The Voice of the People
... or at least my own
|
|
|
... or at least my own | | ||||
November 11, 2002
|
After you read the story, I will offer suggestive commentary on why I feel this to be an example of this genre. _____________________________________ Feedlot Perils Outpace Regulation, Sierra Club Says By ELIZABETH BECKER WASHINGTON, Aug. 12 — The rapid growth of huge animal feedlots and slaughterhouses in the 1990's has outpaced the power of state and federal regulators to keep them operating safely and cleanly, leading to polluted rivers and lakes, meat recalls and workplace injuries, a Sierra Club report says. In its first effort to catalog the environmental, health and safety records of the feedlots and packing plants owned by corporations, the Sierra Club reported these findings from a study of state and federal records for the 1980's and 90's: ¶The slaughterhouses produced 134 million pounds of contaminated or possibly contaminated meat. ¶Millions of gallons of animal feces and urine that seeped from manure pits of the big feedlots polluted 35,000 miles of rivers. ¶More than $48 million in fines were paid for health and environmental violations that included slaughtering diseased cows; polluting water with animal carcasses, urine and feces; and selling rodent-tainted meat. ¶Labor and worker-safety violations led to 13 deaths and more than $35 million in fines for the corporations. The study found that most violations occurred in the 1990's, when the meat industry began building large feedlots in rural America from North Carolina to California. The 630 meat factories in 44 states covered by the study included the largest feedlots, which raise millions of hogs, chickens or cattle. The report, "The Rap Sheet on Animal Factories," is to be released on Tuesday by the Sierra Club, which has argued for more regulation. The report also identified 10 companies as having the worst health, safety and pollution records. The meat industry criticized the report, saying it failed to reflect the improvements in response to early problems or innovations to improve meat safety. Instead, industry spokesmen said, the report focused on old problems already uncovered by federal and local regulators. One spokesman, J. Patrick Boyle, president of the American Meat Institute, said, "In compiling a laundry list of information about large food, feed and agribusinesses on issues ranging from food safety to animal welfare to the environment, the Sierra Club seeks to sling as much mud as it can at the U.S. meat and poultry industry and see what sticks." The Sierra Club and other environmental groups have argued that the regulations were written to cover small family farms, not the huge modern feedlots. The Environmental Protection Agency is under court order to come up with new federal regulations for feedlots. Stephanie Bell, a spokeswoman, said the agency would complete them by December. Worried that new regulations would impose new expenses, the large corporations lobbied for and won eligibility for money from the new farm bill to clean up animal wastewater. Ed Hopkins, author of the Sierra Club's study, said, "That's why we opposed the new farm bill, because it makes the American taxpayer subsidize these huge animal factories and clean up their mess." In the last five years, several rural communities have fought to keep out new feedlots, citing the smell, the threat to the environment and dangerous, low-paying jobs. Ann Thorne, a professor at Missouri Western State College and the wife of a small cattle farmer, led a successful drive two years ago to prevent a hog operation from locating near St. Joseph. "They wanted to slaughter 16,000 hogs a day," Mrs. Thorne said. "Do you have any idea what that would do to our lovely rural community? I'd never been in politics before — it was a total anomaly for me — but I didn't want my life ruined by those hogs." The major poultry and meat producers, however, said they stood by their records and the fact that their big feedlots and packing houses translated into uniform quality and lower prices for consumers. "We're proud that we help support ranchers from all over the United States who grow the cattle we buy, and farmers who grow the grain to feed the animals grown for us," said Ed Nicholson, a spokesman for Tyson Foods Inc., which was cited as one of the companies with the worst records. Most of the environmental problems stem from the waste from the feedlots. The country's cattle, hog and chicken feedlots produce 291 billion pounds of manure a day. That waste is held in open pits, known as manure lagoons. Leaks and spills from these lagoons have caused most of the water pollution and fish kills documented in the report. One example cited was the illegal discharge of hog waste by Cargill Pork Inc., which pleaded guilty in February to violating the Clean Water Act after manure spilled into the Loutre River in Missouri, killing more than 50,000 fish. Mark Klein, a Cargill spokesman, said that incident was not characteristic of the company, and he called it "an accident that should not have happened." "What the report doesn't say," Mr. Klein said, "is we cooperated with officials in this spill. We cleaned up the creek and closed down the operation. We are committed to protecting the environment and being good neighbors in our communities." The Washington Post 2002 ******************************************************************* Now the commentary : In the recent book by Eric Schlosser, "Fast Food Nation", the author discusses many of the disputes of the labor practices of the meat industry that are not detailed in this article. Tyson chicken has been accused of manipulating a legal form of debt servitude that effectively cheapens the labor of the farmers who are given "contracts" to raise the chicken. The safety conditions of the slaughterhouses are undesirable and downright dangerous. Workers are on a conveyor belt line that gives them only so much time to complete their repetitive task. The speed and intensity of the work line while working with sharp objects causes accidents. There is a sordid history of injured workers being intimidated and railroaded as regards to workmen's compensation. The feeding of the raised animals (whether pork, chicken, and cattle) consists of animal bi-products as a way to cut costs -- instead of throwing away the leftover parts, they are feed to the next generation of animals. They are injected with growth hormones that are dangerous to humans. The animals are concentrated and raised in plots of land or in cages According to respected biologists, these methods of raising meat are excellent breeding environments for diseases and plagues. In my opinion the above article left these important topics obscured, if not altogether removed. Notice the statements made in the article by the "spokesmen" of the companies (ie, the official Press Agent of the company line): 1) J. Patrick Boyle, president of the American Meat Institute, said, "In compiling a laundry list of information about large food, feed and agribusinesses on issues ranging from food safety to animal welfare to the environment, the Sierra Club seeks to sling as much mud as it can at the U.S. meat and poultry industry and see what sticks." **so reporting the truth is "mudslinging" 2)The meat industry criticized the report, saying it failed to reflect the improvements in response to early problems or innovations to improve meat safety. Instead, industry spokesmen said, the report focused on old problems already uncovered by federal and local regulators. **notice that the article does not say who brought this up and refers to the "meat industry" as the source of the disgruntlement 3)The major poultry and meat producers, however, said they stood by their records and the fact that their big feedlots and packing houses translated into uniform quality and lower prices for consumers. "We're proud that we help support ranchers from all over the United States who grow the cattle we buy, and farmers who grow the grain to feed the animals grown for us," said Ed Nicholson, a spokesman for Tyson Foods Inc., which was cited as one of the companies with the worst records. **"uniform quality" and "lower prices" are the buzzwords here that are supposed to justify current practices, and then the Tyson spokesperson goes into gyrations about being "proud" that the system is one big connected network. Yet these statements do not address the allegations. PR spokespersons are hired to avoid the point. "Uniform" refers to the same process, and "quality" does not mean either good or bad. "Good quality" or "high quality" were not the choosen words however. 4)Mark Klein, a Cargill spokesman, said that incident was not characteristic of the company, and he called it "an accident that should not have happened." "What the report doesn't say," Mr. Klein said, "is we cooperated with officials in this spill. We cleaned up the creek and closed down the operation. We are committed to protecting the environment and being good neighbors in our communities." **that the accident was "not characteristic" and "should not have happened" avoids the whole issue at hand. What does "characteristic" mean anyway? Does it refer to a certain minimum acceptable percentage level? Or what? Of course, no accident should ever happen, so why do we have to hear the obvious. There is no statement about the cause of the accident or the solution. We don't know how or why the leaks occurred, if they occurred for long periods of time, and how to prevent leaks. So When Mr. Klein gloats about "what the report doesn't say" he does not inform us about the problems or the solutions, but about "cooperation with officials." The incident of cleaning up after accidents is a given occurrence. We would also expect "cooperation with officials" so why gripe about these expected responses not being in a report that details the problems of the industry. And being "committed to protecting the environment and being good neighbors" is a standard phrase that all corporate spokespersons memorize. Every single corporate enterprise that was ever caught red-handed has always professed these honored words. Gino Napoli 490 31st Avenue # 204 San Francisco, California 94121 High School Math Teacher Terra Nova High School Pacifica, California jonsdarc@mindspring.com home: (415) 751 - 1499 |