Strike a blow to greed
From Wall Street to Washington, its becoming increasingly clear that greed has taken over. And the dire consequences are rippling throughout this country — from California to Connecticut, from Wall Street investments to Main Street’s bottom line. Our financial markets are in trouble, American families are feeling the financial squeeze, and things are only getting worse. Yes, Greed ruled the last eight years — and the damage is both apparent and extreme.
This election isn’t going to fix all our problems, but from Obama, to congressional campaigns, to local elections, we can take a big step forward. Californians, in particular, have a unique opportunity to s trike back at corporate greed and send a message to an industry that has been gouging consumers for far too long.
Its called Proposition 2 — a measure to ensure basic safety and animal welfare at California farms. And while the regulation is modest, it will go a long way towards curbing Big Agribusiness’s greed-driven and reckless appetite.
Big Agribusiness has been cutting corners, at the expense of public health, food safety, the environment, and animal welfare. Proposition 2, the Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act, will begin to curb some of the worst abuses in industrial factory farming, by putting a stop to the practice of cramming animals into cages and crates so small that the animals cannot turn around.
Currently, veal calves are tethered by the neck and can barely move, breeding pigs in severe confinement bite the metal bars of their crates, and egg-laying hens get trapped and even impaled in their wire cages. We wouldn’t force our pets to live in filthy, cramped cages for their whole lives, and we shouldn’t force farm animals to endure such misery.
But Prop 2 isn’t just good for animals, it’s also good for our health and food safety. We all witnessed the cruel treatment of sick and crippled cows exposed by a Chino slaughter plant investigation this year, prompting authorities to pull meat off school menus and initiate a nationwide recall. Factory farmers h ave put our health at risk by allowing these terrible abuses, and now are recklessly telling us it’s okay to keep animals in overcrowded, inhumane conditions where they are more likely to spread diseases such as Salmonella.
California family farmers support Prop 2 because they believe food quality and safety are enhanced by better farming practices. The Big Agribusiness interests opposing Proposition 2—masquerading as the deceptively named “Californians for Safe Food”—have a record of duping the public, harming animals, and polluting the environment. Their biggest financial backers are even under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice for a price-fixing scheme that gouges consumers and has caused egg prices to skyrocket.
Prop 2 also protects air and water and safeguards the environment. The American Public Health Association has called for a moratorium on new factory farms because of the devastating effects these operations can have on surrounding communities. Factory farms often spread waste on the ground untreated—contaminating our waterways, lakes, groundwater, soil, and air. Environmental leaders like Clean Water Action and the Sierra Club support Prop 2.
It’s time for California to adopt this reasonable and common-sense reform. Prop 2 provides ample time—until 2015—for factory farmers using these severe confinement methods to shift to more humane practices. Arizona, Colorado, Florida,20and Oregon have passed similar laws. And according to a California poultry industry economist, it costs less than a penny per egg to stop cramming birds into tiny wire cages.
Californians who want to stop animal cruelty, improve food safety, protect consumers, and strike a blow against corporate greed should vote YES! on Prop 2 this November. Its time to put common sense, basic humanity, and American families, ahead of corporate interests.
Negative adds dont bring solutions BUT: McCain 100% negative adds tells us he has no vision. These statesman are dangerous. When McCain whould be president he will also seek negative war solutions. Only bad leaders and regimes run negative adds and solution. Because they have no realsolutions. Beware for McCain.
I encourage you to go to http://www.noonpro2.com to get the other side of the story.
You are so correct when you say we wouldn’t treat our pets this way. No animal should be subject to such inhumane treatment. These people who torture their livelihood should be treated the same way, only then will it stop. Can you imagine a corporate CEO being poked and prodded with a spear until he/she bled? It is about greed, the more you can put into a space, the more money you can get without paying for more space.
It isn’t only raising animals for consumption that promotes greed, it’s everywhere you look. Give you less and charge you more is the CEO’s mentality and it has worked.
We deserve better and should demand that we be treated with courtesy, and respect and insist on better living conditions for our animals. Do away with feeding antibiotics to animals, stringent control on feed that goes to animals in confinement.
Right on. This is one of the most important bills ever to be put forward on behalf on farmed animals. So much is at stake with Prop 2. Thanks for all your work to promote it.
I looked at the No on Prop 2 site. The 2 rotating quotes on their front page are about bird flu…. these are clearly scare tactics since Prop 2 says nothing about giving the chickens access to the outdoors. I wonder if the USAHA and WHO know their quotes have been misappropriated… and I wonder what other lies the “Californians for Safe Food” will tell…
Myths propagated by opponents to Prop 2, and the real facts.
1. MYTH: Food prices will increase if this initiative passes.
FACT: Published research, as well as an analysis by a California-based poultry economist, estimates that the increased costs for cage-free production vs. battery cage systems is approximately 11.75 cents per dozen (less than a penny per egg!) See http://animalscience.ucdavis.edu/Avian/WelfareIssueslayingHens.pdf, table at top of page 7. Another report, released by agricultural economists at UC Davis, states that , “little, if any cost increase and no substantial impact on prices to California consumers” will occur when voters approve Prop 2 (aic.ucdavis.edu/publications/eggs/egginitiative.pdf, see p.iv.) While it’s possible that giving these animals better living conditions may increase consumer prices by a few pennies per dozen, the hidden cost of such inhumane confinement is increased cruelty, and it’s the animals who are paying that extra price.
2. MYTH: Passing this initiative will increase the risk of bird flu.
FACT: Aside from the highly questionable nature of the assertion, this claim implies that the Prop 2 would mandate outdoor access for birds, which is simply not true. Giving animals enough room to turn around and stretch their limbs doesn’t mean they can’t be housed indoors—they merely must have adequate space to perform the simplest of movements.
3. MYTH: The measure increases Salmonella risk
FACT: Risk of Salmonella is often thought to be higher in cage-free systems, due to greater exposure of hens to environmental contamination. However, Salmonella control is actually more difficult in battery cages, due to difficulty of cage disinfection and higher densities of birds. As Europe phases out battery cages, they’ve launched an EU-wide Salmonella survey, providing extensive data on Salmonella risk in different housing systems. Studies released so far show higher Salmonella risk among caged flocks than cage-free flocks. Therefore, it may actually be easier to produce safe eggs in cage-free systems than in battery cages.
Also, most California battery-cage egg producers also have smaller cage-free operations. So the claim that cage-free production will jeopardize public health is ironic – surely they’re not already risking public health with their cage-free eggs?
4. MYTH: Prop 2 will just drive egg production out of California, merely moving the problem rather than addressing it.
FACT: During a similar ballot initiative in Arizona in 2006, the industry attempted to scare voters with the same assertion. In reality though, the opposite happened. Not only did the major gestation crate user remain in the state, but the landslide vote (62-38) was a catalyst for national reform in the veal and pork industries. Within just three months of the vote, the top two veal producers announced they’d phase out their use of veal crates and the largest pig producers in the US and Canada announced they’d be phasing out gestation crates.
Arizona vote set a path not only for improved animal welfare in the state, but it encouraged reform in the rest of the nation, as well. A similar experience will likely take place in the egg industry when Californians pass Prop 2 – and industry leaders seem to agree. Further, an increasing number of major retailers are demanding that their suppliers move away from extreme confinement practices. Prop 2 will accelerate this trend, meaning that there will be even less incentive for production to relocate.
5. MYTH: Passing Prop 2 will mean Californians will just import eggs from Mexico.
FACT: When asked about this allegation, even Dan Sumner, the author of an anti-Prop 2 report, conceded,”I personally think that’s unlikely…Mexico doesn’t produce much feed corn and that’s why Mexico isn’t a logical place for production.”
6. MYTH: This is not only a ban on battery cage confinement, but it would also prohibit most cage-free operations, too.
FACT: This wild claim has no basis in reality – and shows the level of the desperation that factory farms will to go in this election. Prop 2—as it relates to egg-laying hens—requires that the bird be able to spread her wings without touching other birds or the sides of an enclosure. The opposition would have us believe that this means the birds must be able to simultaneously spread their wings. Even if such a synchronized ballet of wing-spreading were possible, it’s not required by Prop 2. It’s also the case that cage-free laying hens are able to fully spread their wings, especially when they make use of the vertical space that’s available to them.
Common sense is enough to reject this misleading claim; but just to be safe, we asked a UC Davis educated poultry scientist, a leading California criminal attorney, and a former Fresno district attorney for their interpretations. Even the opposition’s own UC Davis study concluded the obvious:“we have interpreted the language of the initiative to mean that at least one hen must be able to flap her wings, and therefore to permit non-cage systems at currently accepted stocking densities.”Don’t believe the scare-tactics. Vote YES on 2.
7. MYTH: Jobs will be lost if Prop 2 passes.
FACT: California farmers who don’t confine their animals in tiny cages provide better jobs and a better boost to the economy. For example, cage-free egg producers have been reported to employ more than five times as many people per bird as producers who cram egg-laying hens into tiny wire cages. It’s the very confinement systems that Prop 2 would phase out which have allowed factory farms to become automated and have dramatically reduced the need for human labor. In fact, a manager for JS West Co, a major California egg producer, emphasized in a recent forum on Prop 2 that fully converting to cage-free operations would mean they’d have to hire additional employees.
8. MYTH: The U.S. Department of Agriculture has strict standards that cover raising farm animals.
FACT: The USDA does not have any regulations whatsoever for the treatment of animals raised for food while they’re on the farm. While the European Union is phasing out the three confinement practices prohibited by the Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act, there are no federal laws in the United States that regulate on-farm treatment of animals raised for food.
9. MYTH: Animals wouldn’t produce if they weren’t happy. The farmer who mistreats animals goes out of business.
FACT: Animal agribusiness representatives often claim that it’s in their own interest to treat animals well, and a common defense of factory farming is that “only happy animals produce.” While there are some instances where improving animal welfare would also improve the bottom line, unfortunately, this is not always the case.
Says poultry welfare expert Dr. Joy Mench: “It is now generally agreed that good productivity and health are not necessarily indicators of good
welfare…Productivity…is often measured at the level of the unit (e.g. number of eggs or egg mass per hen-housed), and individual animals may be in a comparatively poor state of welfare even though productivity within the unit may be high.”
Farm animal welfare expert Dr. Donald Broom asserts: “[E]fforts to achieve earlier and faster growth, greater production per individual, efficient feed conversion and partitioning, and increased prolificacy are the causes of some of the worst animal welfare problems.”
And, agricultural ethicist Dr. Bernard Rollin states: “[I]n industrial agriculture, this link between productivity and well-being is severed. When
productivity as an economic metric is applied to the whole operation, the welfare of the individual animal is ignored.”
10. MYTH: Cage-free hens necessarily have higher mortality rates than caged hens.
FACT: Poultry welfare scientist Dr. Joy Mench, a professor in the Department of Animal Science at UC-Davis, was quoted in the May 11, 2006 San Jose Mercury News as saying, “Mortality and disease rates can be similar under both systems if management is good.”
11. MYTH:Prop 2 will give police powers to animal rights activists.
FACT: This is a scare tactic, and we’ve heard it before. All California anti-cruelty laws, including the ones which currently govern factory farms and which they are claiming are sufficient, are enforced by police officers, animal care & control agencies, and/or humane agencies that have local jurisdiction. There is no precedent here and nothing new created by Prop 2.
12. MYTH: It’s not feasible to give egg-laying hens more space.
FACT: This is a similar claim to one that that the pork industry made prior to 2007—that the industry simply couldn’t stop using gestation crates. However, after Arizona voters banned gestation crates, Smithfield Foods—the nation’s largest pig producer—announced it would phase out its use of gestation crates across the nation. One week later. Canada’s largest pig producer announced it would do the same. Farmers are innovative people who can meet challenges presented to them. Already, a large number of them—especially in California—are raising laying hens without confining them in battery cages.
13. MYTH: An Australian study found that cage-free hens endure as much as stress as caged hens.
FACT: No reputable animal scientist believes that corticosterone levels are a sufficient criterion to determine how much an animal is suffering.
14. MYTH:The crates prevent sows from rolling on top of their piglets and injuring them.
FACT: Prop 2 only addresses gestation crates, not farrowing crates. Right before giving birth, a sow is moved from the gestation crate into a farrowing crate, a metal stall designed to separate the mother pig from her nursing piglets. The farrowing crate is exempted from this initiative.
15. MYTH: Small family farms in Florida were destroyed with the same initiative in 2002.
FACT: According to the Florida Farm Bureau, the 2002 initiative had nothing to do with any farms closing. In an article published the week after the 2002 election, a Florida Farm Bureau spokesperson denied this claim often touted by the opposition, stating that “[i]t’s because of low prices, not the amendment.” In fact, the Florida initiative had a six-year phase-out period and won’t even take effect until the end of 2008.
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In EVERY campaign both sides lie and the truth is somewhere in the middle.
I believe the yes on 2 campaign is actually underwritten by PETA activists in an effort to actually cause increases in the price of beef, chicken, pork, and eggs and force some of the related farmers either to close of leave the state. All they are interested in is making us all vegetarians.
There needs to be inspection and strict regulations for the health and safety of animals but when their is such a wide gap between what so called EXPERTS say then we do not need to legislate anything until everyone agrees.
I don’t want to see prices go up 5 cents a dozen on eggs. I believe they will rise at least 1.00 or more.
People who want free range chickens, pork, beet, etc should be able to purchase it, from the farmers that specialize in raising livestock in that manner.
It is obvious that the farmers who already adhere to Prop 2 legislation are in for great financial gain if this passes. They are no saints either.
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