-Almost 30% of agricultural subsidies go to the top two percent of farms
and over four-fifths to the top 30%.
-The price of meat would double or triple if full ecological costs -
including fossil fuel use, groundwater depletion and agricultural-chemical
pollution - were factored in.
-The USDA reports that animals in the US meat industry produce 61
million tons of waste each year, which is 130 times the volume of human
waste - or five tons for every US citizen.
-The pollution from animal waste causes respiratory problems, skin
infections, nausea, depression and even death for people who live near
factory farms. Livestock waste has been linked to six miscarriages in women
living near a hog factory in Indiana.
-Overuse of antibiotics in animals is causing more strains of
drug-resistant bacteria, which is affecting the treatment of various
life-threatening diseases in humans.
-Antibiotics in farm animals leave behind drug-resistant microbes in
meat and milk. With every burger and shake consumed, super-microbes settle
in the stomach where they transfer drug resistance to bacteria in the body,
making one more vulnerable to previously-treatable conditions.
-Poultry processing has almost double the injury and illness rate than
trades like coal mining and construction.
and here are some facts on how the animals fare in such a system:
-Each full-grown chicken in a factory farm has as little as six-tenths
of a square foot of space. Because of the crowding, they often become
aggressive and sometimes eat each other. This has lead to the painful
practice of debeaking the birds.
-Hogs become aggressive in tight spaces and often bite each other's
tails, which has caused many farmers to cut the tails off.
-Ammonia and other gases from manure irritate animals' lungs, to the
point where over 80% of US pigs have pneumonia upon slaughter.
-Due to genetic manipulation, 90% of broiler chickens have trouble
walking.
For additional facts, please visit www.organicconsumers.org/toxic/factoryfarm.cfm.
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