Factory farming
Informed citizens needed for change
On a recent segment of ABC news, (Jan. 26), Diane Sawyer presented a wrenching segment on the dairy industry, exposing the cruel treatment of the dairy cattle that produce our milk. And with dismaying regularity, we are informed of massive meat recalls due to e-coli, salmonella contamination, not to mention Mad Cow Disease.
The common denominator underlying all of these disturbing reports is the vicious reality of factory farming. The producers of meat, eggs and dairy products would like us to believe that these products come from the open countryside.
But the grim truth is that the production of beef, chicken, pork, eggs and milk is now under the control of immense conglomerates which have replaced the farms of our childhood memory, and the horror of these places cannot be exaggerated.
Humane laws do not apply to them. The animal is simply a product to be used in the maximization of profit. In a country where people love animals, how has this happened?
It is because we do not know. Advertising gives no clue to the dirty secret of factory farming – only the repeated food recalls signal the realty beneath the facade. We, as citizens and civilized people, must become informed. Ignorance is not an excuse; it is complicity in a system that should not exist.
The difficulty in becoming informed is not because information is unavailable, but because we psychologically balk at opening this Pandora’s box and see what is there. But if you are a moral person, you must become informed about the production of your food.
Information is readily available at the click of a mouse. Simply google “Factory Farming Facts,” “Humane Farming” or “Humane Society Factory Farming.”
If you are interested in the magnitude of the problem and how we got here, Google “The New U.S. Meat Industry,” which details the trend toward market consolidation and supply-chain production. In visual media, the films “Food Inc.” and “Fast Food Nation” provide an unforgettable overview of the factory farming industry.
If you read any of the above articles or see either of the films, I feel certain that you will support legislation to end these abuses. Hopefully group outrage and action will clean up this terrible industry.
Abigail Nazareth
Bainbridge Island
