The environmental cost of meat II

Green and animal rights issues have lately come closer as more and more organizations wake up to the huge damage that factory farming does to the planet (see our previous blog on this. For facts and figures, click here). One example of this trend is that the environmental section of the UK Guardian is inviting its readers to pledge not to eat meat. And what is bad to the planet is bad for our health in more ones than one. With huge demand for meat, quality control is no longer a priority so the meat that arrives at people’s plates is quite often not to be trusted. Meat factories are run on the basis of boundless greed.

The Humane Society of the United States, an organization that works towards a humane and sustainable world for all animals, this week filed suit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to close a dangerous loophole in the agency’s regulations that contributed to the recent recall of more than 143 million pounds of beef—much of which was fed to schoolchildren in at least 40 states and the District of Columbia. The recall was initiated after an HSUS investigation documented shocking acts of animal cruelty to non-ambulatory or “downer” cattle at a slaughterhouse in Chino, California.

“USDA has in recent weeks assured the public that sick and crippled cattle are not allowed to enter the food supply, but the agency’s regulations actually contradict that assertion,” said Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The Humane Society of the United States. “Unless we want yet another dramatic food scare—further eroding consumer confidence in beef and costing the private sector and the federal government tens of millions of dollars—we should not hesitate to close this legal loophole and establish an unambiguous no-downer policy that will also help protect crippled animals from egregious abuse.”

The video below shows some shocking footage of the investigation that led to the suit. It’s grim imagery but it’s important to see what’s happening in the slaughterhouses in America.

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Antonio Pasolini

London-based, Italo-Brazilian journalist and friend of the earth.

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