AR-News: (US AZ) Know what's in the hamburger you're grilling?

[Animalara2003 at aol.com]

The Arizona Republic
Jul. 4, 2004 12:00 AM
You are what you eat. But do you know what you're eating?

Don't ask Old Macdonald. He sold the farm years ago, back when pigs lived in 
pens big enough for Dorothy to tumble into on her way to Oz.

In these days of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and Mad Cow Disease, the 
nation's food-safety system involves 10 to 12 regulatory agencies - including the 
USDA, whose dual mission is promoting agriculture products and regulating food 
safety - and 30 some laws.

Last year, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said, "We are working under a 
Meat Inspection Act that pre-dates the Model T."

Farming, on the other hand, has plowed ahead.

It's big business, high volume and fast turnaround.

American agriculture is efficient and produces a product that the American 
consumer enjoys for low prices. Experts say our food is safe. But increasing 
numbers of people are seeking out food that was produced using more natural means 
because they believe it is better for their long-term health.

Those who run the large concerns derided as "factory farms" say their animals 
are humanely treated. But a number of advocacy groups point to practices such 
as docking the beaks of chickens so they don't peck each other in crowded 
cages, or keeping pregnant sows in pens too small to turn around in, that they 
feel are indicative of a lack of empathy with the nature and needs of the animal.

I'm among those who would prefer to have my eggs come from chickens who 
scratch around outside and nest in comfortably. Call me crazy. But I vote with my 
dollars.

I pay more for food that makes claims like "cage-free" or "free range." But 
the definitions of these things can be squishy. The USDA, which regulates 
labeling and the use of the term "organic," has been known to try to ease 
restrictions on how it is used, says Steve Roach of Food Animal Concerns Trust, an 
animal welfare and food safety group.

Animals raised under modern agricultural methods are given antibiotics so 
routinely that many, including the American Medical Association, have warned that 
the practice could make antibiotics less effective when people get sick. The 
General Accounting Office says the practice represents "an unacceptable risk 
to the public health" because it results in antibiotic-resistant strains of 
bacteria.

Sens. Edward M. Kennedy and Olympia Snowe are sponsoring a bill, S 1460, to 
phase out the routine use of antibiotics in livestock.

Up until 1997, dairy cows could be fed parts of other cows. That practice was 
banned because it is believed that Mad Cow Disease (bovine spongiform 
encephalopathy, or BSE) is spread that way.

But bovine slaughterhouse waste and remains of cows that die on the farm can 
still be rendered into food for chickens, whose waste is still fed to dairy 
cows that eventually get shipped to the slaughterhouse and are sold for human 
consumption. The FDA began talking about banning the practice of feeding chicken 
litter to cows after a cow with BSE was found in the United States last 
December. But the ban hasn't happened.

Last month, the USDA began a testing program for BSE. Over the next 12 to 16 
months, 220,000 cows will be checked. About 35 million are slaughtered 
annually.


full story:
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/viewpoints/articles/0704valdez0704.ht
ml 



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I care not much for a man's religion whose dog and cat are not the better for 
it. ~Abraham Lincoln


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