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Life Arts    H3'ed 3/12/15

Blowing the Whistle on the USDA

Message Suzana Megles
I had not planned on writing today. I have so many other things needing to be done, but when I read Wayne Pacelle's "USDA REPORT MISSES THE MARC," I knew I had to share this revealing article with those of you who do not get the US Humane Society's posts. To tell you the truth, reading it made me sick to my stomach.
Per Pacelle -re the USDA's report on the federally-funded Nebraska-based U.S. MEAT ANIMAL RESEARCH CENTER (USMARC) --"Today's USDA report misses a larger point: why is our government using taxpayer money to fund productivity experiments for the factory farming industry?" That sentence alone irks me no end, and if you are a discerning taxpayer, it should do the same to you.
And if you consider yourself even the least bit compassionate -- tell me what you think of what OUR GOVERNMENT was sanctioning at this Nebraska research center per the Michael Moss investigative piece which was published a month ago in the New York Times:
1. pigs were locked in steam chambers until they died
2. breeding calves were born with 'deformed vaginas' and tangled legs
3. newborn lambs were left to starve, freeze, or, get battered to death by hail.
Is this really happening in America? It sounds more like something the Nazis would do. And per the brave whistleblower, Dr. Jim Keen- there were additional abuses that didn't make it in the article. And Dr. Keen's allegations of abusive research were also corroborated by others at the center.
And Pacelle notes that today the USDA issued a report acknowledging a "few" of their failings while sidestepping a serious look at past abuses -- neither affirming or denying them.
Though the HSUS welcomes the new USDA recommendations, they stop short of including the animals under the Animal Welfare Act which excludes farm animals used for agricultural research. Congress needs to pass a bill including farm animals under the Animal Welfare Act. Shameful that it has not been done to date.
But the searing question for me is Pacelle's perceptive query which needs addressing- "Why is our government using taxpayer money to fund productivity experiments for the factory farming industry?" In my opinion. this is shameful, indefensible, and inexcusable. Many of us are ethical vegans, and we don't want farm animals suffering in this cruel research center. In fact, we also find it reprehensible that we still use cruel
factory farms to raise our farm animals. And now this cruel research which I hope even disgusts meat eaters.
I am disappointed in President Obama for his obvious lack of concern re a USDA which is anything but compassionate and caring for our animals. Ditto- Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. They are both getting copies of this e-mail. Chances of them reading it? pretty low. However, it is better to do SOMETHING then nothing. And wouldn't it be great if a lot of you would do the same?
Pacelle's post is 3 pages long. I am sure I missed other salient points, but for me there was only one which matters --the need to not fix this horrible farm animal research center, but to have it completely dismantled.
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I have been concerned about animal suffering ever since
I received my first puppy Peaches in 1975. She made me take a good look at the animal kingdom and I was shocked to see how badly we treat so many animals. At 77, I've been a vegan for the (more...)
 
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