AnimalRighter
I wrote the bi-monthly NewsBeet briefs for VegNews magazine from 2007-2009 (see below).
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November 2008
Fastest Hen in the West
For four months, she stood boldly blocking the advancing line of cars at the Temecula, California McDonalds drive-through during rush-hour lunch traffic, even as customers ordered and ate McNuggets and chicken sandwiches. No, this was not a persistent PETA protester, but a real live chicken who had evaded interception by fast-food employees time and time again. Why couldn't anyone capture the bird? Restaurant manager Chona Cauly claims it was because “The chicken is too smart.” Cauly originally planned to throw the hen “straight (into) the pot” following capture, but this fine feathered fugitive had gained many fans (and feeders) among the establishment’s clientele, and wound up getting a well-deserved reprieve when she was nabbed while sleeping atop the drive through window one evening. “Adriana” – and her six chicks – are now safely ensconced as “family members” at the home of McDonalds employee Esmeralda Ruiz and her small flock of chickens. Associated Press
Kentucky Fried Un-Chicken
After five years of negative publicity stemming from an ongoing PETA campaign, Kentucky Fried Chicken Canada has agreed to institute basic animal welfare reforms and introduce a meatless “chicken” sandwich (with non-vegan mayonnaise standard) to the menus of 461 Canadian KFC restaurants. During seven months of intense negotiations, PETA also convinced KFC Canada to form an animal welfare advisory council, and only purchase chickens from suppliers who use gas-based controlled-atmosphere killing (CAK). Compared to the common industry practice of passing birds’ heads through a pool of electrified water (often leaving them paralyzed but still conscious), CAK is considered the least painful and most reliable way of ensuring animals are dead before slaughter. PETA is calling its KFC Canada victory the biggest in their 28-year history, measured by the number of animals affected. Until KFC makes the same changes worldwide, PETA plans to continue protests in the US and other countries. The Globe and Mail
No Meat Is “Happy” Meat
While PETA celebrates their settlement with KFC Canada, some animal advocates question whether praising “new and improved” methods of killing represents true progress for other species or merely collusion with an essentially violent industry. On their new website, Humane Myth, the filmmakers who brought you Peaceable Kingdom define the myth as “An idea being propagated by the animal-using industry and some animal protection organizations that it is possible to use and kill animals in a manner that can be fairly described as respectful or humane.” Exploders of the humane myth also reject endorsement of foods containing animal products marketed as “humane,” “cruelty-free,” “free-range,” “cage-free,” or “compassionate,” contending that encouraging people to eat any kind of animal products only reinforces the commercial exploitation that is inherent to raising animals for food. Considered controversial by many advocates, animal abolition's adherents nevertheless claim their values embody the central core of animal rights philosophy. humanemyth.org
Routine v. Humane
In a monumental legal victory for animals, the New Jersey Supreme Court unanimously struck down the New Jersey Department of Agriculture's (NJDA) claim that "routine husbandry practices" are "humane" simply because they are widely used within the factory farming industry. In 1996, the New Jersey legislature ordered the NJDA to develop "humane" standards of farm animal care. When the department announced eight years later that every practice (no matter how painful or cruel) is humane as long as everyone’s doing it, a coalition of animal advocates, led by Farm Sanctuary, filed a lawsuit charging that the NJDA had failed to comply with the legislature’s directive. The State Supreme Court’s precedent-setting ruling also condemned the practice of mutilating farm animals without anesthesia (such as tail-docking cattle), but failed to define gestation crates, veal crates and the transport of downed cattle as inhumane, instead suggesting that the legislature address these controversial issues. njfarms.org
The Dogs of Summer
With dignitaries and tourists from across the globe set to descend on the nation’s capital for the Summer Olympics in Beijing, the Chinese government ordered restaurants and hotels not to serve dog during the international games in August to “respect the dining customs of different countries.” The communiqué specifically targeted officially-designated Olympic restaurants and those in “key control areas” along the route of the Olympic flame rally. Canine cuisine – whether roasted or stewed – is still popular in Asian countries like South Korea, Laos and the Philippines. If visitors from these countries order dog meat, servers have been advised to “avoid conflict” by politely suggesting another flesh-based dish. This is not the first time that a country has tried to hide the eating of dogs from prying Western sensibilities. In 1988, South Korea temporarily suspended the sale of dog meat during the Seoul Olympics due to criticism from animal protection advocates. San Francisco Chronicle
1,000,000 Taiwanese Pledge Veg
More than a million Taiwanese citizens have agreed to combat climate change and global food shortages by committing to a vegetarian diet. The No Meat No Heat campaign also persuaded prominent government officials to go veg, including Taipei's and Kaohsiung's mayors, the environment minister and the speaker of the house. The adoption of vegetarian values is aligned with Taiwan's long tradition of Buddhist culture, which espouses non-violence. With rising temperatures breaking records and more than 850 million people (mostly children) going hungry every year, one hopes that other countries will follow Taiwan's example. As the campaign's organizers point out, eating a plant-based diet will reduce your carbon footprint by 1.5 tons of carbon emissions a year, and, nutritionally speaking, growing vegetables is about 99% more resource-efficient than raising beef. Now we just need to get a million people in every country to help decrease the heat by not eating meat. english.rti.org
Rights for Spain's Great Apes
Spain is on the cusp of becoming the first country in the world to proffer rights of personhood on a non-human species. The Spanish Parliament's environmental committee recently voted in favor of a resolution, which has majority support, urging the government to comply with the Great Ape Project, founded by philosophers Peter Singer and Paola Cavalieri in 1993 “to provide (great apes) with the right to life, the freedom of liberty and protection from torture.” In addition to banning experiments on primates by 2009, the law would also prohibit the use of primates in circuses, and require drastic improvements for more than 300 apes currently living in zoos. Spain's sea change could also have palpable benefits for primates around the world, raising the animal protection bar for other countries. Ultimately, Spain's stand may be a crucial step towards stemming the international bushmeat trade and averting the extinction of wild apes. Reuters
Jewish Leaders Endorse Humane Campaign
All Creatures Great and Small, a campaign spearheaded by the Humane Society of the United States and the Jewish Vegetarians of North America, applies traditional religious values to the humane treatment of animals. The campaign is gaining some prominent converts in the Jewish community who say its message is consistent with scriptural teachings which prohibit causing unnecessary suffering to living beings. All Creatures Great and Small focuses on animals who endure excruciatingly painful lives on factory farms, noting that Judaic laws of kashrut slaughter require the killing of animals in the least traumatic way possible, but do not address the months or years of chronic stress and disease that animals are subjected to in battery cages and other forms of intensive confinement. The campaign asks people to practice compassion for animals by pledging to first buy only cage-free eggs, and then eat fewer eggs before eventually giving them up altogether. humanesociety.org/religion
Spin It Like You Mean It
You'd think that a group named Californians for Safe Food would support legislation to ban battery cages for egg-laying hens, gestation crates for pregnant pigs, and veal crates in their home state, but no. They are instead the official organization opposing Proposition 2, the Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act, which will be on the ballot in California this November. The group is comprised of the state's most powerful agribusiness conglomerates, who have spent months infusing massive amounts of cash into a misinformation campaign aimed at persuading the public that Prop. 2 would drastically raise consumer prices and financially devastate the egg industry. Contradicting this claim, research shows that it costs factory farms less than one penny extra per egg to raise hens without battery cages. With a recent poll showing voters overwhelmingly favor Prop. 2 by 63 to 24 percent, the spinmeisters have their work cut out for them. californiaprogressreport.com
Arresting Development
In the early-morning hours of May 21, 2008, the day before a major campaign advocating a constitutional amendment for animal protection was to be launched in Austria, a masked unit of heavily-armed police officers stormed the homes of animal activists, confiscating computers, telephones and other office equipment. Of the 10 incarcerated (as of this writing), many are leaders of mainstream animal welfare non-profits that have been crucial to passing landmark reforms in Austria— including bans on battery cages, fur farms, wild animal circuses, and medical experiments on great apes. In a decidedly Kafkaesque twist, authorities first ignored legal procedure by refusing to tell the prisoners the charges against them. Then prosecutors claimed that these individuals are heads of a “criminal organization” that has perpetrated every single animal rights-related crime in the country over the last 11 years. No actual evidence substantiating these accusations has yet been presented. evana.org
September 2008
Oprah's Eating Evolution
For 21 days in May and June,
media maven and talk show host Oprah Winfrey tried a vegan diet as part of a
holistic cleansing program. Inspired by conversations with author/philosopher
Eckhart Tolle, she followed the program of “conscious eating” detailed in Kathy
Freston's bestselling book Quantum Wellness: A Practical and Spiritual Guide
to Health and Happiness. Along with animal products, Winfrey and three
“Veganista Cleanse Teammates” abstained from alcohol, sugar, caffeine and
gluten for the duration. Winfrey shared the experience with fans both on
television and through a blog in which she displayed moments of true animal
awareness. “These Morningstar veggie sausages are a keeper—nice flavor and no
pig had to sacrifice its life,” she wrote. While Winfrey did not remain vegan
once the 21 days were up, she may be heading in that direction as she pursues
her commitment to “be a more cautious and conscious eater.” oprah.com
The New Meat
In April, scientists from
around the world met in
Factory Farm Report
The Pew Commission on
Industrial Farm Animal Protection recently released a landmark study based on
two-and-a-half years of independent research that proposes drastic changes in
the way animals are raised for food. Their recommendations include phasing out
battery cages for egg-laying hens, gestation and farrowing crates for pregnant
pigs, and other intensive animal confinement systems within ten years; banning
the force-feeding of ducks and geese to make foie gras; and prohibiting the
non-therapeutic use of antibiotics. In addition to taking a strong stance on
animal welfare, the Pew Commission also addressed the devastating impact that
factory farming has on human health, the environment, and rural economies and
culture. The report recommends the formation of a substantive disease
monitoring program to facilitate recalls, stricter pollution regulations for
Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, and fundamental market reforms that
would enable independent farms to compete with agribusiness conglomerates. ncifap.org
From the Slaughterhouse to the Big House
New research seems to indicate that the victims of
slaughterhouse violence include humans as well as animals. A paper recently
authored by Jennifer Dillard contends that people who work in slaughterhouses
are statistically more likely to commit violent crimes than workers in other
industries. Based on an analysis of data from 58 rural counties, she found
“unique effects of slaughterhouse employment levels on certain types of crime”
even when other key variables are accounted for. Dillard concludes that the
cumulative effect of killing animals day in and day out increases the incidence
of post-traumatic stress disorder and other psychological maladies, and that
workers should be compensated by the Occupational Safety and Health
Administration for any problems they experience as a result job-related stress.
Researcher Amy Fitzgerald, writing for the American Sociological Association,
also reports that communities where slaughterhouses are located suffer from
consistently higher rates of violent crime. New York Times
Night of the Living Ted
While you can't buy Soylent Green at the supermarket
yet, billionaire media mogul Ted Turner predicts that, come 2050, humans will
be eating one another as a result of massive food shortages caused by global
warming. In a televised interview with PBS talk show host Charlie Rose, Turner
proclaimed that in 30 to 40 years, “Most of the people will have died and the
rest of us will be cannibals. Civilization will have broken down... The
droughts will be so bad there'll be no more corn grown. Not (resorting to
cannibalism) is suicide.” Turner, founder of CNN and Turner Broadcasting,
believes human overpopulation is the main cause of rising planetary
temperatures, and in 1996 stated that we need to reduce our numbers by about
95% to create a truly sustainable world. Perhaps if Turner and the rest of
humanity stop eating animals, we can reverse global warming and avoid becoming
zombies. 
On the Run
This past April, 18 members of Team Vegan ran in the
An Inconvenient Sequel?
Former Vice President Al Gore recently announced plans
to start work on a follow-up to his Oscar-winning blockbuster documentary An
Inconvenient Truth, which compellingly presented the evidence that global
warming is real and potentially catastrophic, and it is human activity that is
causing temperatures to rise. Gore noted that “the (environmental) situation
has not improved since I made the movie in 2006. Sure, awareness has grown and
more people are concerned since scientists said we had just ten years to take
action to halt rising sea levels.” What doesn't seem to have grown much is Gore
awareness that his meat-based diet is contributing to climate change, despite a
concerted effort by a broad range of vegan activists to make him see this
inconvenient truth. VegNews hopes that in the sequel, Gore comes clean by
acknowledging that animal agriculture is at the core of the global warming
crisis. The Sun
Shear Cruelty
For years, animal advocates have been pressuring the
Australian wool industry to ban mulesing, a common husbandry practice that
involves slicing the skin off the backsides of sheep to avoid accumulation of
feces and urine, and thus prevent flystrike. In 2004, responding to public
concerns and retail boycotts, wool producers set a 2010 target date for
developing more humane and cost-effective alternatives to mulesing. Yet, with
the deadline only two years away, about two-thirds of sheep raised Down Under
are still subjected to painful mulesing. Chemical and genetic solutions to
flystrike are currently being researched, but experts say the best approach
would be to stop selectively breeding merinos with wrinkled skin (which
produces more wool per square inch). However, most vegans know that the best
way to protect sheep from unnecessary suffering is to buy clothes made from
non-animal fabrics, and let the sheep keep their wool. sciencealert.com
And the Awards Go to...YES!
Ocean Robbins, founder of the vegan youth leadership
organization YES! and son of pioneering author John Robbins, received two
prestigious awards recently for his work. In March, the Freedom's Flame Awards
honored Ocean and his wife Michele as the “Couple of the Movement” as part of
the annual Bridge Crossing Jubilee. This event commemorates “Bloody Sunday,”
the historic march in
Research Marketplace
A new data project from the Humane Research Council
(HRC) called Cultivate Research provides food manufacturers, distributors,
retailers and marketers with the tools they need to understand trends in the
vegetarian and vegan foods industry. The group recently released a series of
four studies that provide essential insights into the attitudes and behaviors
of American consumers toward meat reduction and their use of alternatives to
meat and dairy products. Based on survey data gathered from more than 3,200
participants, HRC notes that nearly three-quarters of US adults have decreased
their meat consumption (mainly due to health concerns), and that approximately
one in eight now eat meat at only half of their meals. Che Green, president of
Cultivate research, said that “The results are clear: meat reducers,
semi-vegetarians, and vegetarians are the core of the vegetarian foods industry
as well as the primary source of its near-term growth.” humanespot.org
July 2008
License to Let Live
There's vegan food, vegan clothes...and now vegan software. The new JavaScript tool ExtTLD excludes computer users involved in the manufacture or marketing of products made from or tested on animals—everything from meat, dairy, and eggs to pharmaceuticals and GMOs containing animal DNA. The list also includes circuses and other forms of "entertainment" that use animals, "sports" like hunting and rodeo, and service sectors such as the mass-transport of animals. Software engineer Jaro Benc apparently designed ExtTLD for conscientious webmasters with a strong sense of ethics regarding the treatment of animals who use the open source Ext JS framework. In techspeak, the program functions as "a library for Java web developers that generates Ext JS Javascript at the runtime based on a JSP tag library," according to an article on regdeveloper.co.uk. If you actually understood that last sentence, then you may want to get yourself a license for the software. exttld.com
Chicken Out
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) has filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court to make California restaurants comply with a state law requiring businesses to warn consumers when their products contain a known carcinogen. The Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act, passed by voters on a ballot initiative in 1986, helps keep toxic chemicals from industrial pollution out of ground water, but also protects citizens' right to know when a cancer-causing agent is present in other edibles. One of these carcinogens is PhIP, which forms when animal flesh is grilled at high temperatures. The most concentrated PhIP levels are found in cooked chicken, and PCRM maintains that the law requires restaurants to post "clear and reasonable warnings" on their food. President and chief executive of the California Restaurant Association Jot Condie said enforcement of the law would cause many restaurants "to take (chicken) off the menu." Reuters
The End of Animal Testing
Every year in the U.S., approximately 10 million animals are used to test the toxicity of chemical compounds in consumer products and pharmaceuticals, but a new proposal by three government agencies could someday reduce that number to zero. The Environmental Protection Agency, the National Toxicology Program, and the National Institutes of Health have joined forces to phase out animal testing methods over the next decade. In their place, scientists would grow human cell cultures in the lab, then expose them to lasers and analyze their reactions with computers. Because this technique enables thousands of chemicals to be tested at the same time, the agencies say this will be less expensive and time-consuming than injecting toxic substances into living organisms, yet also yield more reliable results. The EPA is verifying the method’s accuracy by evaluating chemicals already tested on animals, and expects to complete the transition's first phase later this year. USA TODAY
Closed-Circuit Killing
In the wake of the Hallmark/Westland slaughterhouse scandal that triggered the largest beef recall in US history, the USDA is considering a Senate committee proposal to put video cameras in slaughterhouses to enforce animal welfare and food safety regulations. Questions about who would have access to the footage, how it would be monitored, and where cameras would be placed have yet to be answered, but Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer said he is in favor of the plan if surveillance will prevent lawbreaking. It took an undercover investigator with a video camera to show that workers at the Hallmark/Westland slaughter plant forced downed dairy cows who couldn't walk to killing pens with forklifts. A statement by the Senate committee noted that they had first proposed installing cameras in slaughter plants in 2005, and that the abuses seen at Hallmark/Westland could have been averted if the USDA had followed their advice earlier. CNN
Soy for Strong Bones
Recent research supports claims that consumption of soy isoflavones promotes skeletal health. One study of menopausal women published in the journal Clinical Nutrition found that consumption of more than 90 milligrams of soy daily correlated with a significant increase in spine bone mineral density for menopausal women—an average of 20.6 milligrams more per square centimeter than control subjects given placebos. Another study in the journal Nutrition Research indicated that young women who regularly ate soy products also increased their bone mineral density. This small study, which tracked the eating habits of 34 young women over the course of two years, is the first to evaluate soy nutrition based on multiple 24-recalls. The findings of both these studies may help explain why, in a 2005 report published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, bone fractures in women who had entered menopause less than 10 years earlier decreased by 48 percent. NutraIngredients.com
Save Us, Aquaman!
With fish rapidly disappearing from the oceans and many aquatic species on the brink of extinction, a report by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature warns that one-fifth of the world's commercial fish are caught and sold illegally. The group's investigation revealed incidents of fishermen bribing government officials, mislabeling fish, and smuggling contraband caches underneath batches of legally-caught fish. Europe has become the largest global consumer of seafood, and with fish prices doubling and even tripling in just the last few years, the black market is booming. In 2007, the EU banned fishermen from harvesting endangered blue fin tuna in Atlantic and Mediterranean waters to save the native species. Yet industrial-sized fishing vessels with nets as long as six miles continue to ply their trade on the open ocean, often ignoring quotas and flouting the law. Experts suggest satellite surveillance of “pirate” fleets to keep them in line. New York Times
Poultry Politics
In 2006, Arizona voters passed the Humane Treatment of Farm Animals Act, a ballot initiative that outlawed veal crates for baby calves and gestation crates for pregnant pigs, but a new bill in the state legislature seeks to prevent citizens from enacting new laws to improve the welfare of chickens in battery cages and growing houses. If successful, Republican State Senator Jake Flake's S.B. 1373 would subvert the democratic process by putting all decision-making power over the lives of egg-laying hens and "broiler" chickens in the hands of a newly-formed Arizona Poultry Husbandry Council heavily stacked with meat- and egg-industry representatives. Senator Flake introduced a similar bill in 2006 that would have prevented voters from passing any more propositions affecting agribusiness practices in all segments of production, and retroactively nullified the veal/gestation crate ban. However, legislators gave the proposal a thumbs down, so hopefully they will do the same again. Humane Society Legislative Fund
The Prince and the Pâté
In February, Prince Charles, heir to the throne of England, ordered foie gras banned from the royal table on the grounds that force-feeding ducks and geese to swell their livers is inhumane. His Highness decreed that palace chefs were no longer to serve the diseased-organ "delicacy," and may revoke the royal warrant from one of his favorite shops, the House of Cheese in Gloucestershire, for continuing to sell it. The UK is one of more than a dozen countries where foie gras production is illegal, but it is still sold there. Animal advocates were thrilled that Charles has taken such a bold stance against cruelty to waterfowl. Noted Justin Kerswell of Britain-based organization Vegetarians International Voice for Animals (VIVA!), "Foie gras is seen as very posh and the heir to the throne is probably the poshest person in Britain, so for him to ban it is very good news." The Daily Mail
Electing Animals
Inspired by the recent successes of citizen-initiated animal protection propositions in several states banning some of the cruelest factory farming practices, the Animals and Society Institute (ASI), an independent research organization and think tank, has proposed a plan to promote the interests of non-human species in the political arena. Their Animals' Platform is designed as a blueprint that activists can use to promote new and improved legislation for any and all animals at the local, state, and national levels. According to ASI, “Animal protection is more than a matter of personal conviction and lifestyle choice—it is also a public policy issue,” but it takes direct citizen action to make sure politicians take the animals’ interests seriously. Activists who want to help animals by actively engaging in the democratic process of making laws can visit ASI’s website to download the Animals’ Platform or order it for free on a CD-Rom. animalsandsociety.org
Flurry Over Hedgehogs
After dozens of German hedgehogs got their heads caught in the discarded plastic lids of McDonald's McFlurry cups and died of starvation, the fast food giant agreed to redesign the packaging of their popular frozen dessert to prevent the nocturnal rodents from turning it into a lethal neck brace. In response to reports of McFlurry-related hedgehog deaths, Friends of the Earth Germany (BUND) lobbied McDonald's to use a container that would not wind up strangling the animals. Trying to create an opening that is bigger than a spoon but smaller than a hedgehog's head, the company experimented with various lid sizes, as well as a top with moveable flaps that would enable the animals to go in and out of the entryway. Eventually, they chose a container design that McDonald's is already using in the UK, which was introduced after the British Hedgehog Society complained of the same deadly problem. Speigel Online
May 2008
Biz Buzz
According to the Britain-based consulting firm Ministry of International Veganism (MiV), 2007 was the busiest year yet for vegan businesses in the UK—and 2008 may be even bigger. From food to fashion, the vegan star is on the rise, say MiV and others, such as the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), which reported that “ethical consumerism” has grown beyond a specialty niche market into an industry now worth about £29.3 billion ($58 billion US). Experts claim that the rapid development in animal-friendly manufacturing, retail, and catering sectors is being driven by the recent formation of synergistic partnerships between non-profit animal advocacy organizations and vegan companies, as well as a spike in the number of new vegans. Transnational news magazine The Economist predicted even greater expansion of the vegan industry in coming years if the number of young vegetarians maintain their dietary lifestyle through adulthood. prleap.com
Food Inflation: It’s A Gas!
Paying higher prices for produce lately? So are most Americans, and some blame the rising cost of bringing home the broccoli on ethanol—the clear, combustible corn-based alcohol that is rapidly gaining in popularity as an alternative fuel source. Livestock farmers charge that the ethanol industry’s increasing demand for corn drives up their animal feed costs, and farmers are feeling the pressure to cash in by growing more ears as prices climb—pushing other vegetable crops out and diminishing botanical diversity. There are additional causes for ballooning grocery bills (which went up on average about five percent last year), such as surging premiums on petroleum. To tackle that problem, Congress passed a bill last year that mandates replacing one-quarter of the United States’ oil consumption with 36 billion gallons of ethanol by 2022. Agricultural industry insiders fear that this will only intensify the food vs. fuel battle for arable land. New York Times
Smoked Meat
A study completed recently by the US National Cancer Institute is the first large, long-term epidemiological research project to draw a strong link between meat consumption and lung cancer. Involving over half a million subjects between 51 and 70 years of age over a period of eight years, researchers reported that “Statistically significant elevated risks (ranging from 20 percent to 60 percent) were evident for esophageal, colorectal, liver, and lung cancer, comparing individuals in the highest with those in the lowest quintile of red meat intake.” These results remained the same even when smoking habits were factored into the equation. The study focused on consumption of red meat (beef, pork, and lamb) and processed meats (such as bacon, sausage, cold cuts, and hot dogs). The finding that eating meat increases the risk for many types of cancers is consistent with over a hundred other scientific studies from around the world. msnbc
Flunking Nutrition
Last year, about 27,000 students enrolled in the Seminole County, Florida school system took home report cards good for a free McDonald’s Happy Meal—embellished with pictures of the famous red-wigged, yellow-pajamad corporate clown—as a reward for earning high grades. The $1,600 printing bill picked up by the fast food juggernaut was just one small part of their billion-dollar-a-year marketing strategy, much of it aggressively aimed at young consumers. With more than 9 billion children in the US now categorized as overweight, and each Happy Meal packed with as much as 700 calories and 28 grams of fat, parents may wonder what their kids are learning about the link between healthy eating and physical fitness. Meanwhile, Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland are putting healthy vegetarian options to the test in their cafeterias, where students can now order meatless menu items like veggie burgers, soy chicken, and soy milk. pressconnects.com
Lights, Camera, Lacerate!
BBC viewers have gotten an eyeful of bloody reality on television recently, as celebrity chefs have taken animal slaughter into their own hands by killing chickens on camera. But there’s more to their motivations than first meets the eye, for they say their intention is to remind people that when they eat meat, animals die. This past January, Jamie Oliver, popularly known as the Naked Chef, stunned a chicken and slit his throat for the benefit of more than four million viewers of “Jamie’s Fowl Dinners.” Oliver’s colleague, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, also appeared on the telly later that week as part of the pair’s Chicken Out media campaign. He presented an experiment in which he built small free-range and factory farms for egg-laying chickens right next to one another to demonstrate the contrast in quality of life conditions. Both chefs emphasized that cheap poultry prices produce the most egregious animal suffering. New York Times
The Cultural Evolution
Under pressure from Western countries that have blasted China for a string of food safety scandals, the country is currently implementing the first animal welfare standards in its long history. The new “Technical Standards on Humane Animal Slaughter” are aimed at making the slaughter of animals raised for human consumption less painful and horrifying for the victims of factory farming. They include using plastic rather than electric prods to herd pigs, designing chutes that prevent the animals from seeing each other getting slaughtered, and electrically stunning them into unconscious before killing them. The program was kicked off late last year in the central province of Henan, which accounts for about one-tenth of China’s entire pork production, and trainings will be held throughout the country starting this year. With the 2008 Summer Olympics being held in Beijing, maybe we can convince the Chinese government to ban the eating of dogs, too. Reuters
A Matter of Taste
Recently-released figures from the British Home Office indicate that testing new health foods for human consumers is murder on animals. The Home Office statistics show a threefold increase in the number of laboratory testing procedures for food additives, sweeteners, and health supplements performed on non-humans during 2007, but a spokesperson for the government agency said the tests are necessary for compliance with regulatory provisions. Meanwhile, the soft drink industry is heading in the opposite direction. Responding to a PETA campaign targeting beverage manufacturers, both Coca-Cola and Pepsico announced that they will stop financing animal tests as part of their product development research (except when they are legally required). Many soda studies are done on rats because they have specific taste pathways in common with humans, but Nutrasweet funded one involving chimpanzees. Ocean Spray, Welch’s, and Pom Wonderful have also previously made agreements to test their drink ingredients without harming animals. New York Times
Right of Passage
The Krishna-Avanti school in London, set to open its doors in September 2008, would have been the UK’s first vegetarian-only academy, except that administrators bowed to the Hindu Council and other religious groups who criticized their proposed admissions policy as exclusionary. In November 2007, administrators announced that entry into their halls of learning would only be granted to 240 of the most active practitioners of the Hindu faith, defined as individuals who regularly engage in worship both at home and in temple, and who follow a strict vegetarian diet. By mid-December, they had relaxed their standards to allow matriculation of meat eaters, relinquishing the task of determining who meets the criteria for being a practicing Hindu to local temples. The school’s erstwhile critics hailed the compromise, claiming it would allow the various sects in the Harrow area to sponsor students based on the traditions of the different branches of Hinduism. timesonline.co.uk
The Climate Control Diet
Global warming experts are increasingly putting the heat on the meat-based diet as a key culprit in the continuing rise of dangerous greenhouse gasses. A 2007 report by the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) emphasized "the importance of lifestyle changes" that included veg-friendly dietary recommendations. After the report’s release, economist and IPCC head Rajendra Pachauri urged attendees at a Paris press conference to “Please eat less meat – meat is a very carbon-intensive commodity.” Researchers have conclusively established the link between meat and rising planetary temperatures, with studies indicating that more than 80 pounds of carbon dioxide are released into the atmosphere for every 2.2 pounds of meat produced. According to Pachauri, “The picture is quite grim – if the human race does not do anything, climate change will have serious impacts.” Yet he remains hopeful because, at least this time around, no one disputed the IPCC’s scientific conclusions. AFP
So Long, Salmon
Ecologists warn that the wild pink salmon could vanish from the Canadian Pacific within the next four years due to an infestation of sea lice spawned in open-ocean fish farms off the British Columbian coast. The region is home to more than 100 large-scale aquaculture operations where non-native Atlantic salmon are raised, sometimes in concentrations of more than one million fish per farm. Mature pink salmon spend their lives in the ocean, but return to their birthplace in British Columbia’s mountain streams and rivers to reproduce and die. When their young are born, the tiny fish swim downstream into river inlets that are rife with parasites, to which the juvenile salmon are vulnerable because they have not yet developed protective scales. Scientists are urging the Canadian government to force fish farmers to switch from open-cage systems to enclosed pens, but expect they will instead side with the lucrative $300-million-a-year industry.
Science
March 2008
Kangaroos & Climate Control
A report partly funded by environmental organization Greenpeace entitled Paths to a Low-Carbon Future warns that the world must cut greenhouse gasses by at least 33 percent by 2020 to prevent catastrophic climate change from wreaking havoc with the planet. Yet instead of recommending a vegan diet (which is the most effective way of curbing personal carbon emissions), Greenpeace encourages people to consume 20 percent less beef from cows (whose flatulence and burping causes almost one-tenth of the total carbon dioxide produced by human activities) and replace it with kangaroo meat. Kangaroos are already eaten in Germany, France, Belgium, and their native Australia, where about three million are killed annually for meat and the species’ overall numbers are steadily declining. Greenpeace’s current position contradicts their earlier stance condemning the commercial slaughter of kangaroos for ecological and moral reasons, which the group articulated in their 1986 documentary film Goodbye to Joey. Herald Sun
Fishy Advice
When the “non-profit” Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies (HMHB) Coalition released a report recommending that pregnant and nursing women eat more seafood, their claims smelled more than a little fishy. Government health agencies have long warned expectant and new mothers to limit their seafood intake to avoid dangerously high mercury content in the flesh of aquatic animals, which can impede babies’ brain development. A little investigative digging by reporters revealed that HMHB’s report was actually commissioned by the seafood industry and funded by $74,000 from the National Fisheries Institute. Some of the group’s 150 “members” (such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, the March of Dimes, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) didn’t even know they were part of the coalition, and strongly disagreed with its recommendations. Expecting and new moms can get essential Omega-3 fatty acids and Docosahexaenoic Acid (DHA) from flaxseed, walnuts, and soybeans instead of fish. NPR.org
Falafel Bureau of Investigation
With tensions escalating between Washington and Tehran due to Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons program, the FBI recently cooked up a scheme to ferret out possible Hezbollah operatives living in the United States. By analyzing sales records from grocery stores in the San Francisco Bay Area between 2005 and 2006, FBI agents hoped to identify potential terrorists by correlating increased consumption of Middle Eastern food with other data. This means that people could be put on a list of possible terrorist suspects simply for being fanatic for falafel, a Mediterranean pita-bread sandwich made with fried chickpeas, veggies, and tahini sauce that is a favorite among red-blooded Vegan-Americans. Such dietary profiling in the War on Terror echoes the Pentagon’s extensive and controversial data mining of U.S. consumer purchases conducted in 2002. However, the head of the FBI’s criminal investigations division axed the Middle Eastern food spying program after questioning its Constitutionality. CQ Politics
Flu the Coop
Disease experts say that recent H5N1 avian flu samples taken from migratory birds in Europe and Africa indicate that the deadly virus is mutating into a form that would more easily infect people and grow in the human upper respiratory tract. However, scientists say that the virus has not yet evolved into a pandemic strain, and they remain uncertain about how many mutation cycles would be required before it reaches that critical stage. Since 2003, the H5N1 avian flu virus has infected 329 people in a dozen countries, claiming the lives of more than 200 victims. Researchers from Columbia University in New York also recently published the results of a study indicating that pregnant mothers can pass the virus to their unborn children, and presented evidence that H5N1 does not stay localized in the lungs, but spreads throughout the human body to the gastrointestinal tract, liver, blood cells, and brain. msnbc.com
Think Globally, Eat Locally
If you really want to lighten your carbon footprint, don’t just go vegan, go locavore. That means buying food locally to avoid the burning of fossil fuels entailed in long-distance transport by truck or rail. The term “locavore” was coined in 2005 by a group of four San Francisco women, and won the prestigious New Oxford American Dictionary Word of the Year Award for 2007. The Locavores continue to encourage Bay Area residents—and people around the country—to only eat foods within a 100-mile radius of their homes during the month of August (and beyond). “Our food now travels an average of 1,500 miles before ending up on our plates,” they write on their website. Community-supported agriculture, farm stands, and farmers markets are good resources for aspiring locavores who want to eat within their foodshed, as are gardens and fruit trees from which you can harvest your own produce. locavores.com
Drunk Duck Decapitation
If you think duck fricassee is disgusting, wait until you hear this sickening story. One September morn, a visibly-inebriated 26-year-old Scott D. Clark entered the lobby of the Embassy Suites Hotel in St. Paul, Minnesota, which is home to several tame ducks who swim in the atrium's pond and waddle through the cultivated indoor garden. According to witnesses, Clark, who was there on business as a government employee, followed and grabbed one of the ducks, then tore the bird's head off with his bare hands, explaining to shocked onlookers, "I'm hungry, I'm gonna eat it." Clark faces felony animal cruelty charges, and has already been fired from his job as an auditor for the Office of the Inspector General in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Following an October court appearance, the defendant’s lawyer insisted Mr. Clark is merely “a fine young man who made a big mistake.” Star Tribune
Soy Potent!
The Soyfoods Association of North America (SANA), a non-profit trade association, recently warned that headlines claiming “soy products may lower sperm count” do not tell the whole story. Dr. Tammy Hedlund, a male fertility researcher from the University of Colorado, specifically criticized a small-scale, preliminary study presented by Dr. Jorge Chavarro, from the Harvard School of Public Health, at a meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Dr. Hedlund pointed out that Chavarro’s study was based on recollected intake of soy rather than specific diets containing soyfoods. The research also failed to establish a negative relationship between soy consumption and sperm mobility or quality, both key factors to fertility. The Harvard study conflicts with research sponsored by the U.S. government and National Institutes of Health in which controlled amounts of isoflavones from soy were fed to subjects and no effect on quantity, quality, or motility of sperm were observed. soyfoods.org
Regina Hyland: 1933 – 2007
Author, Protestant minister, and animal advocate Regina Hyland passed away on October 9th at the age of 64 from breast cancer. A vegetarian for more than 30 years, Hyland was best known for her book God's Covenant with Animals: A Biblical Basis for the Humane Treatment of All Creatures, in which she argued that meat eating was an aberration brought about by humanity’s Original Sin in the Garden of Eden. A tireless activist for a range of progressive social justice causes, Hyland worked in the prison ministry, supported migrant farm workers, and fought against the oppression of women. She stayed active up to the very end, canceling plans to speak at the World Veg Festival Weekend in San Francisco only after learning that she was suffering from the advanced stages of breast cancer. In accordance with Hyland’s last wishes, donations may be made in her memory to United Poultry Concerns. Herald Tribune
January 2008
Branding Up Baby
A groundbreaking study recently featured in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine concludes that preschool-age children greatly prefer the taste of food wrapped in McDonald's packaging to the same choices served in unmarked wrappers. Researchers presented identical hamburgers, chicken nuggets, French fries, milk, juice and carrots—both with and without the Golden Arches logo—to 63 three-to-five year old Head Start students. In every taste test, the children overwhelmingly favored the flavor of the "McDonald's" food, with less than one-quarter of the subjects realizing that the differently-packaged foods tasted exactly the same. This is perhaps the first study ever done that shows the effect of corporate branding on children, and highlights the alarming influence that pervasive advertising has over developing young minds. In response, University of Chicago marketing professor Pradeep Chintagunta suggested that researchers examine how McDonald's stacks up with kids against some other widely-recognized brand like Mickey Mouse. CNN.com
Cooking Cat-astrophe
You'd expect to find flesh from cows, chickens, pigs and other animals as entries in a cooking contest, but how about feral cat meat? Catvocates around the world collectively hissed when children's book writer and illustrator Kaye Kessing presented her Cat'n Quandog at a culinary competition in Alice Springs, Australia this August. They were further incensed when newspapers published the recipe, encouraging readers to catch and cook homeless felines, which Kessing has allegedly been doing for nearly two decades because ferals survive by eating native wildlife. The Australia-based website Flippy's Cat Page condemned Kessing with an online petition calling for a global boycott of her works. Nohl Rosen of Cat Galaxy, an Internet radio and TV station out of Arizona that reports on cat issues, said Kessing's actions are "a despicable, heinous crime against cats," and that "humane trap, neuter and return programs are the most effective method of managing feral populations." catgalaxymedia.com
Lives At Steak
As a teenager, 28-year-old Sarah Jones raised farmed animals for 4-H contests in her hometown of Strongsville, Ohio. Like many other kids in the extracurricular agriculture program, Jones bonded emotionally with the animals she fed, groomed and cared for. The experience of exhibiting them for prizes and auctioning them off to meat buyers for slaughter thus changed her perspective, and now she is on a mission to rescue animals raised by 4-H students by outbidding the competition. While she used to purchase animals at auction posing as a meat buyer, Jones recently went public with a campaign to save Bentley, a steer raised for a year by a 15-year-old girl. Unfortunately, she didn't receive quite enough donations to win Bentley's freedom, and he was butchered for meat. On a happier note, Jones' group did manage to save another young beef cow's life, their handsome new "spokesteer" named Rhett Butler. MySpace.com/savebentley
A Fatal Case of the Blues
An emerging disease has killed an untold number of hogs in China. The highly-contagious blue ear pig disease results in reproductive and respiratory failure, but some experts fear that many pigs may be dying from a far more lethal mutated form of the virus that also causes severe organ damage. Chinese scientists are studying the pathogen, but have not shared tissue samples or findings with other animal disease experts because they want to retain exclusive patent rights when a vaccine is developed. In fact, the more pigs die from the disease, the more lucrative the market for a working serum will become, with projected royalties reaching up to $265 million next year in China alone. While there is no clear evidence suggesting blue ear pig disease can be passed to humans who consume infected pork, many pandemics (including mad cow, SARS and avian influenza) have made the jump between species. Washington Post
KFC Going Postal?
The United States Postal Service is considering a new postage stamp featuring the famous face of fast food icon Colonel Harland Sanders, founder of the Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise. According to PETA, the proposal is the brainchild of KFC marketers who hope the stamp will serve as an effective advertising tool. In response to consumer demand, McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, and most recently Carl's Jr. have all moved to improve the welfare of animals used to make their food. KFC remains virtually alone in the fast food industry in their refusal to initiate basic reforms regarding the way their suppliers raise chickens. Animal advocates maintain it is unethical for the Postal Service to promote a corporation that abuses animals and harms human health. To voice your opinion on the Colonel Sanders stamp, write to: Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee, U.S. Postal Service, 1735 N. Lynn Street, Suite 5013, Arlington, VA 22209-6432. blog.peta.org
Starch of Progress
A recently released study suggests that the genetic replication of specific starch-digesting enzymes may be the key to understanding humanity's unique evolutionary trajectory as the dominant species on the planet. Researchers recently discovered that humans have about seven times as many copies of the amylase gene in their saliva than chimpanzees, our closest living relatives with whom we share more than 98% of our DNA. The high levels of this enzyme in human spit makes it much easier for us to digest protein from starch sources, giving more credence to the theory that early humans relied far more on foods such as tubers and bulbs (the wild-growing plants that are the predecessors of today's potatoes, carrots and onions) than meat for dietary survival. Scientists speculate that our ancestors' ability to expand their diet with nutritious starches provided the crucial resources needed for the development of our large and complex brains. scientistlive.com
Calling a Spade a Spoon
Animal agriculturists are stepping up their efforts to make killing animals more palatable to consumers by softening the terms used to define common factory farming practices. For example, speaking at the Arkansas Poultry Federation symposium in September, Mississippi State University professor and veterinarian Timothy Cummings suggested that chicken producers start using the term "beak conditioning" rather than "debeaking," and that the "backup killer" in slaughterhouses instead be referred to as a "knife operator." Why the focus on language? Because communication specialists know that "Whoever defines the issue controls the debate," as Cummings said in his talk. Debeaking involves partially searing off the beaks of 6-to-10-day-old chicks to reduce pecking and cannibalism caused by overcrowding birds together in battery cages and growing houses. Industry insiders hope that using a euphemism to describe this mutilation will convince consumers that chickens raised for meat and eggs don't have it so bad after all. Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
A Wing and a Prayer
In August, a court in Petah Tikva, Israel ruled that kapparot, a Jewish ritual in which Orthodox Hasidic rabbis swing chickens over their heads and then slice their throats with razors, violates the country's animal welfare laws. The traditional ceremony is performed between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippor, and is intended to allow the transference of an adherent's sins into the body of a chicken so they can be extinguished along with the bird's life. In large U.S. cities like New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, hundreds of chickens wait for days in cramped cages before kapparot starts, often lacking food, water and adequate shelter from the elements. Rabbinical law permits the substitution of a monetary donation for charitable purposes in place of a chicken, allowing people to partake in the ancient custom in a manner that is more consistent with Jewish teachings on cultivating compassion and respect for animals. haaretz.com
