oprah

[Guest guest]

http://www.plentymag.com/blogs/ecoeats/2008/10/oprah_gets_it_california_rest.php

 

Oprah Gets It (California, Rest of Country to Follow?)

 

She’s finally gone and done it: Oprah has dived into the dark world of food

politics — again. After the massive palaver that erupted back in 1996 when, as

a result of the mad cow fiasco, she gave up burgers and got sued by the meat

industry). Oprah has laid fairly low when it comes to food politics. But last

week, “How We Treat The Animals We Eat,†an investigative report by Lisa

Ling featured on Oprah’s show, opened up a Pandora’s box of questions that

will, with any luck, prod consumers all over the country into buying better

eggs.

 

 

 

More importantly, it might help Californians pass Prop 2, an initiative that

aims to phase out battery cages by 2015 and one the NYT’s Nick Kristof has

called (prompting Oprah to produce the show) the most important election this

November that you’ve never heard of. Animal welfare isn’t necessarily one of

my biggest bugaboos, but the measures Prop 2 introduces are so elementary to

food safety, quality, and flavor that it’s fairly appalling they aren’t

already in effect.

 

 

The segment on Oprah was fair. Probably still smarting from the last time she

ended up on the wrong side of Big Ag, Winfrey gave farmers both big and small a

chance to have their say. The industry used the low prices for which they can

produce eggs as their defense for running battery farms, suggesting that

Americans didn’t want to spend the money on better food. “In all likelihood,

[if Prop. 2 passes] eggs will come from outside the U.S. – Mexico, even

overseas as far as China,†warned Julie Buckner, an anti-Prop-2 lobbyist.

 

 

Reporter Lisa Ling, who produced “How We Treat the Animals We Eat,†went to

visit an industrial egg farm with 87,000 chickens. “Words could hardly convey

her revulsion at the stench, but the look on Ling’s face said it all; factory

farm egg production in America is an abomination,†wrote Kerry Trueman on

Living Liberally. Then the small-scale farmers (along with Wayne Pacelle of the

Humane Society) came on to make the case for Prop 2. They likened factory-farm

chicken cages to being stuck in an elevator with six people for your entire life

(they left out: with your nose chopped off). And as for the cost argument, they

simply said that eggs being as cheap as we’ve been accustomed to paying is not

normal and not humane (they left out: a study showed it only costs an extra

penny per egg to raise chickens humanely).

 

 

Will Oprah’s discussion of battery-chicken farming cause the kind of rippling

effect that Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s TV show earlier this year did?

Judging by her influence on other matters, I think it can. Whether or not Prop 2

passes could be an indication.

 

 

 

For in a Republic, who is “the country� Is it the Government which is for

the moment in the saddle? Why, the Government is merely a servant—merely a

temporary servant; it cannot be its prerogative to determine what is right and

what is wrong, and decide who is a patriot and who isn’t. Its function is to

obey orders, not originate them.

Mark Twain

[Guest guest]

Hopefully that will happen. Jamie Oliver and the other chap did it

here - although will people continue, or go back to not caring at all?

 

JO

 

, fraggle <EBbrewpunx wrote:

>

>

http://www.plentymag.com/blogs/ecoeats/2008/10/oprah_gets_it_californi

a_rest.php

>

> Oprah Gets It (California, Rest of Country to Follow?)

>

> She’s finally gone and done it: Oprah has dived into the dark

world of food politics †" again. After the massive palaver that

erupted back in 1996 when, as a result of the mad cow fiasco, she

gave up burgers and got sued by the meat industry). Oprah has laid

fairly low when it comes to food politics. But last week, “How We

Treat The Animals We Eat,†an investigative report by Lisa Ling

featured on Oprah’s show, opened up a Pandora’s box of questions

that will, with any luck, prod consumers all over the country into

buying better eggs.

>

>

>

> More importantly, it might help Californians pass Prop 2, an

initiative that aims to phase out battery cages by 2015 and one the

NYT’s Nick Kristof has called (prompting Oprah to produce the show)

the most important election this November that you’ve never heard

of. Animal welfare isn’t necessarily one of my biggest bugaboos,

but the measures Prop 2 introduces are so elementary to food safety,

quality, and flavor that it’s fairly appalling they aren’t

already in effect.

>

>

> The segment on Oprah was fair. Probably still smarting from the

last time she ended up on the wrong side of Big Ag, Winfrey gave

farmers both big and small a chance to have their say. The industry

used the low prices for which they can produce eggs as their defense

for running battery farms, suggesting that Americans didn’t want to

spend the money on better food. “In all likelihood, [if Prop. 2

passes] eggs will come from outside the U.S. †" Mexico, even

overseas as far as China,†warned Julie Buckner, an anti-Prop-2

lobbyist.

>

>

> Reporter Lisa Ling, who produced “How We Treat the Animals We

Eat,†went to visit an industrial egg farm with 87,000 chickens.

“Words could hardly convey her revulsion at the stench, but the

look on Ling’s face said it all; factory farm egg production in

America is an abomination,†wrote Kerry Trueman on Living

Liberally. Then the small-scale farmers (along with Wayne Pacelle of

the Humane Society) came on to make the case for Prop 2. They likened

factory-farm chicken cages to being stuck in an elevator with six

people for your entire life (they left out: with your nose chopped

off). And as for the cost argument, they simply said that eggs being

as cheap as we’ve been accustomed to paying is not normal and not

humane (they left out: a study showed it only costs an extra penny

per egg to raise chickens humanely).

>

>

> Will Oprah’s discussion of battery-chicken farming cause the kind

of rippling effect that Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s TV show

earlier this year did? Judging by her influence on other matters, I

think it can. Whether or not Prop 2 passes could be an indication.

>

>

>

> For in a Republic, who is “the country� Is it the Government

which is for the moment in the saddle? Why, the Government is merely

a servant†" merely a temporary servant; it cannot be its prerogative

to determine what is right and what is wrong, and decide who is a

patriot and who isn’t. Its function is to obey orders, not

originate them.

> Mark Twain

>