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1.
FDA POSED TO APPROVE CATTLE DRUG RISKY TO HUMANS
Despite warnings from its own advisory
board and a dozen health groups, including the American
Medical Association, the Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) is set to approve an antibiotic for cattle this
spring that could have dangerous consequences for
people. The drug, cefquinome, is from a class of powerful
antibiotics that are among the few means of treating
several serious human infections. This class of antibiotics
also includes one drug that is the only effective
treatment for cancer patients with serious infections.
The FDA was warned that using cefquinome for animals
will probably cause bacteria to develop resistance
to these antibiotics more quickly, as has happened
in Europe. This has also been the case with other
antibiotics. The resistant bacteria could subsequently
infect people.
InterVet Inc. developed cefquinome for respiratory
disease in cattle. The FDA’s advisors voted
to deny the company’s request for approval to
market it as such after learning that a dozen other
effective medicines are already available to treat
the disease. “The panel also learned that the
disease would be a relatively minor issue but for
the stressful conditions under which U.S. cattle are
raised, including high-density living spaces and routine
shipment on crowded trains for hundreds or thousands
of miles,” reports the Washington Post. It continued:
“Those ‘production dynamics’ suppress
the animals' immune systems, explained feedlot consultant
Kelly Lechtenberg of Oakland, Neb., and virtually
guarantee that bovine respiratory disease will be
a major problem.” The FDA’s approval of
the drug is almost required due to a “guidance
document” that sets policy for determining the
risk that proposed new animal drugs pose to human
health. The article explains in detail “how
a few words in an obscure regulatory document can
sway the government's approach to protecting public
health.”
“The Preservation of Antibiotics
for Medical Treatment Act” has been introduced
in both the U.S. House and Senate. Among several measures
the bill seeks is to phase out the non-therapeutic
use of medically important antibiotics in farmed animals
unless the manufacturers can show they pose no danger
to public health. It would also require manufacturers
to report the amounts of antibiotics they supply for
use in animals, the animals to whom the drugs are
given, and the uses for which they are supplied.
University of Georgia scientists have
found that chickens raised on antibiotic-free farms
and even those raised under pristine laboratory conditions
have high levels of bacteria that are resistant to
common antibiotics. Their research suggest that poultry
come to the farm harboring resistant bacteria, possibly
acquired as they were developing in their eggs. See:
http://tinyurl.com/2jukpo
FDA RULES OVERRIDE WARNINGS ABOUT DRUG
The Washington Post, Rick Weiss, March 4, 2007
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/03/AR2007030301311.html
BILL WOULD CURB USE OF ANTIBIOTICS IN LIVESTOCK
BEEF Cow-Calf Weekly, P. Scott Shearer, Feb. 23, 2007
http://tinyurl.com/37bkfx
2.
ESBENSHADE CRUELTY CASE RESUMES
The case against the owner and the manager
of Esbenshade Farms (see: http://tinyurl.com/38dgd3
) has resumed. Johnna L. Seeton, the humane society
officer who pressed charges, confirmed under cross-examination
that, while it was animal-rights activist John Brothers
job at Esbenshade to remove dead birds at the Pennsylvania
egg facility, he could not keep pace with the 170,000
birds there. She also said some of the birds had long
been dead when Brothers started the job. In “gruesome
testimony,” veterinarian Nedim Buyumichi explained
the slow death of hens shown impaled on cage wires
in videotape evidence. The article notes: “…a
healthy bird might have lived up to five days without
access to food and water, struggling to free herself
from a wire that impaled her. He said the dead hens
likely were trampled by other hens in the cages and
when the healthier hens detected blood, they likely
pecked at her while she was still alive. At some point,
Buyumichi said, ‘learned helplessness’
kicks in, and the hen would stop struggling and eventually
die.” He further testified that decomposed birds
appeared to have been dead for weeks, others had decomposed
to a liquid state.
The defense attorney challenged Seeton
and Buyumichi for relying on the videotape rather
than having actually seen the facility. University
of Pennsylvania staff veterinarian Eric N. Gingerich
testified that when he inspected the facility in January
2006 (the same month that charges were filed) he didn't
see any conditions like those on the tape. He did
concede that some of the taped birds appeared dehydrated
and starved. Gingerich said that workers should have
freed them, and agreed with the prosecutor that those
cases constitute neglect. The judge said she expects
to decide the case in mid-April.
MOUNT JOY EGG-FARM CRUELTY CASE RESUMES
Intelligencer Journal, Susan E. Lindt, March 2, 2007
http://local.lancasteronline.com/4/201254
JUDGE LIKELY TO DECIDE EGG FARM CRUELTY CASE IN MID-APRIL
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review/The Associated Press, March
5, 2007
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/breaking/s_496180.html
3.
KILL IT, COOK IT, EAT IT
“Kill It, Cook It, Eat It”
is a BBC Three program (U.K.) that traces a cow, a
pig and a lamb, each “from its life on the farm
to its fate at a small working abbatoir. At the abbatoir,
a group of specially invited people, from vegetarians
to meat enthusiasts, will witness the slaughter.”
The Sunday Mirror elaborates: “Graphic scenes…show
smoke coming out of a pig's head as it collapses after
being electrocuted. Abattoir staff then hang the twitching
animal up by its legs and cut its throat, sending
blood gushing to the floor. Audience members including
schoolkids watch behind a glass screen and some weep
as the pig is thrown into boiling water and skinned.
Earlier a film showed the same animal as a cute piglet.
After the animal is dead, a butcher carves it up and
cooks it - and guests tuck into meat they saw alive
only minutes before. In other episodes a cow is sawn
in half and a lamb's head is cut off, in an effort
to ‘reconnect’ us with the meat we buy.”
The three-part program aired in early March.
The Daily Mail ran a detailed account
of a person who became acquainted with “Faw
Faw, my fluffy friend, [the lamb who] was turned from
mammal to meat - electrocuted, throat-slit, beheaded
and skinned.” The unnamed person, who cooked
and ate Faw Faw, explains: “Heavily plugged
and promoted, the programme makers insist this isn't
just a ratings-grabbing bloodfest, but an attempt
to question modern Britain's relationship with the
food we eat - to reconnect people with the animals
that fill the shrink-wrapped packets of meat they
buy in the supermarket.” S/he concludes: “Keep
the nut cutlets on hold for the moment, but kick out
the chilli sauce. No more donner kebabs for me.”
SLAUGHTER.. LIVE ON TV
Sunday Mirror, Jenna Sloan, March 4, 2007
http://tinyurl.com/32ge32
THE FRIEND I HAD FOR LUNCH
Daily Mail, March 2, 2007
http://tinyurl.com/2xfnwx
4.
MAKING THE CONNECTION
Although knowledge of food production
improves with the age, a significant proportion of
British children are failing to connect foods to the
farm animals who are used to produce them. This was
the conclusion reached by Dairy Farmers of Britain
(DFB) following its survey of over 1,000 children,
ages 8-15. Urban kids were said to be twice as likely
as rural kids to be unable to identify that hamburger
come from cows (8% compared to 3%), while 10% didn’t
know where yogurt comes from, versus 6% of country
kids. Furthermore, 2% of city kids thought that eggs
come from cows, and that bacon is from cows or sheep.
The survey is part of the DFB’s Grass is Greener
Campaign, which is intended to not only reveal “how
children perceive their food and the countryside,
but also tak[e] measures to educate children in dairy
farming,” a DFB representative explained.
UK KIDS 'THINK BACON IS FROM COWS OR
SHEEP'
The Pig Site, March 1, 2007
http://tinyurl.com/ytktst
5.
CONCERNED BUT RELUCTANT
While British consumers are increasingly
taking animal welfare into consideration in regard
to their food purchases, they don’t want “the
gory details,” reports grocery research company
IGD. The study was sponsored by Freedom Food, a labeling
program by the Royal Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals (see: http://tinyurl.com/9m72q
). It showed that 64% of consumers have considered
animal welfare when purchasing food, though only 10%
said they buy all higher welfare foods. Many consumers
felt guilt about eating meat and were reluctant to
explore welfare issues, according to the report.
NO GRISLY FOOD DETAILS, PLEASE..
Reuters, March 7, 2007
http://tinyurl.com/2b6psg
6.
VEGETARIAN DISGUST
"Disgust sensitivity,” the
tendency for revulsion regarding meat, among three
different categories of vegetarians was examined by
researchers at the University of California’s
(UCLA) Center of Behavior, Evolution, and Culture,
in 2003. The researchers surveyed 945 adults identified
as moral vegetarians (those who avoid meat based on
moral/environmental beliefs), health vegetarians (those
who avoid meat based on health considerations), and
taste vegetarians (those who avoid meat based on taste
preferences). Disgust was found to be a consequence
of moral vegetarianism, rather than a cause for it.
The research suggests that moral vegetarianism is
not limited to those who are disgusted by meat consumption.
It was also found that women are more disgust sensitive
than men, disgust sensitivity declines with age, and
it was most pronounced in regard to red meat. The
full report, "Disgust Sensitivity and Meat Consumption:
A Test of an Emotivist Account of Moral Vegetarianism,”
published in the August, 2003 issue of the journal
Appetite, can be accessed at: [PDF File, 155 kb]:
http://tinyurl.com/2n6c3a.
DISGUST SENSITIVITY AND MORAL VEGETARIANISM
Humane Thinking (Humane Research Council), March 2007
7.
AAA'S SIXTH "STAKEHOLDERS SUMMIT"
The Animal Agriculture Alliance (AAA)
will host its 6th “Stakeholders Summit,”
entitled “Animal Welfare: Roadmaps to Successful
Solutions,’' March 19 – 21st in Arlington,
Virginia. “The Summit will develop roadmaps
to success on the thorny issues of animal welfare,
the prudent use of antibiotics, environmental concerns
and public health.” All registrations must be
submitted in advance of the conference for approval.
(Animal-protection advocates have been prohibited
from attending past AAA Summits.) Among the event’s
sponsors are: the American Veal Association, the National
Pork Board, the National Pork Producers Council, and
United Egg Producers. A schedule of events is on-line
at (PDF FILE): http://tinyurl.com/32b6x2
STAKEHOLDERS SUMMIT TO FOCUS ON SOLUTIONS
FOR CRITICAL ISSUES
The Animal Agriculture Alliance, January 11, 2007
http://tinyurl.com/2p9cox
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