Marissa Henze, Noah Hurley,
Celia Guyer, Houston Kelly,
Nerma Mrguda, AnnMarie Mews
http://www.humanesociety.org/news/magazines/2010/
07-08/from_homeland_to_wasteland_1.html
Historical Context
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• Began in the 1920’s with the discovery of vitamins A and D
It evolved in the 1940’s with the use of antibiotics and the assembly line
Geographical Context
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• http://www.factoryfarmmap.org/
Almost half of factory farm hens are in Iowa,
Indiana, California, and Pennsylvania
Iowa
Factory farmed hogs increased 75% between 1997 and 2007 to 17.9 million
Egg factory farms tripled to 1.3 million also between
1997 and 2007
Major Players
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• Tyson- largest poultry producer in the world
HFA- Humane Farming Association
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• The treatment of the animals is often very cruel and inhumane
Often criticized for the enormous amounts of manure and waste produced
Whether growth hormones and antibiotics should be fed to the animals
• Go vegan
No dairy or eggs
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• Use humane slaughtering methods
Bring livestock back to a ranch or farm style
• Pollution from manure waste
Its seeping into the water table
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• Hormones in the meat might affect humans
Hormone residues excreted by the livestock can affect animals in other habitats
Chickens are confined to small cages often with many chickens in one cage.
Hens are de-beaked
Bulls are castrated and have their horns chopped off
Cows are branded repeatedly
Veal calves are chained to impede movement and are fed a diet that causes anemia
Until 100 A.D. slaughtering was done mostly at home or on small livestock farms and shipped domestically.
In between the years 100 A.D. and 103 A.D. large slaughterhouses started to show up in large cities such as
Rome, London, and Paris.
This is where abuse is thought to have started as we think of it today
Once man could produce mass amounts of meat the prices went down and so did the quality of the product and lives of livestock.
But compared to the treatment of livestock today it was humane.
In the late 1900’s a new slaughterhouse blue print was drawn up by Dr. Temple Grandin.
This new design of slaughter houses funnel cows and chickens single file into the slaughtering rooms.
Anyone that consumes meat is a player in abusive slaughtering. Unless you get only local meat from trusted farmers.
But the biggest players in abusive slaughtering are fast food companies like
McDonalds and Burger King etc.
Tyson being the worlds biggest provider of meat is right up there with McDonalds.
Start a vegetarian or white meat campaign since chicken, turkey, and pork have less greenhouse gas output.
Start letting livestock have normal lifespan of at least 4 years without growth hormones and minimum antibiotics in open air.
Yes this will kill company incomes for the first 4 years but after that there will be a steady stream of animals coming in for slaughter after a normal lifespan.
Historical Context
In 1930 materials were taken from the pituitary gland of a cow and injected back into its system.
Bovine was the material found to promote growth.
In the 1980’s, enough pure bovine was mass produced using recombinant technology.
rBGH (recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone) was approved in 1993 by the FDA.
Antibiotics first showed up in animal feed in the 1950’s.
Now three types are used: therapeutics, preventatives, and growth promoters.
Geographical Context and Major Players
Hormones and antibiotics are widely used in the U.S. by industrial meat producers.
Iowa, Nebraska, and Kansas are the 3 largest producers of beef enhanced with hormones and antibiotics.
Children, pregnant women, and their unborn children are most vulnerable to the harmful effects of hormones.
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Sources of Conflict
Today, 2/3 of marketed meats are produced with hormones and antibiotics.
Six harmful hormones, three natural and three synthetic, affect human hormone balances.
Hormones pass through with manure which is dumped, contaminating surface and ground water.
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Impact on U.S.
The U.S. and Canada are the only countries mass using hormones in their meat production.
Hormones and antibiotics provide a fast and inexpensive way of producing meat.
Our fish ecosystems are being weakened.
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Solutions
Farmers can choose to stop using hormones and antibiotics.
Consumers can choose to buy hormone free meat/dairy.
Choose USDA certified organic foods.
The air contains gases, fumes, dust and other harmful things
Heavily farmed areas around the world
Factory farms generate 500 million tons of manure
From manure, there is over 160 gases that contaminate the air
Gases include Carbon Dioxide, Methane,
Ammonia, Hydrogen Sulfide, and many more
This causes respiratory diseases and global warming to the Earth and people who live near
18% of Human induced greenhouse gas
Asthma, respiratory inflammation, allergies, headaches, eye irritation, and nausea
http://www.sustainabletable.org/issues/factoryfarming
/ http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/campaigns/fact ory_farming/
Video http://www.humanesociety.org/news/magazines/2010/
07-08/from_homeland_to_wasteland_1.html
http://animalrights.about.com/od/animalsusedforfood
/a/SolutionFactory.htm
www.sustainabletable.org
www.envirocancer.cornell.edu
http://www.factoryfarmtaxprotest.org/FactoryFarmFact
Sheet.pdf
http://www.epa.vic.gov.au/air/aq4kids/pollution.asp