THE NEW USDA SECRETARY--ANN VENEMAN.

[Guest guest]

THE NEW USDA SECRETARY-- ANN VENEMAN.

 

 

Dear Friend ,

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU.

 

The new Secretary of USDA will be Ms. Ann Veneman.

Enclosed is the introduction on the new USDA Secretary.

(* All cabinet nominations require Senate approval.)

 

Although she was born from a peach farm family, she was

" mentored " by Secretary Richard Lyng, a native of Modesto, CA.

 

According to the Senior Investigator of Humane Farming Asso

Gail Eisnitz , Richard Lyng was the President of the American

MEAT Institute. (see Reference # 1).

 

Right now, the meat and dairy industries are working hard to

get their agenda in with the new Secretary and new President.

However, our deepest concerns are the following FOUR points :

 

1: The Enforcement of the " Humane Slaughter Act " .

According to USDA Secretary Dan Glickman and numerous

animal welfare research organizations, the Humane Slaughter Act

is NOT ENFORCED in all accounts. There are TEN(10)

BILLIONS of " food " animals are slaughtered every year in U.S.

There is NO Humane Slaughtering on them.

 

According to the research, many of the former training officers,

area supervisors, regional directors, agency administrators,

Washington staff officers moved directly into meat industry jobs

as high pay consultants ! (see Reference # 2 )

 

This is the most important reason the Humane Slaughter Act

could NOT be enforced ! The USDA all meat inspectors must be

overhauled and replaced. The USDA must have new regulations

that prohibits all Meat inspectors and all its related supervisors,

officers, directors, administrators to be employed and contracted

with any of the meat and dairy industries after they leave USDA or

it would be completely " conflict interests " and it has stalled the

enforcement of the " Humane Slaughter Act " for all these years.

Billions of animals are in excruciating pain and agony from birth

till death every year in this country.

 

2: Where is new Secretary going to lead country's DIET direction ?

Is it going back to President Ragan and Bush times to promote

" Beef. Real Food for Real People " ? (see Reference # 3)

 

Millions of Americans died from high saturated fat and high

cholesterol diet related diseases every year derived from all animal

sources foods, especially heart diseases, diet related cancers,

diabetes, strokes, obesity, high blood pressure etc. chronic

degenerative diseases. With the modern treatment of heart diseases

and cancers, it still takes away 1.4 millions of Americans life each

year currently according to government figures.

 

3: The new President wants to greatly " Export " Agriculture products.

Does it mean millions of more sentient animals, cattle, pigs, lamb,

sheep will be cut throats while alive, then cut both feet alive,

skinned alive, burned alive and then to be exported ?

 

According to " The Worldwatch Institute " , Americans chow down mass

amounts of burgers, dogs, wings and ribs. And few have any awareness

of the ethical and environmental consequences of being a dedicated

canivore. And this INDULGENCE is not limited to holidays.

According to the USDA, Americans LEAD THE WAY IN A

GLOBAL TREND ! They are eating more meat than ever before:

the average American consumes nearly twice his or her weight in

MEAT each year. (see Reference # 4 )

 

4: TEN (10) BILLIONS of so called " food " animals suffered

tremendously in all kinds of very cruel Factory Farms. Five

chickens have the total size of a record album to live, to eat, to

drink. They can not turn around or flip any wing for life. The

pigs especially the breeding sows are confined to such extreme.

The width of the crate varies from 18 to 24 inches, and the length

extends just barely beyond the sow's own body. The sow lives in a

constant state of extreme distress and repeatedly biting the metal

bars. The sows must give birth to piglets, nurse them, eat, sleep,

defecate, drink, stand and lie in the same cramped space and then

slaughtered when " production " decreased. (see Reference. # 5).

 

When the dairy cows produced male calves, the babies are

dragged away with force from their mother within 1 to 2 days of

birth, so humans can drink milk which was intended for calves.

Then male calves are sold to feed lots and put into tiny veal

crates and chained to endure 16 weeks of hell in the dark and

can not turn around and they sleep on their own excrements. Then

sold as " veal " , " hamburger " or pet food. (see Reference. # 6).

 

Approximately 50% of all antibiotics manufactured in the U.S.

are poured directly into animal feeds. The most commonly used

antibiotics are penicillin and tetracycline. The squandering of

these important drugs in livestock production is wreaking havoc

for physicians in the treatment of human illness. (see Ref. # 7 ).

 

 

We are very concerned. Animal concerned people

must prepare for the upcoming new Secretaries of USDA, HHS(FDA),

and EPA too. We advise all animals concerned groups to UNITE

on this most important issue for TEN Billions of animals a year

died in this country and to have tight contact with the new Secretaries

at all times starting from now especially the new USDA Secretary.

She must come up with the power, strength , determination and

conscience to clean up the USDA to really have the

" Humane Slaughter Act " enforced and eliminate all of the cruel and sick

Factory farms across the country.

 

Ms. Ann Veneman currently is the Attorney with

" Nossaman, Guthner, Knox & Elliott, LLP " law firm in Washington DC

from 1999-present.

 

p.c.

P.S.: References List :

 

1: see " Slaughterhouse " , Chapter 21, " In Bed with a Bird " .

Author Gail Eisnitz has been investigating American meat industry

for the last 20 years or so. Also click : http://www.hfa.org

2: see " Slaughterhouse " , chapter 16, " Veterinary Turncoats " ,

the testimony from Dr. Lester Friedlander , a former USDA

Veterinarian for 15 years or so.

3: see " Slaughterhouse " by Gail Eisnitz, Chap. 21,

" In Bed with a Bird " .

4: Please click the following for the article :

http://www.purefood.org/meat/meatEthics.htm

" The WorldWatch Institute position paper opposing meat consumption " .

5: see PETA document on Pigs Factory Farms and pigs abuse

in the factory farms : Please click :

http://www.goveg.com/pigcaseff.html (typical Pigs factory farms)

http://www.goveg.com/pigcasei.html (pig abuse in factory farms)

6: see Humane Farming Asso. documents on veal calves factory farm:

click: http://www.hfa.org/veal.html

7: see Humane Farming Asso. documents on Factory Farming:

click : http://www.hfa.org/factory.html

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THE INTRODUCTION OF ANN VENEMAN

 

----- Original Message forwarded from gf -----

Friday, December 22, 2000 11:19 AM

A washingtonpost.com article

To view the entire article, go to

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A39001-2000Dec21.html

 

An Agriculture Veteran Gets Job of Her Dreams

By Michael Grunwald

Washington Post Staff Writer

December 22, 2000

 

Agriculture secretary is not the most glamorous job in Washington. But

it's the job Ann Veneman has always wanted, and Wednesday she became

the first woman to get it. Veneman has served seven years in the U.S.

Department of Agriculture, including two as its No. 2 official in the

first Bush administration. Then she ran the state agriculture agency in

California, the nation's top farm-producing state.

 

Yesterday, Republicans and Democrats praised the 51-year-old

lawyer as a pragmatic and seasoned professional with a deep knowledge

of farm issues for her dream job. " Really, she's been preparing to be

secretary of agriculture her entire life, " said her friend Bill Pauli,

president of the California Farm Bureau Federation. Veneman, who

vowed Wednesday to " find common ground and promote common

sense, " is not expected to face any major obstacles to confirmation.

Richard Rominger, a Democrat who preceded her as California's farm

director and succeeded her at the USDA, said the department's

employees are looking forward to working with her again.

 

" They couldn't have made a better selection, in my book, " said Leon

Panetta, a former White House chief of staff and Democratic House

member from California. Veneman will take over the 100,000-employee,

$72 billion USDA bureaucracy at a sensitive time:

Federal payouts to farmers reached an all-time high last year, but the

farm sector is still struggling to cope with depressed prices.

 

Meanwhile, Congress is considering an overhaul of the nation's farm

laws, concern is growing about anticompetitive consolidation in

agribusinesses, and advances in genetic engineering are sparking

controversies over " Frankenfoods. " The USDA also is dealing with a

series of grievances by its black employees, as well as a massive

discrimination settlement with black farmers. As agriculture secretary,

Veneman will administer the food stamp and school lunch programs, be

involved in regulating food safety and oversee the Forest Service

at a time when wildfires have triggered a nationwide debate over

land management. The agriculture establishment's critics -- consumer

advocates, environmentalists, taxpayer activists -- see hopeful signs in

her record in California, a pro-consumer, eco-friendly state where

highly subsidized grains are overshadowed by fruit, vegetables and

other less subsidized " specialty crops. "

 

And row-crop farmers from the Plains who might otherwise be concerned

about a Californian secretary are excited about Veneman's longtime

advocacy of international trade and open export markets. Veneman,

after all, helped negotiate the farm portions of the GATT free-trade

agreements and focused heavily on exports while running California's

farm agency.

 

" Our farmers feed and clothe not only the people in this country, but

people around the world, and it's important that we work together to

expand markets for our food and fiber both at home and abroad, " said

Veneman, who joined Bush's original California exploratory committee

in mid-1999 and prepared some of his agricultural policy statements

during the campaign.

 

She grew up on a peach farm in the San Joaquin Valley, but her family's

activities were never limited to farming; her father, John, was a

moderate Republican state assemblyman and then undersecretary

of health, education and welfare during the Nixon administration.

During college, Veneman worked as an intern for another

moderate GOP assemblyman named Pete Wilson, who would later

become governor and put her in charge of California agriculture.

 

In 1986, Veneman joined the foreign-trade section of the USDA, where

she was mentored by Secretary Richard Lyng, a fellow native of Modesto,

Calif. She moved up quickly through the agency's ranks, and in 1991,

Secretary Edward Madigan tapped her to be the agency's first female

deputy secretary.

 

After President Clinton's election, Veneman practiced law in Washington,

representing Dole Foods and other agriculture-related clients.

 

She also served on the board of Calgene, a biotechnology company

working on genetically engineered foods, until Wilson named her state

agriculture director in 1995. When Gray Davis (D) was elected governor

in 1999, she returned to private practice.

 

Her friends say Veneman, who is single, enjoys cooking and reading --

and rarely has much time to do either. Her style, colleagues say, is

easygoing when she can be, tough when she needs to be.

Richard Matoian, president of the California Grape and Tree

Fruit League, recalled that when Veneman floated an unprecedented

plan to eradicate the Mediterranean fruit fly that involved introducing

sterile flies --instead of relying exclusively on pesticides -- his

organization was stunned. But Veneman insisted that the science was

on her side and went ahead with her plan. " I have to say, it's been

wildly successful; we haven't seen another medfly since, "

Matoian said. " She really knows what she's doing. "

 

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