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The Other White Meat
Want another reason to give up meat or at least go with local farmers who treat their animals humanely?
The stress, crowding and contamination inside confinement buildings foster disease, especially respiratory illnesses. In addition to toxic fumes, bacteria, yeast and molds have been recorded in swine buildings at a level more than 1,000 times higher than in normal air. To prevent disease outbreaks (and to stimulate faster growth), the hog industry adds more than 10 million pounds of antibiotics to its feed, the Union of Concerned Scientists estimates. This mountain of drugs — a staggering three times more than all antibiotics used to treat human illnesses — is a grim yardstick of the wretchedness of these facilities.
As more consumers seek out meat that wasn’t raised in conditions like this, the more we’ll see free-range, non-antibiotic farms come back. I mean, how many of you would pay a couple extra bucks for meat that wasn’t raised in these conditions? I definitely would.
So spread the word or else we’re going to get more of this or possibly much, much worse.
(h/t: Sully)
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5 Responses to “The Other White Meat”
One reason that I decided to become a vegetarian. I can’t contribute to this kind of cruelty to any animal. This sickens me.
The use of antibiotics in the meat industry is contributing to increase in super microbes. The days of the family farm are over, welcome the corparate farm. Many farmers are just sharecroppers now.
One order of BBQ back ribs, 2 pulled pork sandwiches, and a pound of smoked bacon to go, please.
As Rudi said, there’s more than even just the ethical reason to not treat animals this way. In fact, widespread use of antibiotics in livestock is a very significant contributer to antibiotic resistance in bacteria. Thanks to the way bacteria operate, this is not just a risk for livestock.
Antibiotic resistance can be passed from one bacteria to another. Not every bacteria needs to develop it’s own resistence. Resistence genes, even multiple resistence genes (to multiple antibiotics) can be passed through plasmids, small mobile pieces of DNA that can be copied and given to another bacteria; the bacterial equivalent on copying a DVD for a friend. Bacteria in animals resistent to antibiotics can help make bacteria in humans resistant.
Besides, animals pumped up with hormones and antibiotics, in cages where they cannot move, besides being incredibly cruel to them, can hardly be expected to give good meat. Consider if it’s not worth it to buy better (and ethically raised) meat less often, and compensate with more veggies and soy. You’re body, and your tastebuds, will thank you!
Pigs are supposed to be the smartest of farm animals. That is why people love to keep the Vietnamese pot-bellied ones as pets- even though they are , well, overweight slobs. I read a story recently about a pet pig who saved a kid’s life by putting her head into a charging pit bull’s mouth. She lost part of her ear and would have lost more, if someone had not grabbed a shotgun and killed the pit bull. So think of that when you’re eating your BLT, Austin.