Written by PETA
Every year, hundreds of discarded cows bound for slaughterhouses from dairy farms are caught under the influence of drugs—illegal levels of antibiotics, that is.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is concerned that those antibiotics are making their way into the cows' milk. The agency had planned to start expanding its testing of milk for unsafe levels of antibiotics and other drugs this month, but—wait for it—the dairy industry threw a fit. Shocker.
Throwing out every cockamamie reason that it could think of, the industry managed to stall the FDA—but hopefully not for long. "The agency remains committed to gathering the information necessary to address … this important potential public health issue," the FDA said in a statement. "F.D.A. is concerned that the same poor management practices which led to the meat residues may also result in drug residues in milk."
Of course, the best way to avoid drinking a drugshake is to avoid cow's milk altogether.
Written by Michelle Sherrow
OK, maybe not, but leave it to the sellers of tortured cows to try to grab attention by claiming that it's "National Hamburger Day."(Déjà vu, anyone?) How about we hijack this "holiday" and replace it with one called "National Free-of-Rotting-Flesh Burger Day?" OK, so that might be a little wordy, but no worries: The most important decision to make is below:
If your fave isn't listed, include it in the comments section below. Now, would you care for some grilled onions and avocado slices with that?
Written by Karin Bennett
It's been more than 20 years since I read about the "downed cow" in a PETA newsletter and became a vegetarian on the spot. Now, out of Texas comes another veggie-maker of a story.
A whistleblower at the JBS Swift slaughterhouse in Cactus, Texas, told PETA that he went to investigate after the slaughter line was stopped, and he was horrified to discover the cause: After having been hoisted by one of her hind legs and having three of her hooves hacked off, a conscious cow was thrashing and struggling so violently that workers were unable to continue to butcher her. A supervisor finally killed the cow by shooting her twice in the head with a handgun—a full 20 minutes after she should have been rendered unconscious with a captive-bolt gun.
PETA immediately filed a complaint with the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), which responded by investigating the plant and initiating a "humane handling–related enforcement action." Since then, the FSIS veterinarian at the plant has reportedly almost doubled the amount of time spent supervising the "stun and stick areas."
Tragically, this is not an isolated incident. Because slaughter lines move so quickly and many workers are poorly trained, stunning with a captive-bolt gun (which fires a bolt into the animal's brain) often fails to render animals unconscious. In fact, slaughter expert Temple Grandin advises slaughterhouses to strive for a failure rate of 5 percent (which adds up to millions of conscious cows who are slaughtered every year). One slaughterhouse worker told The Washington Post that he frequently has to cut the legs off completely conscious cows. "They blink. They make noises," he said. "They die piece by piece."
Feeling sick to your stomach yet? Take one vegetarian/vegan starter kit and call me in the morning.
Written by Alisa Mullins
Two decades of dumping wastewater from Hilmar Cheese Co. onto surrounding fields has polluted the groundwater in Hilmar, California, according to a report by consultants hired by the company. Eighteen wells in and around Hilmar are so contaminated with nitrates, arsenic, barium, and salts that the water is undrinkable, forcing some people to abandon their homes.
One of the world's largest cheesemakers, Hilmar Cheese has a long history of objecting to pollution limits and enforcement actions proposed by the regional water quality control board, and despite thousands of violations over nearly 16 years, it never paid any fines. However, following an exposé by the The Sacramento Bee, the company settled in 2006, paying a $1 million fine and $1.8 million toward environmental studies. Hilmar Cheese is now under a state order to clean up waste discharges by February, but it has also won permission to increase the amount of wastewater that it dumps on fields.
Speaking of dairy-related pollution, a farmer in Berks County, Pennsylvania, had to be rescued after he fell into a 15-foot-deep manure pit earlier this week. I guess you could say he was having a crappy day—kind of like every day for cows on factory dairy farms.
Kiley Stinson, an intern for an agriculture site, recently blogged about picking up a vegetarian/vegan starter kit from one of PETA's stands in D.C. Here's her confounding attempt to defend factory farms:
"If animal rights activists are so appalled to the idea of young animals being kept in a pen, were they not one of the millions of kids whose parents used playpens when they were growing up? Play pens protect children from wandering off away from their parents, and provides (sic) a safe place to nap, play or snack. Hmm… sounds similar (sic) to how farmers keep their animals safe and happy."
Here's a glimpse of animals in their "playpens."
If that's the best argument factory-farm advocates have, no wonder we're winning!
Written by Joel Bartlett
Joan Jett, our co-favorite legendary rock goddess (seriously, don't even try to make us choose between Joan and Chrissie), was notably impressed with Twilight star Kristen Stewart's portrayal of her in The Runaways, which chronicled Jett's early career with a pioneering grrl-rock band.
However, in her audio commentary on the DVD release of the movie, Joan does point out one faux pas—although it should be noted that the movie's costumer was to blame:
"To me this is kind of strange," says Jett as Stewart is shown running along a street, "because I never wore leather pants."
Joan Jett—never missing a chance to speak up for animals: Rock on!
Written by Jeff Mackey
Fashion fast-forward with the latest cruelty-free design: "Leather" made from green tea cultures! In a new process being developed by visionary designer Suzanne Lee, bacterial cultures are extracted from vats of green tea and then formed into eco-friendly cellulose sheets. Suzanne uses this "textile biomaterial" to make fashionable and cruelty-free jackets and dresses.
Unlike real leather—animal flesh coated in toxic preservatives such as formaldehyde and chromium to keep it from decomposing—BioCouture clothing is safe for animals and the environment. It isn't commercially available yet, but some of Lee's fresh and fabulous designs are on display at the Science Museum in London until early next year.
Via treehugger
Written by Jennifer O'Connor
Healthy, humane alternatives to cruelly produced dairy products continued to make headlines this week. An executive order signed earlier this year by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has gone into effect requiring city vending machines to be stocked with soy and rice milks in an effort to curb obesity rates and improve consumers' overall health.
Considering San Fran's healthy and humane options in vending machines and L.A.'s dairy-free delight, the "Pamela Anderson" milkshake, California almost seems like heaven on Earth. Please take a minute to thank Mayor Newsom for his decision to provide his city with healthier, humane beverages.
Of course, I'm not talking about the tormented bulls—I mean the intoxicated bullies who were trampled on the second day of Pamplona's weeklong San Fermín festival. Reporters, who were apparently channeling their inner Hemingway, described the bulls as "angry," "threatening" "hulking beasts." I think those terms better describe the people who goad animals into a terrified stampede, don't you?
Maybe it's just me, but I don't see anything heroic or brave about terrorizing animals just for the thrill of it. It seems like the truly courageous people are the ones who stripped to their undies to protest Pamplona's annual exercise in stupidity and cruelty:
Now that takes some cojones.
PETA just launched a TV public service announcement about the filth and cruelty that we exposed in our undercover investigation of a farm that supplies Land O'Lakes. Apparently, some Philadelphia-area viewers were so sickened by the ad that they complained to the TV station that aired it. (If only they'd complained to the perpetrators of the abuse, instead!) As a result, the station pulled the spot after it had aired just twice:
Yes, it's graphic, but that's what happens in the dairy industry: Cows are electro-shocked and jabbed with knives, they live in stalls covered in urine and feces, and sick cows collapse and die. There's nothing pretty about the way that animals who are used to produce milk are treated, but those who still eat these products sometimes prefer to live in blissful ignorance.
Sure, we're disappointed that our ad is no longer airing, but there's still a way for it to reach millions: People like you and me can make the ad go viral! So what are you waiting for? Help us by sharing the pulled ad through Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, blogs, e-mails, and any other way you can think of.
If you have a general question for PETA and would like a response, please e-mail Info@peta.org. If you need to report cruelty to an animal, please click here. If you are reporting an animal in imminent danger and know where to find the animal and if the abuse is taking place right now, please call your local police department. If the police are unresponsive, please call PETA immediately at 757-622-7382 and press 2.
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