When Animals Suffer, So Do We in Washington Post 4/12/06

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" When Animals Suffer, So Do We " in Washington Post

4/12/06

 

 

DawnWatch: " When Animals Suffer, So Do We " in

Washington Post

4/12/06

 

 

> The Wednesday, April 12, Washington Post has an

op-ed by Kelly Overton,

founder and executive director of People Protecting

Animals and Their

Habits. It is headed, " When Animals Suffer, So Do We. "

Despite the

unfortunately pejorative opening line it is a strong

piece offering good

arguments against factory farming. I will paste it

below, and encourage

supportive letters to the editor. You may wish to

detail some of the horrors

of factory farming, or the joys of a veggie diet,

though letters should not

be long. The Washington Post takes letters at

letters and

advises, " Letters must be exclusive to The Washington

Post, and must include

the writer's home address and home and business

telephone numbers. "

 

marachela2002

 

>

> Here is the piece:

> ---------

> When Animals Suffer, So Do We

>

> By Kelly Overton

> Wednesday, April 12, 2006; A17

>

>

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/11/AR2006041101511.\

\

html

>

> 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.

> (END OF WASHINGTON POST PIECE)

> -------------

> (DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that

looks at animal issues

in the media and facilitates one-click responses to

the relevant media

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