A HUMANE SOCIETY?
A closer look at today’s commercial
farm animals and animal testing
Diana S. Bokhari
We live in a society that we consider to be cerebral and evolved. We seem to have a magic pill for every ailment, just turn on your television and every other commercial is telling us to ask our doctors to medicate us for diseases or ailments we never knew we had but now suspect we do. Mass marketing from every direction is desperately trying to convince us that we are all in need to acquire more stuff, to spend our money everywhere, and we have, subconsciously, become a needy society of mass consumers, our lives mimicking a mad dash through a giant mall.
With mass consumer wants comes mass production and a tremendous opportunity for profit. Conglomerate enterprises are the reality of the present, they exist in every industry and wield tremendous power over our quality of life. Billions of dollars are spent to market all products to the consumer so that they look attractive, sanitary, and essential. We have become so far removed from nature and its true sources that we don’t stop to consider even where our food comes from. What could possibly be easier than walking through supermarket isles with neatly stacked packages waiting to be plucked into our baskets? How often do we stop to think about what the pretty packaging does not disclose? The sad reality is that more often than not, our conveniences are made available to us through much suffering of animals whose lives are sacrificed every day without any compassion, any thanks or consideration.
Modern livestock farming methods are often referred to as “factory farming.” In the process of mass production to keep up with the North American demand for meat and dairy products, commercial farmers are no longer in touch with the animals that they raise. Not only are these animals cruelly treated, their bodies are pumped with substances that also effect those people consuming their meat. According to the Factory Farming Organization (www.factoryfarming.org), “the meat, dairy, and egg industries employ technological short cuts – such as drugs, hormones, and other chemicals – to maximize production. Under these conditions, virulent pathogens which are resistant to antibiotics are emerging. Millions of Americans are infected and thousands die every year from contaminated animal products.” Ironic how by torturing and polluting these beautiful animals, we are in essence condemning ourselves.
Veal is a by-product of the dairy industry created to get rid of unwanted male calves. When dairy cows give birth, the female calves are kept for future production of milk, and the males are mostly used for beef or veal. These male calves are separated from their mothers within moments of their birth, loaded onto trucks and sold through auction rings where they are often beaten, electrically shocked and kicked. Once exhausted and unable to move, they are dragged by either their legs or ears to their next destination. Nearly one million claves yearly, are confined to tiny wooden crates measuring no more than two feet wide, where they are chained and cannot turn around or lie down, for a period of up to sixteen weeks. This cruel confinement is premeditated so that the animal’s muscles cannot develop, thereby producing the coveted “tender cuts.” In addition to this, calves are fed an all-liquid diet highly deficient in iron and fiber to cause the pale colored flesh sought by the consumer. “Published scientific research indicates that calves confined in crates experience chronic stress and require five times more medication. It is not surprising then, that veal is among the most likely meat to contain illegal drug residues which pose a threat to human health. (www.factoryfarming.org)”
Pregnant or breeding sows are among the most cruelly treated. With a four month pregnancy cycle, modern breeding sows are producing more than 20 piglets per year. They are kept in narrow metal gestation crates with barely enough room to stand up or lie down, and their bodies are bruised with sores from constant rubbing against the metal. Without any straw bedding, they are forced to stand on uncomfortable grated floors designed for their waste to fall through. Most develop neurotic behavior to cope with their unnatural environment, as well as obesity and crippling leg disorders. Their little piglets are taken away from them at a tender age of only three weeks old, and they are again immediately reimpregnated. As soon a sow displays any sign of being less than productive, she is simply sent off to be slaughtered for meat.
Wire cages measuring only sixteen inches wide, house four crowded hens, stacked in tiers and lined up in factory warehouses. The hens are squeezed in so tightly that they cannot stretch their wings or legs and are constantly rubbing against the wires. Their little bodies are bruised and they lose most of their feathers. They are all “debeaked” without anesthesia to prevent them from excessive pecking, a behavior stemming from frustration and pain of their cruel confinement. Debeaking is a painful procedure that includes cutting through bone, cartilage and tissue, not unlike cutting off a human’s nose.
Laying more than 250 eggs per year, their frail bodies are taxed even further by excessive calcium loss causing calcium deficiency, osteoporosis, and fatty liver syndrome. After a single year of egg production, these hens are deemed as “spent” and are either “force molted” or slaughtered. “In one notorious case of extraordinary cruelty at Ward Egg Ranch in February 2003 in San Diego County, California, more than 15,000 spent laying hens were tossed alive into a wood-chipping machine to dispose of them. Despite tremendous outcry from a horrified public, the district attorney declined to prosecute the owners of the egg farm, calling the use of a wood-chipper to kill hens a "common industry practice."
In some cases, especially if the cost of replacement hens is high, laying hens may be 'force molted' to extend their laying capacity. This process involves starving the hens for up to 18 days, keeping them in the dark, and denying them water to shock their bodies into another egg-laying cycle. Commonly, between 5 and 10% of birds die during the molt, and those who live may lose more than 25% of their body weight. (www.factoryfarming.org)”
Premarin, named for pregnant mare’s urine, is literally an animal waste hormone replacement therapy. According to PETA (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals), “This year, approximately 75,000 mares throughout North Dakota and Canada will be impregnated and confined to cramped stalls so their estrogen-rich urine can be collected. Most of the foals will be killed before their first birthday.
To produce Premarin, pregnant mares are tethered to the front of stalls measuring just 3 1/2 to 5 feet wide and 8 feet long. For six months, while their bodies are producing the most estrogen, these mares are unable to take more than a step or two in any direction, turn around, or even lie down comfortably. Lameness often develops. Mares are forced to wear cumbersome rubber urine-collection bags, which chafe their legs and cause sores, 24 hours a day to collect their urine. They are also denied free access to water so that their urine will yield more concentrated estrogens. This can lead to renal and liver problems and cause the mares to struggle and injure themselves during water-distribution times to get to the water they so desperately crave.
So that they can be put right back into production the next winter, the mares are reimpregnated within days of giving birth. A few months after giving birth, they are separated from their foals and put back on the "pee line." Fertile mares may go through this same grueling cycle year after year. When the mares become old, infertile, or crippled, they are auctioned off for slaughter.” ( www.menopauseonline.com )
According to a report published by Last Chance for Animals’ special investigations unit (www.lcanimal.org), “At the slaughterhouse, there were several Premarin mares with grossly overgrown hooves. The mares appeared to be in some discomfort due to their condition. Also present were several foals that were very thin, including a dead foal and numerous other horses that were sick. One horse had a badly swollen, bulging right eye. There is documentation of horses that appeared to still be conscious with their legs already cut off… Specific laws or government regulations do not apply to the treatment of mares on Premarin farms. Instead, the standard is dictated only by an inadequate code called “Recommended Code of Practice for The Care and Handling of Horses In PMU Operations,” which is poorly enforced. Thus, the horses do not have any legal protection.”
The cruelty of Premarin does not end here. According to HRT-Info (www.hrt-info.com), the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) and the National Cancer Institute have published their findings that the use of both combination (estrogen and progestin) hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and estrogen-only hormone replacement therapy (HRT) have presented numerous health risks:
For estrogen-only hormone replacement therapy (HRT), the data suggested that the risk of developing ovarian cancer increased with the length of time estrogen-only HRT was used. According to this study, women who were using estrogen-only hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for 20 years or longer are subject to a three-fold greater risk of developing ovarian cancer than women who did not use such therapy.”
If you are a woman seeking guidance in healthier approaches to your well-being, please consult What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Menopause by Dr. John R. Lee, M.D., and Dr. Jesse Hanley, M.D. These books are available in both English and French and are full of shocking truths, natural remedies and other detailed information that has helped thousands of women with estrogen related ailments.
Animal testing, or vivisection, is done by pharmaceutical and cosmetic companies to determine if their chemical products are dangerous to humans. Laboratory animals are routinely burnt, sliced, electrocuted, crushed, and chemically poisoned to demonstrate data that on the most part already exists. Regardless of project merit, these experiments receive significant government grants where researchers are then expected to publish their work thereby creating and keeping jobs in this sector. Some examples of animal experiment findings (www.lcanimal.org):
Unfortunately, these programs are funded by unsuspecting taxpayers, and often produce inconclusive results as laboratory animals are subject to extreme levels of pain and stress, and their physiology is not always identical to that of humans. With today’s advanced technology there are many more accurate, less costly and less cruel alternatives to animal testing. These include in-vitro studies, computer modeling, cell and tissue cultures, clinical studies on consenting human patients, and epidemiological studies.
As consumers and taxpayers, it is important that we all become better informed. Who could imagine that buying a certain brand of toilet paper, soap or mascara could actually help support cruel animal testing? Because huge corporations own branches that produce the most innocent products, it is up to each individual to educate themselves about who is ethical in this respect. Please visit www.stopanimaltests.com for further guidance on what you can do to help stop the horrors of vivisection. They also list health charity organizations that use your dollars to help stop suffering, and not cause it by cruel animal experiments. I truly hope that each and every one of you will take this information to heart. Never again can you say that you didn’t know, and that alone means being responsible.
-Diana S. Bokhari is the founder and president of Canada’s leading holistic pet center, Naturalanimal. She can be reached through her web site at www.naturalanimal.ca.