Hiding the Truth About Factory Farms

[Sigma]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/27/opinion/27wed3.html?_r=2

A supermarket shopper buying hamburger, eggs or milk has every reason, and every right, to wonder how they were produced. The answer, in industrial agriculture, is “behind closed doors,” and that’s how the industry wants to keep it. In at least three states â€" Iowa, Florida, and Minnesota â€" legislation is moving ahead that would make undercover investigations in factory farms, especially filming and photography, a crime. The legislation has only one purpose: to hide factory-farming conditions from a public that is beginning to think seriously about animal rights and the way food is produced.

These bills share common features. Their definition of agriculture is overly broad; they include puppy mills, for instance. They treat undercover investigators and whistle-blowers as if they were “agro-terrorists,” determined to harm livestock or damage facilities. They would criminalize reporting on crop production as well. And they are supported by the big guns of industrial agriculture: Monsanto, the Farm Bureau, the associations that represent pork producers, dairy farmers and cattlemen, as well as poultry, soybean, and corn growers.

Exposing the workings of the livestock industry has been an undercover activity since Upton Sinclair’s day. Nearly every major improvement in the welfare of agricultural animals, as well as some notable improvements in food safety, has come about because someone exposed the conditions in which they live and die. Factory farming confines animals in highly crowded, unnatural and often unsanitary conditions. We need to know more about what goes on behind those closed doors, not less.

[PeeJayEss]

Insane what these "representatives" will try to pass. Probably would not hold up in court, if passed, anyway.

[ChriswUfGator]

The Patriot Act is still alive and kicking, I wouldn't hold your breath for swift judicial intervention in this day & age.

[Sigma]

Insane what these "representatives" will try to pass. Probably would not hold up in court, if passed, anyway.

Lobbyists can be very persuasive.

[Jumpinjack]

Some of the things going on in this industry are beyond disgusting. They are cruel, sadistic, and show the worst side of humankind. I only hope these sadists are few in number. But they need to be brought to justice according to our laws. You'll need strong stomach to read much of this article about what goes on.

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/26/who-protects-the-animals/?scp=2&sq=factory%20farms&st=Search

[KenFSU]

If people were really educated as to where the majority of their meat was coming from, and the horrific and cruel conditions that these animals are forced to live and die in, I honestly think that they would be willing to change their eating habits. Factory farming is one of the few things out there that I truly consider indefensible. In January, I saw the documentary Food Inc. after hearing good things about it. The brief glimpse that film gave into factory farming shook me up enough to do further research. After watching several other documentaries, and reading the fantastic book Eating Animals, I cut meat out of my diet cold turkey (no pun intended). I have zero problem with people eating meat, but I do believe that a society can and should be judged by how it treats its weakest members. What's happening at these factory farms is nothing short of an animal holocaust. There's a million different ways that people think about what animals are, and what their capabilities for feeling emotion or pain are, but at the end of the day, every living thing deserves at least an iota of respect. If we are asking a cow, or a pig, or a chicken, or a turkey, or whatever to make the ultimate sacrifice for our appetite, we should at least give these animals some opportunity to actually be chickens, or cows, or pigs, or turkeys, instead of pumping them full of drugs, making them sleep on cement floors in dark bars, forcing them to sleep in piles of their dead brethren, and then loading them 10 feet high into trucks without food or water to be taken hundreds of miles to slaughter.

It's not hard to find humane meat. Whole Foods labels their meat by animal welfare scales, and even Publix is carrying humane meats from small farms in limited quantities. People say humane meat isn't sustainable, but what really isn't sustainable is people believing that a meal isn't a meal unless you've got animal carcass on their plate.

[avs]

The best way to get rid of factory farms is not to buy from them.  Take control of our own food - grow your own or buy from someone you know

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/pro-hens-and-goats-and-we-vote/

[PeeJayEss]

If people were really educated as to where the majority of their meat was coming from, and the horrific and cruel conditions that these animals are forced to live and die in, I honestly think that they would be willing to change their eating habits. Factory farming is one of the few things out there that I truly consider indefensible. In January, I saw the documentary Food Inc. after hearing good things about it. The brief glimpse that film gave into factory farming shook me up enough to do further research. After watching several other documentaries, and reading the fantastic book Eating Animals, I cut meat out of my diet cold turkey (no pun intended). I have zero problem with people eating meat, but I do believe that a society can and should be judged by how it treats its weakest members. What's happening at these factory farms is nothing short of an animal holocaust. There's a million different ways that people think about what animals are, and what their capabilities for feeling emotion or pain are, but at the end of the day, every living thing deserves at least an iota of respect. If we are asking a cow, or a pig, or a chicken, or a turkey, or whatever to make the ultimate sacrifice for our appetite, we should at least give these animals some opportunity to actually be chickens, or cows, or pigs, or turkeys, instead of pumping them full of drugs, making them sleep on cement floors in dark bars, forcing them to sleep in piles of their dead brethren, and then loading them 10 feet high into trucks without food or water to be taken hundreds of miles to slaughter.

It's not hard to find humane meat. Whole Foods labels their meat by animal welfare scales, and even Publix is carrying humane meats from small farms in limited quantities. People say humane meat isn't sustainable, but what really isn't sustainable is people believing that a meal isn't a meal unless you've got animal carcass on their plate.

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