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Although the report below was published in the Seattle
Times, it is directly relevant to the CAFOs now operating in Michigan. John Rebers Report Urges Huge Changes to Factory-Farming Practices from the Seattle Times WASHINGTON - Factory farming takes a big toll on human
health and the environment, is undermining rural America's economic stability
and fails to provide the humane treatment of livestock, concludes an
independent, 2 1/2- year analysis that calls for major changes in the way
corporate agriculture produces meat, milk and eggs. The report, sponsored by the Pew Charitable Trusts and
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and released Tuesday, finds
that the "economies of scale" long used to justify factory-farming
practices are largely an illusion, perpetuated by a failure to account for
associated costs. Among those costs are human illnesses caused by
drug-resistant bacteria associated with the rampant use of antibiotics on
feedlots and the degradation of land, water and air quality caused by animal
waste too intensely concentrated to be neutralized by natural processes. To read more: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2004381989_farmstudy30.html (use the shorter URL if the longer one is truncated/split
between lines by your email client) |