|
Fact Sheet: This is Your Beef on Drugs: The Health and Environmental Risks of Hormones in Meat
Fact Sheet: Mad Cow Disease: Are Americans at Risk? (pdf format)
Letter to USDA: Groups tell Secretary Veneman it is unacceptable to stop Creekstone Farms from testing all cattle for Mad Cow disease – April 19
Letter to Congress: Groups ask Congress to keep all "downer" animals out of the food supply in the face of industry pressure to weaken new federal regulations - April 12
Mad Cow Disease Prevention Platform: Food safety and animal welfare groups join Friends of the Earth in presenting seven essential steps to prevent mad cow disease to Congress (pdf format) - May 7
Press Release: Mad Cow Rules May Have Been Violated by Other Washington State Firms;
FDA Database from March 2002 Shows More Problem Companies from 1998 to 2002 - Dec. 26, 2003
Press Release: Mad Cow Rules Violated by Feed Mills in Washington State
USDA and FDA Asked to Investigate Possible Connection to First Mad Cow Incidence - Dec. 24, 2003
Read the letter we sent to the FDA urging them to tighten regulations to prevent Mad Cow disease, strengthen enforcement of the regulations to protect the American public and stop the worst factory farming practices - Dec. 24, 2003
Press Release: Mad Cow Prevention Rules Violated by 300 U.S. Companies - FDA Asked to Take Action to Protect Public Health and Farmers - Oct. 10, 2003
A listing of the 300 firms out of violating the Mad Cow prevention rules. - No longer available.
An assessment of the FDA database of mad cow prevention inspection records.
Learn more about Mad Cow disease.
FACTORY FARMS 101
- WHAT'S WRONG WITH FACTORY FARMS?
- WHAT ARE THE ALTERNATIVES?
- NEWS AND UPDATES
- WHAT YOU CAN DO
- RECOMMENDED READING
- LINKS TO OTHER GROUPS WORKING ON FACTORY FARMS
WHAT'S WRONG WITH FACTORY FARMS?
Factory farms, otherwise known as Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs), represent everything wrong with agriculture today. They are an industrial approach to an occupation that once seemed pastoral and integrated with the environment. They act like factories, producing industrial level pollution and treating animals simply as raw material units of production. They are an insult to the landscape and to our bodies.
Factory farms:
Use antibiotics that can cause resistance to medical treatment
Use hormones that could hurt us
- Growth hormone used to increase milk production harms cows and it may cause cancer in human
- Premature development in children and cancer may be caused by hormones in meat
Ignore animal welfare
Waste resources and pollute (site water, energy, soil, etc.)
Risk new diseases like mad cow
Put small farmers out of business and lower quality of life for rural communities
WHAT ARE THE ALTERNATIVES?
"Organic foods, including organic meats, will be the fastest growing trend in the U.S. food industry in 2003." (Source: New report by the Food Network's chefs and culinary staff)
Smaller family farms and grass-fed, free-range, local, organic and sustainable animal farming are all part of the solution. Learn about the alternatives:
NEWS AND UPDATES
Friends of the Earth joins letter to EPA calling for Watershed Protection from Factory Farms.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Personal Choices that Make A Difference
- As long as factory farms exist, eat meat from free-range, organically raised animals, or choose meat alternatives. Better for the planet, better for you. Read this feature story in E-Magazine
- Buy locally-grown, organic, sustainably-raised food. It's better for you, animals and the environment. Vote with your dollar and don't buy meat raised on factory farms. Shop at your local farmer's market or co-op. Ask the manager of your local supermarket to sell locally-grown meat and vegetables from independent family farmers. Find local, sustainably produced food near you, visit Local Harvest or the USDA's Web site.
- Use Sustainable Table's "Eat Well Guide"
Take Action:
RECOMMENDED READING
Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser
Food Revolution, John Robbins [www.foodrevolution.org]
Hope's Edge: The Next Diet for a Small Planet, Frances Moore Lappe and Anna Lappe
Mad Cow USA, John Stauber
Mad Cowboy, Howard Lyman
"Power Steer," by Michael Pollen, New York Times, March 31, 2002
"The Curse of Factory Farms," Editorial, New York Times, Aug.30, 2002
"Farming without the Factory," By Kari Lydersen, AlterNet, Sept. 23, 2002
LINKS TO OTHER GROUPS WORKING ON FACTORY FARMS
Earthsave
GRACE Factory Farm Project
The Humane Society of the United States
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
Keep Antibiotics Working Campaign
Organic Consumers Association
Public Citizen
Union of Concerned Scientists
|
