1. SOYBEAN FARMING DESTROYING THE AMAZON
The Amazon basin is home to one in
ten of the world's mammals and 15% of all land-based
plant species. More than half of the world's fresh
water is held there and the basin’s vast forests
serve as Earth’s largest carbon sink, providing
a vital check on the greenhouse effect. Brazil has
become the largest exporter of soybeans, and soybean
farming has become the greatest threat to the Amazonian
rainforest, overtaking logging and cattle ranching
as the main cause of deforestation. Eighty percent
of the world’s soy harvest is used for farmed
animal feed. Brazilian soybeans are also “feeding
Europe's growing hunger for cheap meat substitutes.”
Last year, Brazil produced more than 50 million tons
of soy across an area the size of the United Kingdom.
Despite commitments from the government, the rainforest
continues to be destroyed – almost three-quarters
of it occurring illegally. The article tells of courageous
efforts by local activists against soy processor Cargill,
the largest privately owned company in the world.
Cargill also owns Sun Valley foods, which processes
a million chickens a week, with McDonald’s as
one of it’s major clients.
EATING THE AMAZON: THE FIGHT TO CURB
CORPORATE DESTRUCTION
The Independent, Daniel Howden, July 17, 2006
http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article1181617.ece
2. USDA REDUCING BSE TESTING
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
has announced that testing for bovine spongiform encephalopathy
(BSE, a.k.a. “mad cow disease”) will be
reduced by nearly 90%, from about 1,000 animals a
day to 110. The testing level will still be ten times
higher than that recommended by the World Animal Health
organization (OIE) for a country like the U.S., which
has had 3 confirmed cases of BSE. The decision was
made based on analysis of BSE surveillance data which
showed that, of the 42 million adult cattle in the
country, probably 4 to 7 of them have the disease.
The new testing rate could begin in about one month.
According to MeatingPlace, the decision on whether
non-ambulatory cattle will be allowed back in the
human food supply is subject to the rulemaking process,
so it will not be made “in the foreseeable future.”
USDA ANNOUNCES NEW BSE SURVEILLANCE
PROGRAM
U.S. Department of Agriculture press release, July
20, 2006
http://tinyurl.com/loady
USDA REDUCES BSE TESTING TO 40,000 CATTLE PER YEAR
MeatingPlace, Pete Hisey, July 21, 2006
http://www.meatingplace.com/MembersOnly/webNews/details.aspx?item=16256
3. USDA DISASTER RELIEF FREE-FOR-ALL
Since 1990, more than $20 billion tax
dollars have been given to ranchers and farmers as
relief for droughts, hurricanes, floods and other
weather-related incidents. One program, the Livestock
Compensation Program, cost taxpayers $1.2 billion
during its two years of existence, 2002 and 2003.
It rewards farmers and ranchers for any weather-related
disaster declared by the U.S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA) or any disaster at all declared by the President,
and it does so without requiring them to prove any
actual loss. Through the program, ranchers collected
nearly $1 million for an ice storm that took place
a year and a half before the program was even created,
others received $1.6 million for an earthquake that
caused them no loss, and the 2003 space shuttle explosion
provided them with another $5 million. John A. Johnson,
deputy administrator for farm programs for the USDA
acknowledges: "what was meant as disaster assistance
ended up being given to people who didn't have a need
or a loss." A lengthy Washington Post article
relates the politics that shaped the program and gives
examples of some of the most outrageous payouts, often
requested only after the recipients were intensely
prompted by federal agriculture officials to ask for
it.
NO DROUGHT REQUIRED FOR FEDERAL DROUGHT
AID
The Washington Post; Gilbert M. Gaul, Dan Morgan and
Sarah Cohen with Alice Crites; July 18, 2006
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/17/AR2006071701237.html
4.
MORE ON WEAKENING OF CAFO REGS; POULTRY POLLUTION
We recently reported on the weakening
of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s
permitting requirements for confined animal feeding
operations (CAFOs). More details about it can be found
in an extensive article in The NewStandard. It states
that CAFOs, typically “packed, fetid confinements
in which immobilized animals defecate in subterranean
pits,” represent the largest of some 450,000
animal-feeding operations nationwide. The EPA estimates
that its proposed rule change would cut the number
of CAFOs requiring permits from 18,800 to 14,100.
A companion piece considers how “when it comes
to minimizing the ecological costs of keeping the
country fed, the definition of sustainability runs
the ideological gamut, from ‘mom-and-pop’
ranches to veganism.” It points out that only
8% of the total value of pork production and 4% of
poultry production came from “small family farmers”
in 2003.
Meanwhile, the state of Oklahoma is
suing over a dozen poultry producers with the charge
that the animal waste their operations produce poses
a hazardous threat under the federal Superfund law.
Similar litigation was brought by the cities of Tulsa,
Okla., in 2001 and Waco, Texas, in 2004, and both
were settled out of court. This legal trend is alarming
national farming and agricultural organizations, many
of which have formed the coalition Farmers for Clean
Air and Water Inc., which includes the National Association
of State Departments of Agriculture. Over 100 House
members have called for prompt action on H.R. 4341,
a measure that would exempt animal manure from regulation
under the Superfund law and the Emergency Planning
and Community Right-to-know Act of 1986.
GIANT FACTORY FARMS ENCROACH ON COMMUNITIES,
EVADE REGULATION
The NewStandard, Michelle Chen, July 3, 2006
http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/3372
GRASSROOTS GROWING
The NewStandard, Michelle Chen, July 3, 2006
http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/3394
CHICKEN LITTER SPARKS LAWSUIT
The Washington Times, Joyce Howard Price, July 11,
2006
http://tinyurl.com/rqlm5
5.
TRANSPORT TRAGEDIES
On June 26th and 27th, 2644 pigs from
Ohio bound to a breeding operation in Mexico, arrived
at the Texas Department of Agriculture’s Livestock
Export Facility. They were left in tractor trailers
until June 29th while the pen manager awaited paperwork.
About 150 of the pigs died. Police said the case is
being pursued as a cruelty to animals charge, a class
A misdemeanor in Texas. The surviving pigs were sent
on to the breeding facility. The Humane Society of
the U.S. (HSUS) is using this tragedy to again call
on the USDA to enforce the Twenty-Eight Hour Law.
Last year HSUS, along with other animal protection
groups, petitioned the USDA to limit the time animals
can be kept on trucks. See: http://tinyurl.com/ouzve
Pigs being unloaded from a truck at Triumph Foods
in St. Joseph, Mo. squeal as they are whipped and
yelled at in a video obtained by KQTV. Others were
already dead. People for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals has lodged a complaint with the U.S. Department
of Agriculture asserting that the handling of the
pigs may be in violation of state and federal laws.
"The stress of course would be heat and then
yelling. Anything that stresses us, stresses [the
pigs]--terrifies them," attests Gary Silverglat,
a 30-year veteran of the pig processing industry.
Federal law bans cattle who cannot walk to slaughter
from being processed off a truck. Bills that could
make this the case for pigs are expected to arrive
on the House floor in the next legislative session.
About 85 pigs were killed in Georgia
on July 10th when the tractor trailer they were in
overturned while enroute to an Alabama slaughterplant.
About 85 surviving pigs were taken to a nearby farm
where another 15 of them died from heat stress by
the next afternoon: http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/0712hogs.html
“U.S. HIGHWAY ACCIDENTS INVOLVING
FARM ANIMALS” is the title of a new report by
Farm Sanctuary. A copy can be obtained by contacting
them at: Info@FarmSanctuary.org
or (607) 583-2225.
POLICE TRYING TO DETERMINE RESPONSIBILITY
IN PIG DEATHS
The Brownsville Herald, Kevin Garcia, July 6, 2006
http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/ts_comments.php?id=71549_0_10_0_C
TRIUMPH`S HOG-HANDLING COULD BE FOOD QUALITY ISSUE
AND PERHAPS LEGAL MATTER
KQTV, July 17, 2006
http://www.kq2.com/news/default.asp?mode=shownews&id=3716
6.
MISSING LINKS
There was a problem with the link for
the Baltimore Sun op-ed by Paul Shapiro mentioned
in last week’s issue of the digest. Here’s
one that works: http://tinyurl.com/grqu2
The link for the European Welfare Quality conference
proceedings, mentioned in last week’s issue
was not included. It is:
http://ec.europa.eu/food/animal/welfare/sum_proceed_wq_conf_en.pdf
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