NEWS: When Animals Suffer, So Do We - Washington Post 04/12/06

[Guest guest]

An editorial from the Washington Post -- I think they might appreciate

Srila Prabhupada's instructions -- not only should we keep animals from

suffering,at least in the case of the cows, we should actively try to

make them comfortable!

 

ys

 

hkdd

 

For the cowherd men and the cows, Krsna is the supreme friend. Therefore

He is worshiped by the prayer namo brahmanya-devaya go-brahmana-hitaya

ca. His pastimes in Gokula, His dhäma, are always favorable to the

brahmanas and the cows. His first business is to give all comfort to the

cows and the brahmanas. In fact, comfort for the brahmanas is secondary,

and comfort for the cows is His first concern.

 

Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.8.16 Purport

 

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*When Animals Suffer, So Do We*

 

By Kelly Overton

Wednesday, April 12, 2006; A17

 

Do the animal rights nuts know something we don't?

 

As we observe the growing number of avian flu cases worldwide, bide time

until the eventual large-scale outbreak of mad cow disease in the United

States and hope what the world experienced in 2004 wasn't just a dress

rehearsal for SARS, the time has come to reconsider humanity's treatment

of nonhuman animals -- if only for the repercussions to our own health.

 

In past decades we have removed animals from pastures, sunshine and

fresh air to stack them on top of each other in petri-dish-like

buildings. As wild animals lose more and more of their habitats, they

are forced to live on the perimeters of cities and towns and in a

proximity to humans that increasingly appears to be detrimental not only

to their health but also to ours.

 

Our health is being put at risk by our demand for low food prices. In

the past decade consumers have chosen low prices over quality in the

products and services we purchase -- but animals aren't products that

can be endlessly manipulated for lower food costs. As a society it is

time to ask ourselves if we are willing to trade our health and the

health of our land, air and water in return for cheap milk, eggs and meat.

 

Because factory farms are legally recognized as farms -- not the

industrial sites they are -- they are exempt from many of our most

important environmental laws. The communities surrounding most factory

farms have become wastelands from the constant flow of toxic emissions

and waste polluting the air, ground and water. Inside the farms, safety

and human health also take a back seat to profit. Animals too sick or

diseased to stand are dragged or bulldozed to slaughter and into our

food supply. Mad cow disease was born of such recklessness and greed --

a desire by corporations to minimize financial losses by using the

remains of diseased animals to feed the animals that enter our food supply.

 

Animals raised on a diet high in antibiotics ensure human consumption of

antibiotics, decreasing their effectiveness when we need them to fight

infection. The presence of antibiotics in our food and water also

encourages the emergence of drug-resistant illnesses. In fact, an

increasing number of public health issues are linked to our mistreatment

of nonhuman animals -- including the growing human resistance to

antibiotics and the many health consequences of global warming.

 

Meanwhile, the change from a nation whose food was once supplied by

thousands of small to medium-size farms spread across the country to a

nation now dependent on just a few factory farms in specific areas is

inviting disaster. This new concentration of meat and food production in

specific geographic corridors allows for one incident of accidental

contamination, sabotage or terrorist activity to cripple our food supply.

 

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, or CJD, the human version of bovine

spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease), can lie dormant for up to

40 years. Once discovered it is too late -- the disease has proved fatal

in every human case to date. The repercussions to human health from

factory farming and habitat destruction may not be known for decades, or

they may immediately fly into our daily lives via an avian flu pandemic.

 

It is ironic that animal-borne diseases may very well achieve what human

activism has failed to do -- guarantee nonhuman animals more humane

lives by making animal welfare synonymous with human welfare. Regardless

of how our society arrives at the conclusion, it is time to end one of

the most inhumane and shameful chapters in our nation's history.

 

We humans remain only one species in what has always been a global

ecosystem -- an interlinked web of life where the health of one species

depends on the health of others. Whether through reckless factory

farming, the pollution of waters and the poisoning of the species within

them, or the continued rampant destruction of forests and nonhuman

habitat, our blatant mistreatment of other species for the benefit of

our own is not inviting disaster, it's guaranteeing it. It is time to

end the treatment of God's living creatures as products and to begin

treating all life forms with respect and reverence before the health

repercussions to the human species are irreparable.

 

/The writer is executive director of People Protecting Animals and Their

Habitats./