farms and slaughterplants and conduct internal
investigations. Smithfield's subsidiary Murphy-Brown
LLC, and MFV, which it contracts with, have both said
they are investigating the accusations and will require
strict compliance with Murphy-Brown's animal welfare
policies.
NORTH CAROLINA AUTHORITIES INVESTIGATE
ALLEGED PIG ABUSE BY SUPPLIER FOR LARGEST U.S. PORK
PRODUCER
Fox News, Catherine Donaldson-Evans, December 12,
2007
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,316624,00.html
SHOCKING INVESTIGATION UNVEILS TORTURE OF MOTHER
PIGS AND PIGLETS
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, December
11, 2007
http://getactive.peta.org/campaign/smithfield_investigation
4.
ANTI-ANIMAL-CRUELTY INITIATIVES
Animal cruelty crime statistics are
not included in the Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI)’s annual crime report. This makes it difficult
for law enforcement, policymakers and others to analyze
patterns of animal cruelty crimes, said U.S. Senator
Bob Menendez (D – N.J.). On December 10th, he
introduced the Tracking Animal Cruelty Crimes Act,
which directs the attorney general, in consultation
with the FBI, to add animal cruelty crimes to the
Uniform Crime Reporting Program, National Incident
Based Reporting System and Law Enforcement National
Data-Exchange Program. Menendez said policies need
to be established that help law enforcement prevent
offenders from committing additional violent crimes.
The bill includes a 12-month period for implementation
from the date of enactment. See also:
http://www.pet-abuse.com/pages/about/services.php.
Also this week, the American Society
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) announced
plans for its Anti-Cruelty Institute, the first of
its kind in the nation. The facility, to open in New
York in 2010, will be dedicated to training veterinarians
and law enforcement officials to recognize and respond
to animal cruelty. It will include a forensic laboratory
and veterinary hospital (see: http://tinyurl.com/2xmsxp
). The ASPCA also debuted the nation’s first
mobile high-tech, animal crime scene investigation
(CSI) unit (see article for photo and video tour).
The vehicle contains microscopes, cameras, evidence
collection kits, blood spatter technology, a digital
X-ray unit, a surgical suite and ultraviolet lights
for fiber detection. Veterinarian Melinda Merck will
travel around the country in it (primarily investigating
crime scenes involving animal fighting and puppy mills).
The $220,000 unit was financed by a private donor.
(Dr. Merck and another ASPCA official were consulted
for the December 13th episode of the television program
CSI, which examines dogfighting: http://www.cbs.com/primetime/csi/
).
MENENDEZ PROPOSES FEDERAL TRACKING OF
ANIMAL CRUELTY CASES
The Press of Atlantic City, Donna Weaver, December
11, 2007
http://tinyurl.com/2cdqf9
ASPCA ROLLS OUT ONE OF A KIND ANIMAL CSI UNIT
CBS 2 HD News, Scott Rapoport, December 11, 2007
http://wcbstv.com/watercooler/aspca.csi.cruelty.2.608344.html
5.
FATIGUE CAUSES TRUCKING ACCIDENTS
It is not uncommon for trucks hauling
farmed animals to have accidents (see: http://tinyurl.com/3ycxtw
). Fatigue has been found to be the main cause of
most these accidents. Industry consultant Jennifer
Woods reviewed data on 415 such accidents in the U.S.
and Canada. She found that tired drivers hauling animals
between midnight and 9 a.m. were involved in 59% of
the crashes. Also implicating fatigue was the fact
that in 70% of the cases, the trailer tipped over
on its right side. (Vehicles tend to drift to the
right when the driver falls asleep, and they tend
to roll over when they hit the soft shoulder of a
road.) Furthermore, 80% of the accidents involved
a single vehicle, and 85% of them were attributable
to driver error. Fewer accidents occurred when trucks
traveled routine routes and shorter distances.
Truck drivers are legally allowed to spend as much
as 11 hours a day behind the wheel, with a 34-hour
minimum break between one work week and the next.
On December 11th, the U.S. Transportation Department
sided with the trucking industry by upholding the
one-hour increase in daily driving time put in place
in 2004. Consumer, safety and labor groups, including
the Teamsters, argue that the amount of time truck
drivers are allowed to work can cause fatigue and
result in crashes. (Nearly 5,000 people were killed
in the U.S. in crashes involving large trucks in 2006,
which is down more than 4% from 2005.) The rule revision
will not be made final until the transportation agency
completes a 60-day comment period. The advocacy groups
say they plan to challenge it.
FATIGUE FACTORS INTO LIVESTOCK TRUCK
ACCIDENTS
Meat & Poultry, Temple Grandin, September 1, 2007
http://www.meatpoultry.com/news/headline_stories.asp?ArticleID=88364
U.S. REDRAFTS TRUCK SAFETY RULES IN RESPONSE TO COURT
Reuters, John Crawley with Carol Bishopric, December
11, 2007
http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN1152197020071212?sp=true
6.
U.S. AG REFORMS SAVED "FACTORY FARMS" $3.9 BILLION
U.S. agricultural policy reforms of
1996 led to the overproduction of crops, including
corn and soybeans used for animal feed. Between 1997
and 2005, industrial animal farms, the main purchasers
of corn and soy, were able to save an estimated $3.9
billion per year by obtaining them at below-cost prices.
By doing so, these cattle, chicken and pig operations
saved an estimated $35 billion over the 9-year period.
According to “Feeding at the Trough,”
a new report by the Global Development and Environment
Institute of Tufts University, this gave these “factory
farms” a competitive advantage over diversified
farms that grew their own crops. They also benefited
from externalizing the costs of pollution from the
large manure concentrations they generated. The researchers
estimate that full-cost feed and stricter environmental
regulations could have increased the operating costs
of intensive pig operations by 17.4% to 25.7%, essentially
eliminating the cost advantage they had over smaller,
diversified pig farms.
FEEDING AT THE TROUGH (FEEDING THE FACTORY
FARM PROJECT)
GDAE Policy Brief No. 07-03, Elanor Starmer &
Timothy A. Wise, December 2007
http://www.ase.tufts.edu/gdae/policy_research/BroilerGains.htm
7.
GULF OF MEXICO FISH-FARMING PROPOSAL
Underwater cages the size of a McDonald's
restaurant, each holding 70,000 to 100,000 pounds
of fish, spread in clusters over dozens of acres (see
article photo). Fish farming of this magnitude would
be allowed in the Gulf of Mexico under regulations
being considered in public hearings being held this
month (see: http://tinyurl.com/2z5tf8
and www.gulfcouncil.org
). A coalition of environmental groups and fishing
interests oppose the plan, citing environmental and
economic concerns. A United Nations report found that
nearly as many fish were used for fish meal as were
produced by aquaculture. Fish feces and uneaten food
from aquaculture pens have polluted coastal waters
elsewhere (the proposed rules have no specific pollution
standards). Diseases spread quickly from crowded open-ocean
fish farms to wild species, and hatchery fish escape
and breed with wild populations, sometimes with disastrous
results. (At least 10 million farmed salmon and trout
are estimated to have escaped between 2000 and 2006,
see: http://tinyurl.com/2l5t9b
). Antibiotics and hormones given to farmed fish have
raised food-safety questions, and plummeting prices
could wreck Florida's already shaky commercial fishing
industry. The coalition wants regulators to wait until
more environmental research is conducted.
Half of the fish imported into the U.S.
are produced in offshore aquaculture facilities (see:
http://tinyurl.com/ywmd72
). "We are already consuming a tremendous amount
of farm-raised fish," U.S. Commerce Secretary
Carlos Gutierrez said earlier this year, "We
might as well do it ourselves under our terms, under
our conditions, under our standards, and take the
market." A surge in applications is not expected,
however, as start-up costs are estimated at about
$10 million and it could take years for a company
to become profitable. A government council is expected
to vote on the Gulf regulations in January. The United
Nations anticipates that by 2015 half of all seafood
consumed worldwide will be farmed. Currently, China
produces 70% of all farmed fish, the U.S. produces
1%.
(See also “Trout Stage Daring
Breakout at Fish Farm”: http://tinyurl.com/295p22
)
GULF TO TEEM WITH FISH IN CAGES IF FARMS
OKAYED
ST. Petersburg Times, Stephen Nohlgren, December 10,
2007
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/12/10/Southpinellas/Gulf_to_teem_with_fis.shtml
FISH FACTORIES
The Times-Picayune, Chris Kirkham, December 9, 2007
http://tinyurl.com/32sqqo
RETHINKING GULF FISH FARMS
Press-Register, Ben Raines, November 25, 2007
http://tinyurl.com/3ams95
8.
FISH PERSONALITIES
Fish have personalities. Some are daring,
others timid; some sociable, others not. Scientists
at the University of Guelph (Canada) noticed differences
in young brook trout, and found the fish retained
their same personality characteristics when moved
to a laboratory environment. Their study has been
published in the science journal Animal Behaviour.
(See also: http://tinyurl.com/248wm9
)
NOTHING FISHY ABOUT PERSONALITY TRAITS
IN ANIMALS, STUDY FINDS
Vancouver Sun, Tom Spears, November 25, 2007
http://tinyurl.com/2x6veo
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