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Pew Charitable Trusts Report Blasts Factory Farming
Posted by Scott Anderson at 12:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
We at PETA have been saying this for years, but it's nice to have a well-respected non-animal rights organization like the Pew Charitable Trusts back us up. A recent report funded by Pew and conducted by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health concluded that "[f]actory farming takes a big, hidden toll on human health and the environment; is undermining rural America's economic stability, and fails to provide the humane treatment of livestock increasingly demanded by American consumers," according to an article about the study in The Washington Post.
Wow, we couldn't have said it better ourselves.
The study is remarkable for a couple of reasons. It was very thorough, spanning more than two years. The panel was composed of experts in a variety of fields, including agriculture industry representatives.
Most remarkable of all, even the agriculture apologists were able to agree on recommendations for major changes, including banning the use of antibiotics to promote animals' growth and phasing out gestation crates (crates so small that pigs can never turn around) for pregnant pigs and battery cages (cages so tiny that chickens are unable to spread even one wing) for laying hens.
Hopefully, this report will serve as an impetus for huge changes that will reduce the suffering of animals as well as protect the environment and human health. We'll keep you posted.
Posted to Health | Posted to Tags: Environment, Factory Farming
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David says...
September 8th, 2008, 5:00 pm
Great news for the animals! Hopefully this study will be accessible for the general public to read, and make them think twice about their food choices. Thanks for the post!
Patty says...
February 19th, 2011, 1:08 am
This is wonderful and significant. In jr. high school Louise Black was a dear friend of mine. Her Mother was a Pew. (Sun Oil Co.-Sunoco, etc.) She was way ahead of her time, a wonderful woman, and they had a farm out on Main Line Phila. w/ animals around for fun.