|
1.
SLAUGHTER BAN "LOOPHOLE" CLOSED; CALIF. CASE APPEALED
"As part of our commitment to public
health, our Agriculture Department is closing a loophole
in the system to ensure that diseased cows don't find
their way into the food supply," President Barack
Obama said on March 14th, comprehensively banning
the slaughter of non-ambulatory cows for use as human
food (see: http://tinyurl.com/7xjoyd
). According to the USDA: “cattle that become
non-ambulatory disabled from an acute injury after
ante-mortem inspection…now must be humanely
euthanized.” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack
said the ban was "a step forward for both food
safety and the standards for humane treatment of animals."
(See also: http://tinyurl.com/cn4w9q
) Obama also called the country's food inspection
system "a hazard to public health." He announced
the creation of a Food Safety Working Group to coordinate
food safety laws and advise him on updating them.
The state of California, Animal Legal
Defense Fund, Farm Sanctuary, Humane Farming Association,
and the Humane Society of the United States are appealing
the federal ruling (PDF link: http://tinyurl.com/al7gjy
) that California cannot prohibit non-ambulatory pigs
from being slaughtered in the state for human consumption
(see: http://tinyurl.com/al94ty
).
Legislation pending in New York seeks
to prohibit non-ambulatory animals from being transported
or sold prior to they’re being euthanized: http://tinyurl.com/adkz85.
OBAMA BANS 'DOWNER' COWS FROM FOOD SUPPLY
The Associated Press, March 14, 2009
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29691788
AGRICULTURE SECRETARY TOM VILSACK ANNOUNCES FINAL
RULE FOR HANDLING OF NON-AMBULATORY CATTLE
USDA Release No. 0060.09, Amanda Eamich, March 14,
2009
http://tinyurl.com/dhhjrd
STATE OF CALIF., ANIMAL WELFARE GROUPS APPEAL INJUNCTION
MeatingPlace, Lisa M. Keefe, March 11, 2009
http://www.meatingplace.com/MembersOnly/webNews/details.aspx?item=11615
2.
STATE LEGISLATION
The success of California’s Proposition
2 (see: http://tinyurl.com/djo4uz
) has prompted similar efforts in Illinois and in
Massachusetts (see: http://tinyurl.com/cta9lp
and http://tinyurl.com/clouyz
). In Ohio, the Farm Bureau is planning a public relations
campaign about common animal agriculture practices
in anticipation of Prop 2-type efforts there. Meanwhile,
legislation has been introduced in Georgia and Oklahoma
to prevent local governments and individuals from
passing laws pertaining to the care and handling of
farmed animals (see: http://tinyurl.com/b3fdck
and http://tinyurl.com/al75he)
Battery Cages
In Connecticut, hearings were held in February on
a bill requiring battery cages to be spacious enough
for hens to be able to spread their wings ( http://tinyurl.com/ck885d
). Back in California, Assembly bill 1437 has been
introduced, which would require that by 2015 only
cage-free eggs could be sold in the state ( http://tinyurl.com/brsajj
).
Tail Docking, Antibiotics
California and Illinois also have legislation pending
that would ban the amputation (“docking”)
of cows’ tails (without anesthesia in Ca., see:
http://tinyurl.com/cta9lp
and http://tinyurl.com/amk8xe
). In addition to the tail-docking legislation, California
Senate Majority Leader and Chair of the Food and Agriculture
Committee Dean Florez has introduced legislation that
would: prohibit the administration of antibiotics
to farmed animals for non-medicinal or preventative
purposes; prohibit schools from serving meat from
animals who have been treated with antibiotics; and
would require state and local government to give purchasing
preference to meat that has been produced without
the use of medically important antibiotics as feed
additives (see PDF link: http://tinyurl.com/b27zfd
).
Cloning
Legislators in Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, New
York, and Washington are attempting to require labeling
of products derived from cloned animals.
Hit-and-Run Drivers
A law has been proposed in California for motorists
to incur a fine and possible jail time if they hit
and abandon an animal, including farmed animals: http://tinyurl.com/cl7ujp.
Drivers would be required to attempt to aid the animal
and notify the animal’s guardian or animal-control
authorities. (It is a misdemeanor in California to
flee an accident in which property has been damaged.)
New York has a similar law, as do Germany and Singapore.
More Information
Information on pending state farmed animal protection
legislation can be found at: http://www.trendtrack.com/texis/app/viewrpt?event=47652c6794
DISMANTLING THE FACTORY FARM: ONE STATE,
ONE STEP AT A TIME
Farm Sanctuary, March 2009
http://www.farmsanctuary.org/get_involved/alert_march_legis.html
FARMERS GEAR UP FOR ANIMAL RIGHTS FIGHT
LimaOhio.com, Bart Mills, March 12, 2009
http://www.limaohio.com/news/farm_35147___article.html/horses_animal.html
3.
HBO SHOW GARNERS ATTENTION, PROMPTS INDUSTRY RESPONSE
“The latest attempt to destroy
the livestock industry,” as described by AgWeb’s
Sara Brown, is the HBO documentary Death on a Factory
Farm (see: http://tinyurl.com/bbwvuf
and http://tinyurl.com/d4m5xu
). “It is not pretty,” warns Pork’s
Marlys Miller ( http://tinyurl.com/c72x9s).
The documentary has garnered media attention, including
a write-up in the New York Times which, in reference
to scenes of a pig being strangled, states: “If
it upsets you, then you’ll also be disturbed
by the shots of sows left to die in fetid pens and
the sound of deformed piglets’ heads being smashed.
The fact that these things don’t upset everyone
is the crux of the film…” Time magazine
published an interview with “Pete,” the
undercover investigator (and see: http://tinyurl.com/bd97q8
).
Brown’s article includes “a
lesson in livestock public relations 101,” with
talking points compiled by the National Pork Board
(see: http://tinyurl.com/dy7w5x
). She advises: “If a member of the media comes
to your farm…Be prepared to know which animals
you will let them have access to and if no access
is to be given, why.” See also:
PORK PRODUCERS MUST DOCUMENT 'RIGHT THING'
Feedstuffs, Rod Smith, March 2, 2009
http://tinyurl.com/dcqdv3
and see: http://tinyurl.com/d2mujc
and, from 2008: http://tinyurl.com/c4eucz
LIVESTOCK PRODUCERS—SET YOUR DVR!
AgWeb, Sara Brown (blog), March 16, 2009
http://tinyurl.com/cphrn2
HOW THESE PIGGIES WENT TO MARKET
The New York Times, Mike Hale, March 15, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/16/arts/television/16farm.html
UNDERCOVER ANIMAL RIGHTS INVESTIGATOR
Time, Kate Pickert, March 9, 2009
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1883742,00.html
4.
FOOD, INC.; INDUSTRY OUTREACH
While BEEF Daily’s Amanda Nolz
is “deeply concerned” about the HBO
documentary, which, she wrote, “sends shivers
down our spines,” of another documentary, entitled
Food, Inc. (see: http://www.takepart.com/foodinc/
and last paragraph: http://tinyurl.com/claggf
), she writes: “If it doesn’t scare you,
I don’t know what will.” The film, from
the producers of An Inconvenient Truth ( http://tinyurl.com/2w3g4o
), includes graphic footage of poultry facilities
and slaughterplants. Variety calls it: “a civilized
horror movie for the socially conscious, the nutritionally
curious and the hungry.” Due to be released
on June 12th, the trailer can be viewed at: http://tinyurl.com/d2wcdz.
Nolz urges industry members to engage
in public outreach: http://tinyurl.com/d3cfbc.
See also: LOCAL RANCHERS WORK ON THEIR IMAGE
Chico News & Review, Sarah Hubbart, March 12,
2009
http://www.newsreview.com/chico/Content?oid=925459
and
A HEART-TO-HEART WITH CONSUMERS
Dairy Herd Management, March 10, 2009
http://www.dairyherd.com/news_editorial.asp?ts=nl1&pgid=675&ed_id=8296
and
WRITE MAKES RIGHT
Poultry, In Perspective, Yvonne Vizzier Thaxton, February/March
2009
http://www.meatingplace.com/MembersOnly/archives/details.aspx?item=3688
COMING SOON TO A THEATER NEAR YOU, “FOOD,
INC.”
BEEF Daily, Amanda Nolz, March 5, 2009
http://tinyurl.com/bgwo3c
5. MULTIPLE INCIDENTS OF LIVE PIGS BOILED IN SWEDEN
Live pigs were scalded to death at four
large Swedish slaughterplants in 2008. Too many pigs
were sent through a shaft where they were sedated
into unconsciousness. Due to the excessive number,
the sedation was not effective and the pigs awoke
in a vat of boiling water. A veterinarian noticed
them moving in it. No procedures were changed, and
a week later he saw the same thing happen again. Food
Administration documents reportedly show the same
thing has happened at other slaughterplants, all operated
or owned by food group HK Scan, which slaughtered
some 1.9 million pigs in 2008. That just can never
happen,” said the head and partial owner of
one of the slaughterplants. The four plants face legal
action for failing to secure the required protection
for pigs going to slaughter.
PIGS BOILED ALIVE AT SWEDISH MEAT PLANTS
The Local, March 17, 2009
http://www.thelocal.se/18258/20090317/
SWEDISH SLAUGHTERHOUSES FACE ACTION OVER SCALDED
PIGS
The Earth Times, March 17, 2009
http://tinyurl.com/dmz6lq
6.
WAKKER DIER TACKLING DUTCH VEAL CRATES
The Netherlands is Europe's largest
veal-producing country. Nearly all supermarkets there
have stopped selling veal made from crated calves,
a mere six months after a consumer education campaign
by the Dutch animal-protection group Wakker Dier.
Supermarket managers “were convinced almost
immediately after viewing the publicity material from
Wakker Dier” and “stopped selling the
pale veal within weeks from the start of the campaign
in September 2008.” Late last year, the Dutch
Advertising Code Commission sided with Wakker Dier
that an ad campaign was false, in that the calves
were not healthy, and ordered the veal industry to
end it. In January, a major international supermarket
chain teamed up with Van Drie, the world’s largest
veal-producer, in announcing they would actively campaign
throughout Europe against raising anemic calves (and
see: http://tinyurl.com/c5cxhs). Two resisting supermarkets are being ‘named
and shamed.’ The hospitality industry and small
butchers also have yet to comply.
Wakker Dier now wants the transport
of infant calves from Poland and Lithuania stopped,
and criticizes veal production whereby calves are
no longer anemic but “still suffer the same
fate.” The organization’s hard-hitting
but non-violent tactics are said to be gaining popular
support elsewhere in Europe. Wakker Dier is credited
with having succeeded in getting all Dutch supermarkets
to stop selling battery eggs in 2004 (see #4 of: http://tinyurl.com/wlyg
and: http://tinyurl.com/d24t6k),
and, in 2008, ending castration without anesthesia
for some 7 million pigs there annually (see: http://tinyurl.com/cnpzdf
).
DUTCH SHOPS BAN 'ANAEMIC VEAL' OVER ANIMAL
RIGHTS CONCERNS
Digital Journal, Adriana Stuijt, March 15, 2009
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/269237#tab=comments&sc=0&local=
7.
MRSA AND OTHER ANTIBIOTIC-RESISTANT BACTERIA
MRSA (“mersa”) stands for
methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, commonly
referred to as “flesh-eating bacteria.”
It causes staph infections that are resistant to antibiotics
(see: http://tinyurl.com/dyh2be
) and kills more Americans each year than die from
AIDS. Pig farms appear to be a reservoir for a new
strain called ST398. A small study found that Dutch
pig farmers were 760 times more likely than the general
population to carry MRSA, and it has been found in
12% of Dutch pig meat samples. In the U.S., one study
found 45% of sampled pig farmers carried MRSA, while
other research suggests that 25-39% of U.S. pigs carry
it. Public health authorities are concerned that infection
could be transmitted from pigs through human handlers,
through their wastes seeping into ground water, or
through meat. Five out of 90 samples of retail pig
meat in Louisiana tested positive for MRSA. (Flies
and poultry manure have also recently been implicated
for the spread of antibiotic-resistant “superbugs”:
http://tinyurl.com/daf85n
)
Antibiotic Use
“We don’t add antibiotics to baby food
and Cocoa Puffs so that children get fewer ear infections…
Yet we continue to allow agribusiness companies to
add antibiotics to animal feed so that piglets stay
healthy,” wrote New York Times columnist Nicholas
D. Kristof [ http://tinyurl.com/cszhbk
] in a recent two-part series on MRSA. He notes that
an estimated 70% of all antibiotics in the U.S. are
administered to farmed animals for non-medicinal purposes,
remarking: “Unlike Europe and even South Korea,
the United States still bows to agribusiness interests
by permitting the nontherapeutic use of antibiotics
in animal feed… Legislation to ban the nontherapeutic
use of antibiotics in agriculture has always been
blocked by agribusiness interests.”
The Infectious Diseases Society of America
has declared antibiotic resistance a “public
health crisis,” and the Medical Clinics of North
America have concluded that antibiotics in farmed
animal feed are “a major component” in
the rise in antibiotic resistance. A new mathematical
model suggests that agricultural antibiotic use may
generate more antibiotic resistance than does hospital
antibiotic use. Legislation addressing this is being
reintroduced in Congress (see: http://tinyurl.com/cmkkez
and http://tinyurl.com/d78n4j
). The Nation Pork Producers Council argues that such
legislation would be detrimental to pigs, increase
costs, and jeopardize public health: http://tinyurl.com/c4v8le.
What’s Needed
Kristof’s column “caused an immediate
firestorm of panic in the pork industry” writes
Eddie Gehman Kohan in his blog ObamaFoodarama. However,
he contends that Kristof’s recommendation to
legislate antibiotic use falls short: “Dismantling
the agribusiness system that allows for massive CAFOS
to flourish needs to happen, or there will be pandemic
superbugs emerging at an even greater rate, even if
overuse of antibiotics is stopped.” Kohan states
that, in addition to encouraging smaller and mid-size
farms, resolving the MRSA problem will entail “dismantling
the influence of Big Pharma…dismantling the
influence of Big Ag, and…making profound changes
in what America believes are acceptable practices
in farming. It's also about keeping Barack's pledge
to no longer allow lobbyists to sway policy.”
OUR PIGS, OUR FOOD, OUR HEALTH
The New York Times, Nicholas D. Kristof (Op-ed), March
12, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/12/opinion/12kristof.html?_r=1
PATHOGENS IN OUR PORK
The New York Times, Nicholas D. Kristof (Op-ed), March
14, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/15/opinion/15kristof.html?_r=3
ANTIBIOTIC USE IN AGRICULTURE IS HELPING DRIVE ANTIBIOTIC
RESISTANCE IN HUMANS, EXPERTS SAY
American Assoc. for the Advancement of Science, Benjamin
Somers, March 13, 2009
http://www.aaas.org/news/releases/2009/0313antibiotic.shtml
NICHOLAS KRISTOF CALLS FOR OBAMA AND VILSACK TO END
OVERUSE OF ANIMAL ANTIBIOTICS, BUT IT'S GOING TO TAKE
MORE THAN THAT TO STOP SUPERBUGS
ObamaFoodarama (blog), Eddie Gehman Kohan, March 15,
2009
http://obamafoodorama.blogspot.com/2009/03/kristof-calls-for-end-to-overuse-of.html
8.
EPA'S RURAL DUST DECISION UPHELD
A federal appeals court has denied an
industry request to order the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) to reconsider its decision to regulate
dust in rural areas. In 2006, the American Farm Bureau
Federation and the National Pork Producers Council
(NPPC) challenged EPA’s decision, arguing that
no detrimental health effects had been shown to be
associated with the dust. The appeals court ruled
that the plaintiffs "mistakenly equated an absence
of certainty about dangerousness with the existence
of certainty about safety," and said that the
EPA was not required to wait for conclusive results
before regulating a pollutant believed to pose a significant
risk to public health.
“This isn’t just going to
impact the existing producers,” said an NPPC
spokesperson, “This is going to prevent new
producers from moving into town…” An American
Farm Bureau Federation representative remarked: "These
dust standards are revised every five years, so it
is difficult to predict the final impact of the ruling”:
http://tinyurl.com/b6m3d5.
Environmentalists contend that the EPA is right to
err on the side of caution. The ruling can be read
at (PDF link): http://tinyurl.com/dmytgh.
FEDERAL COURT UPHOLDS EPA'S RURAL DUST
RULE
The New York Times, Robin Bravender, February 25,
2009
http://tinyurl.com/br5fmz
9.
EPA MOVES AHEAD WITH EMISSIONS REGISTRY
The Environmental Protection Agency
plans to establish a nationwide registry for reporting
greenhouse gas emissions, including those from large
confined animal-feeding operations. The program was
drafted under the Bush administration but stalled
after the Office of Management and Budget objected
to it (see: http://tinyurl.com/dbdyos
).
In anticipation of the registry system,
legislation has been introduced in the House and Senate
to prevent the EPA from requiring operating permits
for U.S. agriculture operations under the Clean Air
Act. Such permits would impose mandatory fees - referred
to by agriculture interests as a “cow tax.”
See also: http://tinyurl.com/cu2qs8
and: THE 'COW TAX': NOT NOW, MAYBE NOT EVER: http://tinyurl.com/cgtwmr
(and see: PIG ODOR NO LAUGHING MATTER TO FOLKS WHO
HAVE TO LIVE WITH IT: http://www.azstarnet.com/news/283076
).
EPA PLANS U.S. REGISTRY OF GREENHOUSE
GAS EMISSIONS
The Washington Post, Juliet Eilperin, March 11, 2009
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/10/AR2009031001445.html
FARM BUREAU BACKS BILL BUCKING COSTLY
COW TAX
Dairy Herd Management (source: Michigan Farm Bureau),
March 5, 2009
http://www.dairyherd.com/directories.asp?pgID=675&ed_id=8264
|
![[missing header image]](images/newsletter_ico.jpg)