Obama permanently bans slaughter of sick, diseased cows (so you don't eat them!)

The government on Saturday permanently banned the slaughter of cows too sick or weak to stand on their own, seeking to further minimize the chance that mad cow disease could enter the food supply.

The Agriculture Department proposed the ban last year after the biggest beef recall in U.S. history. The recall involved a Chino, Calif., slaughterhouse and "downer" cows. The Obama administration finalized the ban on Saturday.

"As part of our commitment to public health, our Agriculture Department is closing a loophole in the system to ensure that diseased cows don't find their way into the food supply," President Barack Obama said in his weekly radio and video address.

Obama called the country's food inspection system "a hazard to public health," citing outbreaks of deadlyfood poisoning in peanuts this year, peppers and possibly tomatoes last year and spinach in 2006.

There have been three confirmed cases of BSE in the United states, in a Canadian-born cow in 2003 in Washington state, in 2005 in Texas and in 2006 in Alabama. The Bush administration in 2006 dramatically scaled back testing for mad cow disease.


I am so glad to see this! I haven't eaten chicken since 2003 and I haven't eaten any other meat since I was 12! I tend to look down on people who still eat meat. It has to be known by now that these animals are abused until they die horrific deaths. If you can know that information and think that because you aren't actually killing the animal that you are not causing their deaths, you are in denial. I am so happy that some animal is finally getting the protection that they *all* deserve! This is an awesome first step!

Proposition 2 Passes in California!

The agribusiness industry spent $9 million in California to discourage and scare voters. Prop 2 passed by wide margins not just in the urban centers, but in 46 out of 58 counties—including solid majorities in rural counties with a large agricultural presence. Proposition 2, passed with 63.1%, or 6,592,694 votes, but doesn't take effect until 2015.


The measure bans confining crates and cages for hens, pregnant pigs and veal calves that don't allow the animals to turn around, lie down and extend their limbs. According to Daniel Sumner, from the UC Davis Agricultural Issues Center, "There is no reason to expect any significant change in the price of any eggs. That applies to eggs from cage-free hens too."


Egg farmers said it would be too costly to retrofit their farms. Sumner, a professor of agricultural economics, agrees. This confuses me since he also said, "There is no reason to expect any significant change in the price of any eggs". I guess we will see. I am willing to pay extra, I already spend three times as much to buy cage free eggs, what is another dollar to ensure that animals are being treated humanely. Violation of the law would result in a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $1,000, by imprisonment in the county jail of up to 180 days, or both imprisonment and fine.

The prohibition would not apply during scientific or agricultural research, veterinary testing and treatment, exhibitions, transportation or slaughter. It would also not apply to pregnant pigs during the seven-day period before the expected date of giving birth.

Source: latimes.com, Humane Society Legislative Fund, League of Women Voters of California

Oprah to talk about Factory Farming today!

Do you ever wonder what "cage-free" or "free range" on the label really means? Lisa Ling gets a rare look inside some of America's farms to see firsthand how the animals we eat live before they end up on our tables. From chicken farms to pig farms, Lisa visits several very different farming operations to show us how some animals are cared for. Then, people from both sides of the issue share their views on how they think we treat the animals we eat. Where does our food come from?

Click here to find out what time she is on in your area!

Check out the Humane Factory Farming Association's website if you can't wait for her show.

Peta offering $1 Million for "test tube" chicken.

While I disagree with much of Peta's tactics and actions, I am with them on this one.

The details:

PETA is offering a $1 million prize to the contest participant able to make the first in vitro chicken meat and sell it to the public by June 30, 2012. The contestant must do both of the following:

• Produce an in vitro chicken-meat product that has a taste and texture indistinguishable from real chicken flesh to non-meat-eaters and meat-eaters alike.
• Manufacture the approved product in large enough quantities to be sold commercially, and successfully sell it at a competitive price in at least 10 states.

Judging of taste and texture will be performed by a panel of 10 PETA judges, who will sample the in vitro chicken prepared using a fried "chicken" recipe from VegCooking.com. The in vitro chicken must get a score of at least 80 when evaluated in order to win the prize.

According to Peta.org, In vitro meat production would use animal stem cells that would be placed in a medium to grow and reproduce. The result would mimic flesh and could be cooked and eaten.

I am a vegetarian. I am 27 and have not eaten chicken for nearly 4 years and all other meat since I was 12 or 13. I am not sure if I would eat this new meat but I am sure meat eaters would. This would help our world so much if someone could make this.

Some facts about the effects of eating meat on the environment:

• According to the Sierra Club, producing one pound of grain-fed beef requires about 16 pounds of wheat and - as staggering as it sounds - 2,500 gallons of water. Furthermore, millions of acres of forest have been cleared worldwide to make room for the large areas of land needed for cattle grazing. In the United States, more than 260 million acres of forest have been cleared to grow crops to feed animals raised for meat. An acre of trees disappears every eight seconds.
• Livestock is fed more than 80 percent of the corn and 95 percent of the oats grown by American farmers. The world' s cattle alone consume a quantity of food equal to the caloric needs of 8.7 billion people - more than the entire human population on Earth. Link to Article
  
• A recent report prepared for the Senate Agricultural Committee concluded that animal waste is the largest contributor to pollution in 60 percent of the rivers and streams classified as " impaired" by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The report states that food animals produce waste at a rate of roughly 68,000 pounds per second. Link to Article
• Harvard nutritionist Jean Mayer estimates that a 10-percent reduction in U.S. meat consumption would free up enough grain to feed 60 million people. Some 40 percent of the world' s grain harvest is fed to livestock, while nearly a billion people go hungry each day. Link to Article
• According to CNN.com,90 percent of all large fishes have disappeared from the world's oceans in the past half century, the devastating result of industrial fishing.

Learn more:

Article-Why Eating Meat isn't Natural.

Summary of Article

• Human anatomy is much more similar to herbivores than carnivores.
• Meat consumption unquestionably promotes heart disease, cancer, diabetes, osteoporosis, and every other major degenerative disease -- the opposite of plant-based diets.
• Physical performance is superior on all-plant diets.
• Making one contrary point does not magically invalidate all the other evidence as soon as it's made.

YouTube Video from the Humane Society of the United States on Factory Farming.

Photos/Videos of Factory Farming from the Humane Farming Association

Environmental Impact of Factory Farming