Meatonomics (36 page)
Authors: David Robinson Simon
Increasingly, voters and lawmakers around the world are questioning the egg industry's confinement practices. The European Union banned battery cages in 2012, requiring that laying hens live either cage-free or in enriched cages, which provide more space per bird as well as enrichment devices such as perches, nest boxes, and scratching areas. California's Proposition 2 requires that from 2015, laying hens must be housed in cages large enough to let them fully extend their wings in all directions without touching a cage wall or another hen.
53
And in the wake of an agreement to support enriched cages between the United Egg Producers and the Humane Society of the United States, it seems that Congress may soon adopt legislation requiring enriched cages for hens in the United States.
54
However, some critics of the egg industry argue that enriched cages are not enough, and the only solution is to eliminate cages altogether. One commentator is veterinarian and University of California Professor Emeritus Nedim C. Buyukmihci, who writes:
The increase in cage size dictated by [proposed enriched cage legislation], unfortunately, will have no meaningful positive impact. . . . Hens will still not be able to get proper exercise, they still will be too crowded to even properly stretch their wings, perches will be at an ineffectual height, and nest boxes will not be conducive to the needs for laying eggs.
55
Such debate is not unusual among those concerned for farm animals' welfare. Many believe, with good reason, that so-called humane farming measures do little to protect animals, and they'd rather see
the abolition, not the amelioration, of the cruel practices found in factory farms. As we've seen, when implemented by industrial methods, even farming practices labeled
organic, cage-free
, and
free-range
are routinely little better for the animals than the more blatantly inhumane alternatives. For that reason, while I believe that eating less animal foods—or giving them up altogether—is a good way for an individual to address the problems described in this appendix, I don't advocate merely switching to purportedly humane animal products as a solution.
Author's Note
1
Shunryu Suzuki,
Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice
(New York: Weatherhill, 1989).
1
. Allan Schinkel, “Pork Production Costs: Farrow to Finish Production,”
Animal Sciences
443: Swine Management (2000), accessed December 1, 2011,
http://www.ansc.purdue.edu
.
2
. The loss per animal of $20 to $90 is for larger and more efficient producers—that is, those raising 100 or more head of cattle. Smaller producers' losses are even higher, ranging from $184 to $305 per animal. Sara D. Short, “Characteristics and Production Costs of U.S. Cow-Calf Operations,”
USDA Statistical Bulletin
17, no. 947–3 (2001), accessed December 1, 2011,
http://www.ers.usda.gov
.
4
. Christopher Chantrill, “Government Spending Details,” US Government Spending (2012), accessed July 10, 2012,
http://www.usgovernmentspending.com
.
5
. The 2013 farm bill (not yet passed as of this writing) seeks to discontinue such direct payments. Michael Grunwald, “Why Our Farm Policy is Failing,”
Time Magazine
(November 2, 2007).
6
. Boris Worm et al., “Impacts of Biodiversity Loss on Ocean Ecosystem Services,”
Science
314, no. 5800 (2006): 787–90.
7
. Jeff Herman, “Saving U.S. Dietary Advice from Conflicts of Interest,”
Food & Drug Law Journal
65 (2010): 285–326.
10
. Robert Goodland and Jeff Anhang, “Livestock and Climate Change: What if the Key Actors in Climate Change Are . . . Cows, Pigs and Chickens?”
World Watch
(November/December 2009): 10–19, accessed October 25, 2011,
http://www.worldwatch.org
.
11
. Herbert T. Buxton and Dana W. Kolpin, “Fact Sheet FS-027-02, Pharmaceuticals, Hormones, and Other Organic Wastewater Contaminants in U.S. Streams,” US Geological Survey (2002), accessed October 24, 2011,
http://toxics.usgs.gov
.
13
. Will Tuttle,
The World Peace Diet: Eating for Spiritual Health and Social Harmony
(New York: Lantern Books, 2005), xv.
14
. Excluding the tiny state of Luxembourg, population 500,000, which apparently eats more meat per capita than we do but is too small to be statistically significant.
15
. US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “U.S. Obesity Trends,” accessed December 27, 2011,
http://www.cdc.gov
; World Cancer Research Fund International, “Data Comparing More and Less Developed Countries,” accessed December 27, 2011,
http://www.wcrf.org
; American Cancer Society, “Cancer Facts and Figures 2011,” accessed December 27, 2011,
http://www.cancer.org
; National Cancer Institute, “Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results,” accessed December 27, 2011,
http://seer.cancer.gov
; World Diabetes Foundation, “Diabetes Facts,” accessed December 27, 2011,
http://www.worlddiabetesfoundation.org
; American Diabetes Association, “Diabetes Statistics,” accessed December 27, 2011,
http://www.diabetes.org
.
16
. World Health Organization, “The World Health Report” (2000), accessed February 29, 2012,
http://www.who.int
.
17
.
See
Appendix B
.
20
. Joe L. Outlaw et al., “Structure of the U.S. Dairy Farm Sector,”
Dairy Markets and Policy: Issues and Options
(March 1996), accessed September 19, 2012,
http://aede.osu.edu
; US Department of Agriculture, “Overview of the United States Dairy Industry” (2010), accessed September 19, 2012,
http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu
.
21
. Farm Forward, “Factory Farming,” accessed October 25, 2012,
http://www.farmforward.com
.
22
. USDA Economic Research Service, “USDA Long-term Projection” (2007), accessed November 10, 2011,
http://www.ers.usda.gov
.
23
. US Department of Agriculture, “Red Meat, Poultry, and Fish (Boneless Weight): Per Capita Availability” (2012), accessed September 19, 2012,
http://www.ers.usda.gov
.
24
. National Center for Health Statistics, “Prevalence of Overweight, Obesity and Extreme Obesity Among Adults: United States, Trends 1976–80 through 2005–2006,” Health E-Stats (December 2008).
25
. Ibid.
26
. Stephen Ansolabehere, John de Figueiredo, and James M. Snyder Jr., “Why Is There So Little Money in U.S. Politics?”
Journal of Economic Perspectives
17, no. 1 (2003): 105–130; Center for Responsive Politics, “Money Wins Presidency and 9 of 10 Congressional Races in Priciest U.S. Election Ever” (2008), accessed July 10, 2012,
http://www.opensecrets.org
.
27
. US Senate Office of Public Records, “Lobbying Disclosure Act Databases,” accessed May 5, 2012,
http://www.senate.gov
.
28
. Melanie Joy,
Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows: An Introduction to Carnism
(San Francisco: Conari Press, 2010).
29
. Henning Steinfeld, “The Livestock Revolution—A Global Veterinary Mission,”
Veterinary Parasitology
125, nos. 1–2 (2004): 1–4.
30
. Marta G. Rivera-Ferre, “Supply vs. Demand of Agri-Industrial Meat and Fish Products: A Chicken and Egg Paradigm?”
International Journal of the Society of Agriculture & Food
16, no. 2 (2009): 90–105.
1
. Kentucky Cattlemen's Association, “US Federal Income Tax Return,” 2009, accessed April 25, 2012,
http://www.guidestar.org
.
2
. David Shipman, “Industry Insight: Checkoff Programs Empower Business,”
USDA Blog
(2011), accessed December 31, 2011,
http://blogs.usda.gov
.
3
. USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, “Benefits of Research & Promotion Boards (Checkoffs)” (2011), accessed October 27, 2012,
http://www.ams.usda.gov
.
4
. Ibid.
5
. Ibid.
6
. Dairy Management, Inc., “Dairy Checkoff Highlights” (2011), accessed January 3, 2012,
http://www.dairycheckoff.com
.
7
. Dairy figure includes both “dairy products” and “fluid milk.” Geoffrey S. Becker, “Federal Farm Promotion (‘Check-Off’) Programs,” Congressional Research Service Report for Congress (2008), accessed November 5, 2011,
http://www.nationalaglawcenter.org
.
8
. Ibid.
9
.
Johanns v. Livestock Mktg. Ass'n
(2005) 544 U.S. 550.
10
. Ibid., 560–61.
11
. In 2001, the US Supreme Court refused to compel dissenting mushroom farmers to support the majority message of the mushroom checkoff program. The court held the mushroom checkoff violated the First Amendment because it merely imposed marketing requirements with little other regulation and hence was “not part of a comprehensive statutory agricultural marketing program.”
United States v. United Foods, Inc.
(2001) 533 U.S. 405.
12
. Chanjin Chung and Emilio Tostao, “Will the Voluntary Checkoff Program Be the Answer? An Analysis of Optimal Advertising and Free-Rider Problem in the U.S. Beef Industry,” Southern Agricultural Economics Association (2004), accessed May 3, 2012,
http://ageconsearch.umn.edu
.
13
. USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, “Benefits of Research & Promotion Boards (Checkoffs)” (2011), accessed January 26, 2012,
http://www.ams.usda.gov
.
14
. Ibid., 5; Becker, “Federal Farm Promotion (‘Check-Off’) Programs.”
15
. Researchers use 0.77 as a typical multiplier to measure the effect on farm communities of an increase in jobs or income. Curtis Braschler et al., “Economic Base Multipliers and Community Growth,” University of Missouri Extension (1993), accessed January 26, 2012,
http://extension.missouri.edu
.
16
. The dairy category, for which no data are given, is assumed to have the same return on invested funds as fluid milk. USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, “Benefits of Research & Promotion Boards (Checkoffs)” (2011); Geoffrey S. Becker, “Federal Farm Promotion (‘Check-Off’) Programs.
17
. Because the United States does not publish child-related cholesterol guidelines, the EFSA guidelines are used for this purpose. USDA Agricultural Research Service, “Nutrient Intakes from Food: Mean Amounts Consumed per Individual, One Day, 2005–2006” (2008), accessed January 26, 2012,
http://www.ars.usda.gov
; US Food and Drug Administration, “Calculate the Percent Daily Value for the Appropriate Nutrients,” accessed January 26, 2012,
http://www.fda.gov
; European Food Safety Authority, “Scientific Opinion on Dietary Reference Values for Fats, Including Saturated Fatty Acids, Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids, Monounsaturated Fatty Acids, Trans Fatty Acids, and Cholesterol,”
EFSA Journal
8, no. 3 (2000): 30, accessed January 26, 2012,
http://www.efsa.europa.eu
.
18
. American Heart Association, “Overweight in Children,” accessed January 26, 2012,
http://www.heart.org
.
19
. Dairy Management, “Dairy Checkoff Highlights.”
20
. US Department of Agriculture, “Benefits of Research & Promotion Boards.”
21
. Ibid.
22
. Ibid.
23
. National Dairy Council, “Research,”
The Dairy Connection
, accessed September 20, 2011, at
http://www.nationaldairycouncil.org
.
24
. According to the ASN website, sponsorship provides a corporation with “access to more than 12,000 scientists and practitioners.” American Society for Nutrition, “ASN Sustaining Members,” accessed September 20, 2011, at
http://www.nutrition.org
; American Dietetic Association, “2010 Annual Report,” accessed December 14, 2011,
www.eatright.org
.
25
. American Dietetic Association, “American Dietetic Association Welcomes National Dairy Council as an ADA Partner in the Association's New Corporate Relations Sponsorship Program,” Press Release (March 7, 2007), accessed September 20, 2011,
http://www.eatright.org
.
26
. Ibid.
27
. Center for Science in the Public Interest, “Non-Profit Organizations Receiving Corporate Funding: American Heart Association,”
Integrity in Science: A CSPI Project
(2006), accessed September 20, 2011, at
http://www.cspinet.org
.
28
. Joel Lexchin et al., “Pharmaceutical Industry Sponsorship and Research Outcome and Quality: Systematic Review,”
British Medical Journal
326 (2003): 1167; Anastasia L. Misakian and Lisa A. Bero, “Publication Bias and Research
on Passive Smoking,”
Journal of the American Medical Association
280, no. 3 (1998): 303–4.
29
. Lexchin et al., “Pharmaceutical Industry Sponsorship,” abstract.
30
. Patty W. Siri-Tarino et al., “Meta-Analysis of Prospective Cohort Studies Evaluating the Association of Saturated Fat with Cardiovascular Disease,”
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
91, no. 3 (2010): 535–46.
