The maneuver was similar to a 2008 show of Big Ag force when the FDA tried to ban dosing of farm animals with cephalosporin antibiotics. It would be too expensive to farm without cephalosporins said Big Ag in unison and they won --the FDA backed down.
"While babbling that 'no one feels [the loss of their animals] due to accident, operational errors, disease or fire more acutely than' farmers do, in reality the animal farming industry prefers to let the trapped chickens, turkeys and other captive animals burn to death in agony and terror, and simply replace them and the buildings with insurance money plus taxpayer dollars funded through the US Department of Agriculture," says Dr. Karen Davis, president of United Poultry Concerns.
It is not even the "cost of doing business," said Davis in an interview, because the government and insurance pick up the cost of the animals allowed to burn to death. It is a win-win prospect for factory farmers.
Did Big Ag win this round, ensuring once again, cheap food at the cost of animal suffering? Not necessarily! Animals lovers, food activists and concerned consumers can post online comments about the NFPA animal housing fire proposal before May 16 and send written comments before April 11."It is an open consensus process," says NFPA. United Poultry Concerns has also placed a petition on Change.org. Most of the cruel conditions factory farms use to make cheap food are hidden from public view and animal decimating fires are a case in point.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
1
1
1
