factory farms and disease

Scanning the science headlines today I came across a CNN opinion piece by novelist Jonathan Safran Foer, whose latest book – Eating Animals (Little, Brown and Co.) – is a nonfiction commentary on the implications and complications of consuming animal products.

(that I can even call on the commodity-oriented rhetoric of referring to meat, eggs, and dairy as "animal products" is, perhaps, a commentary in itself)

This particular article must be a promotional intro to his book, and focuses on food-related illnesses. There are two main threads to this here:

1. diseases that we get from the food we eat, whether that's food poisoning or flus that originate in food-animal populations;
2. the increased risk of human illness from antibiotic-resistant microbes caused by feeding food-animals antibiotics on a preventative basis.

Worth reading if you're concerned about these kinds of issues.

In one of those common but slightly odd coincidences, Safran Froer's focus on poultry farms is somewhat in tune with an old episode of the tv show Bones that aired last night. I didn't catch all the nuances of the episode (I was doing other things at the time) but I gather one of the threads involved the health hazards of industrial poultry farming.

never mind modified vegetables: genetic engineering gone really wrong

An article in New Scientist reports that researchers are investigating ways to produce pain-free animals to reduce or eliminate animal suffering in factory farms. Reducing animal suffering I'm on board with, but there are some seriously screwed up aspects of this kind of research.

For one thing, the main proponent of this idea (who is featured in the article), a philosopher (and neuroethicist?) from Washington University, bases his proposal on some very skewed ground. He's quoted as follows:

"If we can't do away with factory farming, we should at least take steps to minimise the amount of suffering that is caused . . . I'm offering a solution where you could still eat meat but avoid animal suffering."

1. Why can't we do away with factory farming? Giving up on the idea is a sure way to guarantee it will never happen.
2. Sure, let's make it easier for people to ignore their relationship with the food they consume. We need a better understanding of what we're eating, not a hand blocking that kind of knowledge and responsibility from our minds.

Besides, the problem isn't that animals in factory farms feel pain. The problem is that our attitudes toward animals and view of them as resources makes it acceptable, even desirable, to put them in factory farms in the first place. Eliminating or reducing the animals' perception of pain does nothing to improve their conditions or encourage a more highly developed understanding of our interdependent relationships with animals. It just makes us feel better about engaging in use and abuse. And as page two of the article points out, there are additional problems with industrial agriculture, such as the environmental damage such practices cause.

keew still kickin' (in spirit, if not through the ether)

It's approaching the one-year mark since Kill Eat Exploit the Weak went off the air. Which means it's time for a few reminders that we're still alive in some dimension!

Recently Coral, formerly of Coral-FM, sent me the print version of an on-air interview she conducted with the bitter sidekick and me last July. So one year later, here's a little context and back story for the curious.

I haven't done anything about getting back on the air yet, but I still haven't ruled it out. For now (as you know if you've been reading recent posts), I'm putting in my volunteer time at the Burlington Humane Society. So far I've been cleaning cat cages and providing clean litter, food, water and a little attention for the cats. Next week I start my training to work at the reception desk, which is cool since I want to learn more about how the organization works.

On the music front, you can still read my reviews and/or interviews in Unrestrained! and Exclaim! (and in a much more informal context, here). Or check out the odd concert photo here.

I'm still keeping up with Niagara Action for Animals as well. Here are a few NAfA updates/events:

• Liberty Over Violence demonstration about the horrors of factory farming: Saturday July 12, 3pm - 4:30pm at the SE corner of Bloor and Spadina.
• NAfA Yard Sale: Saturday July 19, 9am - 1pm at 36 Thorndale in St. Catharines.
• Party for the Paws: Proceeds to SNIP (Spay/Neuter), Friday August 8 at Club Richelieu in Welland.

And if you're in Toronto tonight, stop by the Savage Garden for some live digital hardcore with Schizoid and Combat Exhaustion.

boys night on keew

I'm skipping out on keew tonight to tackle radio from a different angle and let the boys (Trevorkian and his Hatebreed-loving guest) take over. But here are a couple of things they might mention:

• stupid "sportsmen" who don't think tying live turkeys to straw bales and then trying to draw blood by shooting them with arrows isn't cruel (read more here)
• or the FDA deciding that cheaper cheeseburgers are more important than effective healthcare (here)

Don't forget the Thinking about Animals conference at Brock University this Thursday and Friday. It appears that the Steven Best appearance was my imagination or had to be cancelled but there's plenty more worth checking out.

pigs in space, as opposed to crates

On the radio last weekend I mentioned the fact that the largest producer of pork in America had agreed to stop keeping breeding mama pigs confined in gestation crates, or to at least phase it out. Whether they actually care that living in a crate makes for unhappy and unhealthy pigs... Probably not, but as long as they don't put them in something worse...

I also mentioned that the Winnipeg Humane Society, at the very least, was putting pressure on Canada's Maple Leaf Pork to do the same. Turns out Maple Leaf has just agreed.

Thus my title pigs in [more] space.

Check it out for yourself:
The Humane Society of the United States (pig page)
peta2 (pig blog)

p.s. I've been previewing the new Virgin Black album. All I can say so far is "WOW."

p.s. [v.2] went to a presentation on all-girl metal and hard rock tribute bands today. wow in a very different sense. extremely interesting stuff. I'd heard of the Iron Maidens, but... if you have no idea what I'm talking about look 'em up (and stay tuned for the book and documentary)