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1.
BATTLE BREWING OVER FOOD FROM CLONED ANIMALS
"Meat and milk from cattle clones
and their offspring are as safe as that from conventionally
bred animals," asserts the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration (FDA), largely based on substantial
new data showing similarity between cloned and uncloned
animals. The agency is preparing to release risk assessment
and management documents by the end of the year which
would allow the marketing of such food after a final
60-day public comment period.
A petition for a moratorium on food made from cloned
animals has been filed with the FDA by The Humane
Society of the U.S. and various public interest groups.
They maintain: "The available science shows that
cloning presents serious food safety risks, animal
welfare concerns and unresolved ethical issues that
require strict oversight." The petition calls
for health and environmental reviews, and requests
that the agency regulate cloned animals one type at
a time, a process which would drastically slow marketing
approval. It also requests that a panel be established
to review associated ethical issues. The FDA, however,
claims it has no authority to base decisions on ethical
concerns. It is also not inclined to call for labeling
of products from cloned animals, as is being demanded
by some.
Cloning proponents say the technology
could enable better control over animal reproduction,
resulting in better quality and consistency of animal
products. However, the International Dairy Foods Association
(representing Kraft Foods, Dannon, Nestlé USA
and others) opposes FDA approval of it out of fear
that public concerns could harm milk’s image
of wholesomeness. Surveys show that more than 60%
of the U.S. population is uncomfortable with cloning
animals for food. The single biggest reason people
give is "religious and ethical," with concerns
about food safety coming in second, according to the
Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology. A conference
it held this week with Michigan State University considered
ethical and religious perspectives on cloning. See:
http://tinyurl.com/tvhns.
Although the FDA has requested that products from
cloned animals be kept out of the food supply, the
offspring of cloned animals have reportedly already
been slaughtered, sold and eaten.
FDA IS SET TO APPROVE MILK, MEAT FROM
CLONES
The Washington Post, Rick Weiss, October 17, 2006
http://tinyurl.com/y774zr
GROUPS SAY FDA SHOULD BAN SALE OF FOOD FROM CLONES
Reuters, Christopher Doering, Oct. 12, 2006
http://tinyurl.com/y4d6ua
FOOD FROM CLONED ANIMALS COULD HIT SUPERMARKET
SHELVES
ABC News, Oct. 18, 2006
http://www.abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=2580885&page=1
2.
DEADLY SPINACH AND MANURE
0157:H7, the same strain of E. coli
that killed three people and sickened nearly 200 nationwide,
has been found at a Salinas Valley, California cattle
ranch within a mile of the spinach fields implicated
in the outbreak. Investigators don’t know if
manure from the cattle was used to fertilize the fields.
They are considering other ways the spinach might
have been contaminated by the bacteria. Presently,
vegetable growers and packers are essentially unregulated.
Mandatory standards, such as minimum distance and
slope between pasture and fields, are now a greater
possibility. In Wisconsin, earlier this summer, the
DNR proposed more restrictive manure handling requirements
for the state's largest 150 farms, which are mostly
dairies (see: http://tinyurl.com/yflqna
).
According to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, the U.S. food supply sickens
some 76 million Americans every year, putting more
than 300,000 of them in the hospital, and killing
5,000. Food writer Michael Pollan explains that E.
coli 0157:H7 is believed to have evolved in feedlots.
USDA studies indicate the difference between cattle
fed grain and those fed hay could be as much as a
millionfold in the number of acid-resistant E. coli
(see: http://tinyurl.com/yg2gys
). Pollan states: “Industrial animal agriculture
produces more than a billion tons of manure every
year, manure that, besides being full of nasty microbes
like E. coli 0157:H7…often ends up in places
it shouldn't be.” See other viewpoints at: http://tinyurl.com/y3e7mh
and: http://tinyurl.com/y3lhd9
Scientists at Evergreen State College
say they've come up with a mixture of bacteria-killing
viruses that could eliminate almost 100% of E. coli
without harming cattle. The viruses could be administered
through feed or water. If the Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) approves them, the viruses could be used widely
in the U.S. within five years. (In August, the FDA
approved the use of viruses against listeriosis by
spraying a viral cocktail directly on meat intended
for human consumption. See: http://tinyurl.com/y9h3ao
). An experimental vaccine has been shown to reduce
the number of animals with E. coli bacteria in their
manure by 60-70%. Other control attempts include washing
the bodies of animals after they are slaughtered.
See: http://tinyurl.com/yjj9gx
FDA:
NO SPINACH FARM'OFF THE HOOK'YET
Associated Press, Rachel Konrad with Andrew Bridgesand
Lisa Leff, October 13, 2006
http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2006Oct13/0,4670,TaintedSpinach,00.html
THE VEGETABLE-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX
The New York Times, Michael Pollan, October 15, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/15/magazine/15wwln_lede.html
EVERGREEN RESEARCHERS ATTACK E. COLI
AT SOURCE
The Olympian, Heather Woodward, September 30, 2006
http://159.54.227.3/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060930/NEWS/609300303
3.
PROMOTING ALTERNATIVE SYSTEMS IN BRAZIL AND CHINA
Brazil and China are being encouraged
to adopt less inhumane farming practices through a
joint project by the Food Animal Initiative and the
World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA).
The groups, both based in the U.K., are working with
farmers and industry to set up model farms to demonstrate
less inhumane meat, milk and egg production practices.
"While the EU slowly legislates to improve conditions
for farm animals, intensive factory farming is exploding
in the developing world", said WSPA director
general Peter Davies, "Animals are caged, chained
and forced to grow super-fast in the quest for ever
more meat, milk and eggs." Rather than complaining
about limited and poorly enforced welfare laws and
a general lack of awareness in Brazil and China, campaign
manager Ami Firth said the organizations teamed up
to develop alternative systems. Disputing that the
systems are contrary to feeding a burgeoning human
population, she said: "The answer is to cut down
on meat consumption and to use more extensive, sustainable
production methods."
Per the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture
Organization: China has 7 billion chickens intended
for use as meat, 2 billion hens for eggs, 622 million
pigs and 47 million cattle. Brazil has 5 billion hens
for eggs, 38 million pigs, and 37 million cattle.
Together they produce 66% of the world's meat.
NGOS PUSH FOR BETTER ANIMAL WELFARE IN
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
Farmers Weekly, Sept. 27, 2006
http://tinyurl.com/gyyxt
4.
ONTARIO: VIRTUAL FARM TOURS, ANTI-CRUELTY ENFORCEMENT
Visitors to
www.farmissues.com can take virtual tours of eleven
Ontario farms, including ones that feature calves
raised for veal, cattle raised for meat, cows used
for dairy production, deer and elk, goats raised for
meat and ones used for dairy production, and pigs.
Tours of chicken farms (for eggs and for meat), ratite
(emus, ostriches, rheas) farms and turkey farms are
planned. Video clips of the animals and farmer interviews
are included. The project is funded by Canadian industry
groups and government sources.
The Ontario Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Animals (OSPCA) is charged with enforcing
anti-cruelty legislation. According to an article
in Eastern Ontario AgriNews, farmers and ranchers
often see inspectors’ actions “as arbitrary,
high-handed and highly personalized,” and “misunderstandings
and dissatisfaction…between producer and inspector
are frequent and increasing.” The article, by
Jeff Esau, goes on to state: “Many farmers feel
SPCA and other enforcement organizations have been
‘infiltrated’ by so-called animal rights
activists and interest groups who harbour an underlying
moral objection to the production of animals for food.”
Esau reports that the OSPCA is opposed to certain
practices that are considered standard, such as the
debeaking of fowl. He writes: “Egg producers,
for example, know that hens, which are cannibalistic
by nature, would quickly peck each other to death
unless beaks were trimmed after hatching.” [To
the contrary, see: http://tinyurl.com/ylvrhv
].
In the interest of improving the working relationship,
the OSPCA and the Ontario Farm Animal Council (OFAC),
which represents the province’s farmers and
ranchers, are jointly advocating a farmed animal protection
plan based on the Alberta Livestock Protection System
(ALPS). The system is said to involve a partnership
between government, industry and animal advocacy organizations
that features continuous education and the strict
and consistent enforcement of strong laws.
LIVESTOCK CRUELTY LAWS: ONTARIO MOVES
FORWARD
Eastern Ontario AgriNews, Jeff Esau, October 2006
http://www.agrinewsinteractive.com/fullstory.htm?ArticleID=7885&ShowSection=News
5.
CAPTIVE, ORGANIC(?), SUFFERING FISH
There is as much evidence that fish
can suffer as there is that chickens can suffer. So
says behavioral biologist Victoria Braithwaite of
Edinburgh University, who has been studying the capacity
of fish to feel pain. She notes that fish have nociceptors,
specialized nerve endings that alert animals to pain.
When noxious stimulants are injected into fish they
exhibit behavior indicative of pain. After receiving
painkillers, they begin acting normally again. She
also explains that fish share similarities to us in
regard to the parts of our brain structures associated
with emotion, learning and memory. Fish are “remarkably
clever,” Braithwaite says, pointing out that
they can learn geometrical relationships and landmarks
which they can then use to generate a mental map of
escape routes to evade predators. She asserts that,
in absence of evidence to the contrary, we should
assume that fish do indeed suffer. See also: http://www.FishingHurts.com
National Academy of Sciences researchers
are urging U.S. federal agencies to do a better job
of telling the public about health benefits of eating
fish while simultaneously warning women and children
about species with high levels of contaminants: http://tinyurl.com/ykrnaf
. Sales of U.S. aquaculture products have grown
12% in seven years to $1.1 billion. Mississippi, Arkansas
and Louisiana together account for a third of all
U.S. aquaculture sales. Catfish, perch, salmon, hybrid
striped bass, tilapia and trout constitute 62% of
U.S. aquaculture sales, with another 19% coming from
mollusks such as abalone, clams, mussels and oysters.
The newly released results of the USDA’s 2005
Census of Aquaculture includes information on production
methods, water sources, sales, distribution and farm
labor, covering everything from alligator, caviar,
eel, frog and snail farms to the one U.S. sea urchin
farm (in New Hampshire): http://tinyurl.com/ymbad7
The USDA is considering whether to allow the use
of the “organic” label for farmed fish
from operations that use organic feed; largely avoid
hormones, pesticides and chemicals; and put practices
in place to prevent fish from escaping into the ocean.
The department's National Organic Standards Board
is expected to issue its recommendations to the agency
on the matter this week. A coalition of environmental
groups and chefs has initiated a campaign to scrutinize
proposed organic standards for captive-raised fish.
The coalition questions how captive-raised salmon
can possibly be considered "organic" since
the fish are not allowed to migrate naturally and
since they eat fish meal that partly comes from wild-caught
fish, which can deplete ocean populations and increase
the concentration of carcinogenic substances in the
salmon.
THAT FISH YOU CAUGHT WAS IN PAIN
The Los Angeles Times, Victoria Braithwaite, October
8, 2006
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-braithwaite8oct08,0,7423086.story
AQUACULTURE BECOMES BILLION-DOLLAR INDUSTRY
Pacific Business News, Howard Dicus
http://pacific.bizjournals.com/pacific/stories/2006/10/02/daily9.html
LABELS: FARMED FISH
The Washington Post, Juliet Eilperin, October 18,
2006; F03
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/17/AR2006101700295.html
6.
ANIMALS KILLED IN BARN FIRES
Haunted by the moans of cows he had
killed, Roddy M. Rudkin Jr., 22, turned himself into
Ohio authorities early this month. Rudkin had intentionally
set fire to a large dairy in June 2005, killing 52
cows and destroying two barns. A May 2005 fire he
started killed 12 horses and a donkey. He also pled
guilty to setting four occupied-house fires and three
vacant-house fires. In a victim impact statement,
the dairy owner told the judge that the cows were
"tortured," some exploding from the heat.
Others, who had been tied, ended up hanging. "They
died a slow death," he explained. Charged with
24 counts including aggravated arson, breaking and
entering, burglary, injuring animals, and vandalism,
Rudkin has been sentenced to 12 years in prison.
On October 2nd, 204 calves being raised
for veal at an Amish farm in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
were killed when a fire began in a coal-fired water
boiler at 2 a.m. The animals, worth an estimated $200,000,
were being raised under contract and were insured.
HAUNTED BY COWS' MOANS, ARSONIST PLEADS
GUILTY
The Vindicator, Tim Yovich, October 6, 2006
http://www.vindy.com/content/local_regional/297584897118003.php
FIRE IN AMISH BARN KILLS 204 VEAL CALVES
Associated Press, Oct. 3, 2006
http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/15667545.htm
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