No View from the Top of the Food Chain
posted by: Dave R. 118 days ago
I went to see Food, Inc. last weekend, the newest release by Jeff Skoll's Participant Media (they also produced An Inconvenient Truth.) Normally, I file my Care2 blogs under the global warming category, and expected to write a post-viewing entry about the climate impact of modern farming, and in particular the way modern cattle 'production' acts to concentrate fertilizer based feed crops and makes beef and dairy horrendously carbon intensive. (You can read more on that here.)
But the lasting images from the movie are of the nasty conditions and methods of modern feedlot and factory livestock production. The trailer is available here, and the humane society has several more clips posted here. As the voice over says, "The industry does not want you to know the truth about what you eat, because if you knew, you might not eat it."
But by now, don't we know and aren't we eating it anyway? I am an advocate of labeling, disclosure, and transparency in all areas of the food industry. Still, I wonder if transparency is really the answer in changing the approach to modern livestock production. The shock of a powerful movie or controversial headline never seems to last. Even iconic incidents, such as the breakdown of Eight Belles in the 2008 Kentucky Derby, NFL superstar Michael Vick's dog breeding operation, and perhaps some of the footage from Food Inc. capture the public's attention, but seem to fade quickly.
The USDA doesn't seem to be doing much to change conditions, nor do consumer driven market forces. Perhaps since images from factory farms are infrequent, but the "dollar menu" is something we see every day, we vote for cheap meat based on short term memory? Or maybe most of us just still don't know how most beef, chicken, and pork is raised and produced? Would a cruelty free option help? Or maybe, when it comes down to ordering our dinner, we just don't care.
As is true for all solutions, improving the way livestock is treated starts with defining the problem. So is it ignorance, blinders, or indifference? (I often ask the same question about climate change.) I would love to hear what you think in this case...Please weigh in.
But the lasting images from the movie are of the nasty conditions and methods of modern feedlot and factory livestock production. The trailer is available here, and the humane society has several more clips posted here. As the voice over says, "The industry does not want you to know the truth about what you eat, because if you knew, you might not eat it."
But by now, don't we know and aren't we eating it anyway? I am an advocate of labeling, disclosure, and transparency in all areas of the food industry. Still, I wonder if transparency is really the answer in changing the approach to modern livestock production. The shock of a powerful movie or controversial headline never seems to last. Even iconic incidents, such as the breakdown of Eight Belles in the 2008 Kentucky Derby, NFL superstar Michael Vick's dog breeding operation, and perhaps some of the footage from Food Inc. capture the public's attention, but seem to fade quickly.
The USDA doesn't seem to be doing much to change conditions, nor do consumer driven market forces. Perhaps since images from factory farms are infrequent, but the "dollar menu" is something we see every day, we vote for cheap meat based on short term memory? Or maybe most of us just still don't know how most beef, chicken, and pork is raised and produced? Would a cruelty free option help? Or maybe, when it comes down to ordering our dinner, we just don't care.
As is true for all solutions, improving the way livestock is treated starts with defining the problem. So is it ignorance, blinders, or indifference? (I often ask the same question about climate change.) I would love to hear what you think in this case...Please weigh in.
Read more: animal welfare
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I'm tired of the Vegans trying to make me not eat meat. Get real! I like meat but perfer it to be killed humanly. If you don't like meat eaters too bad we outnumber you. Stop trying to convert all of us it won't work just try for the ones you can.
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The only problem with evolving dietary practices to teh point that animals, are not part of the human food chain, (I would love to see this, especially with the revelations of disease proliferation from eating flesh) is that it leaves vegetables, and you know what will evolve next, right? vegetable rights!
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there is no humane way to kill animals. there is absolutely no reason to eat animal flesh. meat does not make you have a better or healthier diet. in fact it causes many cancers and diseases.
since i became a vegetarian, my medical problems have lessened and many have gone away. i feel healthier, have lost wieght naturally without trying, and have more engery and endurance than ever before in my 55 yrs.
it is not humans right to kill animals for any reason, it our right and obligation to care for them.
God gave us DOMINION over the animals, not DOMINATION. God did not give us permission to torture and abuse animals, in fact he admonishes us to care for our animals even before we sit down to eat our own meal.
it is disgusting the excuses poeple try to use to justify killing animals for food, clothing, using them for testing and experiements. it is barbaric the way we use them for entertainment. bull fighting, zoos, circuses, dog fighting, cock fighting, horse racing, dog racing the list goes on and on.
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Farm animals are shipped to the same slaughterhouses. It doesn't matter if they were raised humanely, organic, free range, or factory farmed.
Have you seen Meet Your Meat:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIjanhKqVC4
Don't believe it? Then go visit your local slaughterhouse KILL FLOOR and see for yourself.
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Kristina, for clarification, you do not run an animal rights site, it must be animal welfare.
Animal rights takes the position that animals are *not* here for us to use, in *any* way. Animal rights doesn't believe any God put animals here for human consumption, this position believes that animals exist as separate from human beings, and have the right to life.
Animal welfare believes that animal use is acceptable, as long as it is done "humanely." Which is a joke to me - how do you kill someone humanely?
So to claim you believe animal rights, and in the same breath claim that God put animals here for human consumption is an oxy-moron.
Darla, if you'd like more help and info on going vegan, message me, I'd be happy to help you out. :)
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I'm still eating meat,but not without the thoughts of what it had to go through.I'm not sure where to start to shop ,eat vegan.I don't absorb vitimin b-12 and can't afford shots,so I want to be vegan and need to understand how to eat right.I cannot watch what people do to animals,but I do read it all the time and if I didn't I think it would be too easy to forget and easy to add to the demand for cruelity.To me, its not worth the abuse these animals endure to eat meat,I need direction on what to replace the meat with.I believe meat causes alot of our health issues,because of how it is raised and being forced to grow too fast and shot up with stuff and I strongly believe we all eat too much meat for our own good. I don't believe animals were put here to eat,I think man implanted that in our heads.I think we would be alot healthier eating fruit and veg. and I don't trust the FDA with my body in what I or my pets eat.I don't believe dogs,etc. should be forced or encouraged to be vegan,they have a make up that requires meat and it processes it properly to keep them healthy,if it isn't been touched by man.So maybe animals were meant for each other to kill and eat only.One way of keeping the herds or population down.But man stepped in and of course ruined that,because alot of the animals on earth are gone and going forever.Every type of animal had its responsibilty in this world to keep the world healthy and pretty and alive.Anyways I do care and I spend alot of time on signing p
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I help run an animal rights site where I get feedback from all kinds of people, and I have learned over time that most people know how the animals are treated but just don't care. They say meat is "tasty" and they're going to eat it if they want to because animals are beneath us and created for us to eat. I agree, God made the animals for us to eat, but not to torture before eating. If the animals were treated with kindness and respect, fed well, kept in good living conditions before slaughter, I would feel much more comfortable with eating meats. To the meat industry though, it is simply all about the money.
http://www.myspace.com/animalrightsmovement
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No matter what is said about the cruelty of eating animals they the meat eaters don't want to know how the animals are treated, Animals are even forced fed so that grow faster before they slaughtered. If only the pigs, cows and the rest of the animals can talk they will tell you, please don't kill me i too want to live. You see they too have feelings. As far as the meat eaters are concerened they are animals, so they the right to kill and eat them. As Susan T, said perhaps in a 100 years from now we would have evolved and be Vegans.MAY ALL THE MEAT EATERS EVOLVE AND BE VEGANS AND LEAVE GODS BEAUTIFUL ANIMALS ALONE AND LET THEM DIE A NATURAL DEATH LIKE THE REST OF US.
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Glad to see so many here who can make the direct connection between health, environment and animal cruelty with veganism.
Great post Fire!
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At least make these animals comfortable before you decide to take there lives to make your dinner plate more colourful. Put them out in fields let them breath the clean air, eat the fresh grass make them COMFORTABLE you thought less monsters.
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Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.
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