Top Comments 5/1/08 - Factory Farms Impact Who?

I know, who would imagine that factory farms could have an effect on anyone besides the animals themselves? But according to the recently released Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production, industrial animal farming has quite an effect in many areas. You can read the full report at the link above.

Here are some excerpts.

On Public Health:

Over the past five decades, the number of farms producing animals for food has fallen dramatically, yet the number of food animals produced has remained roughly constant. It is the concentration of farm animals in larger and larger numbers in close proximity to one another, along with the potential of IFAP facilities to affect people, that give rise to many of the public health concerns that are attributed to IFAP.

The impacts on the health of those living near IFAP facilities have increasingly been the subject of epidemiological research. Adverse community health effects from exposure to IFAP air emissions fall into two categories: (1) respiratory symptoms, disease and impaired function, and (2) neurobehavioral symptoms and impaired function.

I can tell you that we drove past some large dairy operations in New Mexico this March, and I was most definitely affected - to the point of having to use my inhaler. The smell was THAT strong.

On the Environment:

According to the EPA, the annual production of manure produced by animal confinement facilities exceeds that produced by humans by at least three times. Unlike most human sewage, the majority of IFAP is spread on the ground untreated. Manure in such large quantities carries excess nutrients and farm chemicals that find their way into waterways, lakes, groundwater, soils and airways.

IFAP runoff also carries antibiotics and hormones, pesticides, and heavy metals. Antibiotics are used to prevent and treat bacterial infections and as growth promoters. Pesticides are used to control insect infestations and fungal growth. Heavy metals, especially zinc and copper, are added as micronutrients to the animal diet.

Mmmmm ... waste lagoons, anyone?

On Animal Welfare:

IFAP methods for raising food animals have generated concern and debate over just what constitutes a reasonable life for animals and what kind of quality of life we owe the animals in our care. It is an ethical dilemma that transcends objective scientific measures, and incorporates value-based concerns.

Scientists have long recognized that food safety is linked to the health of the animals that produce the meat, dairy, and egg products that we eat. In fact, scientists have found modern intensive confinement production systems can be stressful for food animals, and that stress can increase pathogen shedding in animals.

On Rural America:

The industrialization of American agriculture has transformed the character of agriculture itself and, in so doing, the face of rural America.  The family-owned farm producing a diverse mix of crops and food animals is largely gone as an economic entity, replaced by ever-larger operations producing just one animal species, or growing just one crop, and many rural communities have fared poorly.

And these rural Americans are fooled, time and time again, into voting against their interests.

Below are the Commission’s key recommendations.

   1. Ban the non-therapeutic use of antimicrobials in food animal production to reduce the risk of antimicrobial resistance to medically important antibiotics and other microbials.

   2. Implement a disease monitoring program for food animals to allow 48-hour trace-back of those animals through aspects of their production, in a fully integrated and robust national database.

   3. Treat IFAP as an industrial operation and implement a new system to deal with farm waste to replace the inflexible and broken system that exists today, to protect Americans from the adverse environmental and human health hazards of improperly handled IFAP waste.

   4. Phase out the most intensive and inhumane production practices within a decade to reduce the risk of IFAP to public health and improve animal wellbeing (i.e., gestation crates and battery cages).

   5. Federal and state laws need to be amended and enforced to provide a level playing field for producers when entering contracts with integrators.

   6. Increase funding for, expand and reform, animal agriculture research.

Support your local farmers. Buy from farmers' markets whenever possible. Try to find out the source of your food. (Hint: don't buy food from China.)

On to the comments!

These lovely people sent their comments to us at TopComments AT gmail DOT com, and they even told us their Dkos handles, so we are giving them full credit! Now it's your turn - send in those nominations!

From OrangeClouds115:

I want to recognize noddem for getting politically active. What an what an example to all of us!  example to all of us!

From vertexoflife:

This comment is deserving of recognition for its literary parody about Fox News. I'm sure Langston Huges would forgive you in this case, The Totalizer.

From twalling:

Would like to rec this for a top comment.

It's about the irony of John Kerry condemning the same sorts of attacks on Obama that, when used on Dean, ended up making Kerry the nominee in 2004.

It's from this diary.

From CalexanderJ:

http://www.dailykos.com/...

Funniest thing I've read in a while, you'll need to see the parent comment to get the context.

From va dare:

On learning that the Methodists did not approve the Bush Presidential Library at SMU, AllenTBG has a great one-liner suggestion that seems oh so apropos.

From noddem:

Heh. by revbludge.

From be the change you seek:

I have to say that once again, JeffLieber brings out the pun in people. This thread was in his diary called ********* (or something like that). I nearly choked on my mizuna!

Your intrepid diarist was quite busy at work today, and had little to no time to comment mine. :(  Thank goodness you all stepped up to the plate and sent lots of great submissions!

Top Mojo is provided by sardonyx, who has rescued me more times than I can count.

Top Mojo excluding search-identifiable tip jars, first diary comments, and Cheers and Jeers:

  1\) Obama/Anyone Not Named Clinton by jre2k8 — 152
  2\) Wow. by kismet — 111
  3\) What he is selling, I ain't buying. by Nailbanger — 110
  4\) there's a really by jfromga — 102
  5\) Is this the big one everyone's by American in Kathmandu — 101
  6\) Also, Ali Jawad Has Worked Closely... by DHinMI — 99
  7\) This paragraph will sting by Bill White — 98
  8\) He now makes the second by smash artist — 93
  9\) Bill Clinton said it wasn't pandering today by FishOutofWater — 91
10\) I'm interested in the AG's investigation... by mayan — 85
11\) A free paid infomercial by there will be blood — 85
12\) I don't want the Bill Clinton by Granny Doc — 83
13\) Get Out The Vote. It's Close. Great Diary. by FishOutofWater — 77
14\) He is... by mayan — 75
15\) But you folks should also check out former by HoundDog — 74
16\) Bwaaaah! Coffee meets flat screen by Bill White — 73
17\) This is blatently unethical... by David Kroning — 71
18\) Impeached Presidents by onanyes — 70
19\) A town hall is a softball, rally-type by jenesq — 70
20\) I understand -- here's what's going on by ProgressiveSouth — 69
21\) Oh boy, does this tax pander crap ... by highacidity — 69
22\) Andrew is a Benedict Arnold!!! by Miss Snarkypants — 68
23\) I'll go one step further by egarratt — 68
24\) All that's left now by Jeff Y — 68
25\) Free fucking informecial is right. by jeepdad — 68
26\) Which makes no sense to me by LauraC — 68
27\) Best line EVER by oak510 — 67
28\) My thought, too. by Dumbo — 64
29\) Wow! God Bless Joe Andrew by Bill White — 63
30\) and can you imagine Clintons taking marching by wishingwell — 63

Top Mojo with No Exclusions:

  1\) Tips by stefanielaine — 585
  2\) tip jar here by slinkerwink — 573
  3\) Tip Jar for Votes for Obama for President by HeartlandLiberal — 521
  4\) Thank you again by ProgressiveSouth — 385
  5\) Please, Drip Drip Drip Tips in this Jar! by Sallyport — 371
  6\) I am so glad by onanyes — 287
  7\) Great news. by jkennerl — 276
  8\) Tip jar by doctorgirl — 269
  9\) let's elect Honest Barack by kid oakland — 268
10\) tj by FishOutofWater — 257
11\) tips for the Obama staffers by Kyman — 240
12\) Tips/Rec's... by kubla000 — 232
13\) tips/recs, to hotlink/bookmark this for NOVEMBER. by icebergslim — 225
14\) I think I was once funny... by JeffLieber — 224
15\) Tip Jar by Black Kos — 194
16\) Thanks, everyone! by Jeffrey Feldman — 165
17\) Hmm by droogie6655321 — 164
18\) tips for this coming out! by rainyskip — 154
19\) Obama/Anyone Not Named Clinton by jre2k8 — 152
20\) Tip jar for fighting propaganda! by beachmom — 149
21\) Let's get it out people. by soms — 144
22\) Wow. by kismet — 111
23\) What he is selling, I ain't buying. by Nailbanger — 110
24\) Help me out here... by Elise — 104
25\) there's a really by jfromga — 102
26\) Is this the big one everyone's by American in Kathmandu — 101
27\) Tips for remembering by JedReport — 100
28\) Also, Ali Jawad Has Worked Closely... by DHinMI — 99
29\) This paragraph will sting by Bill White — 98
30\) He now makes the second by smash artist — 93