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Downer Cows in Slaughter Video Were Products of Profit Happy Dairy Industry
The Humane Society's recent slaughterhouse exposé which led to the biggest beef recall in US history was an ethical and hygienic shock to the public.
We're eating what? people asked.
But the downer cows viewers saw jabbed in the eyes with herding paddles and forklifted to slaughter were products of the US dairy industry not US beef industry.
An industry so efficient it chews up and spits out cows looking like they do in the video in three to four years.
Especially because from 17% to 33% of the industry still uses Monsanto's rBST.
rBST (recombinant bovine somatotropin) also called rBGH (recombinant bovine growth hormone) was one of the first genetically modified substances approved for US consumption and intended to make dairies more profitable by increasing milk production of individual cow "units."
It was fast tracked through the Food and Drug Administration in 1993 where former Monsanto vice president Michael R. Taylor was in charge of labeling guidelines for rBST and another exMonsanto staffer was in charge of evaluating rBST levels in milk.
And despite a formal Health and Human Services Department investigation requested by Vermont Senators Patrick Leahy and James Jeffords in 1998 and the discovery by Canadian authorities as reported by Reuters that 20-30 percent of rBST tested rats had the drug in their blood stream and some developed cysts and prostate problems, it continues to be an unlabeled agrichemical "perk" in the nation's milk supply.
But the so-called "crack for cows" has some down sides, pun intended.
Because like other factory farming practices, efficiency and harm to human and animal health are inseparable.
While elevating a cow's milk production, it also elevates metabolism, food needs and cull rates.
Some say it even caused or spread mad cow disease when enterprising ranchers took advantage of the last two points and made cows into cannibals.
rBST also causes lameness in cows and udder infections called mastitis which further cull rates and deposit pus and antibiotics in the milk supply.
And rBST is widely suspected of contributing to ballooning rates of US breast and prostate cancer, diabetes, precocious puberty and metabolic disorders.
No wonder Giant Eagle, Kroger, Dean Foods, Borden, Safeway, Publix, Costco, Wal-Mart, Starbucks and Chipotle Mexican Grill are renouncing rBST products.
Even Kraft, the maker of those health foods, Velveeta and Cheez Whiz, is debuting an rBST-free cheese.
Of course some chemofarming friendly states want people to keep drinking the Milk-Aid.
In October, Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary, Dennis Wolff, announced that 16 dairies who were labeling their milk as "hormone-free" or "antibiotic-free" were guilty of "false or misleading" advertising. But three months later Governor Edward Rendell overruled him because of public outcry.
And Monsanto still bills its product as good for farmers--and even the environment.
"The use of supplemental rBST allows dairy farmers to produce more milk with fewer cows, thereby providing dairy farmers with additional economic security as well as providing related environmental benefits," it says.
But national "omnivore" Michael Pollan says that's cow manure.
"The milk should all come from one Huge Giant Cow," he says if you extend the logic that super efficient cows are better. "That's the argument used for industrial agriculture all the time. And genetically modified food --that maximizing productivity is the best use of resources."
Nor is rBST humane says Pollan. "It leads to a mode of production in which the animals get burnt out very quickly. It's a brutal way to treat animals and to do business."
And how much do rBST farmers make turning cows into the depleted downers seen in the Humane Society video?
An additional $100 a year per cow "unit" says one estimate.
Martha Rosenberg is a cartoonist for the Evanston Roundtable in Evanston, Illinois.
24 Comments so far
Show Allsickens me
The milk mustache in "Got Milk" ads is a target for a large fist or a cricket bat.
If people knew and cared how milk was produced, it would be illegal.
Agribusiness dairy farms keep dairy cows constantly pregnant. When calves are born, they are immediately removed from the caring mother and either immediately slaughtered, or raised and then slaughtered for "meat by-products". After 2 years, the poor cows are exhausted and can no longer maintain the constant pregnancy. Off to the slaughterhouse.
There is a good reason why slaughterhouses have no windows.
Hey girls, how would you like some heavy machine hanging onto your tits and sucking them dry for hours every day? Ya think it feels nice? Go on, think about it, and then tell me you don't care.
Ralph Nader for Attorney General!
So a farmer can expect to gain 100$/yr on thier milk production. How much is he losing when the cow only lasts 3,4,5 yrs. instead of 7,8,9 or more if he didn't? Small farmers used to care about thier cows, had names for them, and the cow would live above 10 yrs. They were turned out on grass, bedded on straw, and taken care of. Manure disposal didn't contaminate ground water and soil because it wasn't as runny as it is today or concentrated to one area. Cow manure today is liquified because of the way the animals are fed. Less fiber (hay) is fed in favor of high protein, highly processed feed in order to get the highest production of milk. This all ties into subsidies that farmers have gotten from the gov't. It has created huge farms that have commercialized farming in every area. Vegetables, Milk, Beef, Fruit... Monsanto and other companies that offer BST, GM seeds, and the chemicals to go on the crops are the ones pushing the gov't to keep handing out the subsidies. People need to wake up and protect the small farmers that still survive before there aren't any alternatives left.
More than likely this "downer cow" event is a case of BSE, which is bovine spongiform encephalopathy or "mad cow disease."
When prion disease has advanced, the animal can no long stand up as the nervous system becomes a spongy mess.
The heartbreaking cruelty to animals that makes the film footage so hard to watch is only part of the problem.
This disease syndrome has already happened on a mass scale in England and has already been found in the U.S. in limited situations. And most scientists are convinced that BSE tainted meat ingested can create the human form of prion disease called CJD.
There is also an organized Federal multi-agency mad cow media control and disinformation program in place to protect the beef industry. ETC.
try: www.mad-cow.org
Gee, I wonder why other countries are boycotting our beef exports AGAIN?
The same is true in the chicken industry where they take egg layers and starve them to cause forced moulting(jsut to get an extra few eggs out of them).
Humans dont respect life. They cant show the type of respect a lion has for a gazelle because humans are not built as predators--only gatherers(and the occasional worm). When they hunt they invariably become sadists.
Small farms led to factory farms. It was the small farm of Ancient Greece that made Pythagoros go vegetarian and Plato talk about the ills of meat for society.
Veganism is the only rational answer.
This is one reason I became one of those "militant vegans."
The dirty little secret of the dairy industry.
"Veganism is the only rational answer."
But you say nothing about organic and pasture-raised animals. They are raised in a humane way, not given hormones, not force fed, and slaughtered in a humane way.
There are alternatives.
Ahh, once again we see people missing the forest for the trees - the problem is not milk, it's Monsanto.
I drink organic milk, from Clover-Stornetta farms. They have a American Humane Association free-farming certification in addition to their organic cert's. Most of their organic milk comes from St. Anthony's farm, a dairy farm run by a Franciscan order to provide rehab opportunities for the less fortunate. Plus Clover-Stornetta is a family owned, local dairy. Doesn't travel far. By comparsion, where was that soymilk produced? By whom? From what sort of soybeans? Produced where?
I respect the right of people to choose a vegan diet but it is not for me. There are no native vegan cuisines or cultures anywhere in the world. I consider it unnatural and unhealthy. Read _Real Food_ to find out more.
.....And Monsanto still bills its product as good for farmers–and even the environment.
"The use of supplemental rBST allows dairy farmers to produce more milk with fewer cows, thereby providing dairy farmers with additional economic security as well as providing related environmental benefits," it says.....
Oh god.
And the worst of it is that even if they grokked the ugliness of what they're saying they wouldn't care.
Absolute insanity.
Buying organic milk is a huge step in the right direction (for health and humanitarian reasons). But the cows from those organic dairy farms still end up in the same slaughter houses, and for me, that was a deal breaker. (Not judging anyone else, though, so please don't misunderstand. This is about my personal preferences.) If I had my own farm, with my own cows, I might consume their milk. But I doubt it. As time goes by, I've lost my taste for animal fat.
Thanks Martha---I was once a dairy farmer---we refused to use BGH, aka BST. We had a small herd and I named them all. Naturally we were driven out of dairy farming by being so small and you know, damned inefficient. We weren't a milk factory like they are now. Sigh.
I second your nomination, ezeflyer.
"and slaughtered in a humane way."
iammyself: how does one slaughter a cow in a "humane" way? Never mind. The concept of "humane slaughter" is absurd.
Like with the death penalty - there's no clean, easy way to kill someone. Gassing - very painful. Electrocution - probably doesn't tickle, and sometimes the first one doesn't take, so you see smoke coming out of the condemned's head but he/she is still breathing. Real nice. Firing squad - messy, doesn't always kill 'em. Hanging - sometimes they dangle for a while before they die. Lethal injection - the condemned may slowly suffocate (very painful) but is paralyzed and thus unable to communicate.
Same with animals. Stun the cow to render it unconscious, so we can "humanely" slit its throat. Oops. Didn't quite work; cow's thrashing around. Well, we'll slit her throat anyway. Chickens (factory farmed) - let's cram them into tiny cages after we've cut off their beaks so they don't peck each other to death. Then we'll chop their heads off and watch them squirm for a little while. Pigs - let's cut off their testicles without anesthesia, and maybe their little tails too (not sure what purposes are served by these acts). Then we'll knock 'em senseless and then throw 'em in boiling water to burn off their fur. Oops! That one's still alive and screaming holy hell. Sharks - let's cut off their fins because those fins are so tasty in some broth. And we'll throw the rest of the shark back in the water so he can die a slow death of suffocation or bleeding out.
Aren't humans something?
I agree--humane slaughter is a total contradiction in terms. And cows milk is for baby cows.
Hi STAR OF THE SEA -- I enjoyed reading your post and considering a younger and vigorously glowing STAR feeding and singing to her friends and fellow farm creatures.
Was one of those beautiful vegetarians named STAR?
Bless you,
Namaste (aka nspire)
… … … … … Mahatma Gandhi … & … ML King … … Inspiration … … … … …
« We must be the change we wish to see in the world »
« There is a sufficiency in the world for man's need but not for man's greed »
« We adopt the means of nonviolence because our end is a community at peace with itself » — MLK
"There are no native vegan cuisines or cultures anywhere in the world. I consider it unnatural and unhealthy."
No statement could be more absurd. Humans are herbivores (The Herbivore Awareness Project, http://allinharmony.org).
Very few humans consumed animal products prior to refrigeration and those who did, were generally the ruling elite or members of herding communities.
'Vegan' is a word that appeared in the 20th century to describe an ethical reaction to the use and abuse and consumption of animals in one of the most developed (and animal abusive) regions of the world, England. But, people practicing all plant-based diets were not uncommon even in those days of global colonialisn which rested upon policies of cruel disregard for 'others' especially other species.
______________________
The Natural Human Diet
According to biologists and anthropologists who study our anatomy and our evolutionary history, humans are herbivores who are not well suited to eating meat.
Unlike natural carnivores, we are physically and psychologically unable to rip animals limb from limb and eat and digest their raw flesh. Even cooked meat is likely to cause human beings, but not natural carnivores, to suffer from food poisoning, heart disease, and other ailments.
People who pride themselves on being part of the human hunter tradition should take a second look at the story of human evolution. Prehistoric evidence indicates that humans developed hunting skills relatively recently and that most of our short, meat-eating past was spent scavenging and eating almost anything in order to survive; even then, meat was a tiny part of our caloric intake.
Humans lack both the physical characteristics of carnivores and the instinct that drives them to kill animals and devour their raw carcasses. Ask yourself: When you see dead animals on the side of the road, are you tempted to stop for a snack? Does the sight of a dead bird make you salivate? Do you daydream about killing cows with your bare hands and eating them raw? If you answered "no" to all of these questions, congratulations, you're a normal human herbivore, like it or not. Humans were simply not designed to eat meat.
(The Natural Human Diet was copied from http://www.goveg.com/naturalhumandiet.asp)
_____________________
"When we kill animals to eat them, they end up killing us because their flesh, which contains cholesterol and saturated fat, was never intended for human beings, who are natural herbivores."
William C. Roberts, M.D., editor, American Journal of Cardiology
http://notmilk.com
(eveything you ever wanted to know about dairy and why you should NEVER feed it to yourself or your children!) Nothing could be worse for your health than dairy products, Monsanto or not!
You tell em munch 1!
Vegans are in trouble from this downer cow crap too. Downer cow crap literally lands on the veggies & fruit that Vegans eat. What goes in a Downer cow comes out. This infighting that goes on between eaters is not helping our situation.
Got pus?
If you have ever seen a cow with mastitis, which pretty much includes all cows that are given steroids, hormones, antibiotics, you know what I am talking about.
The FDA like the EPA and the USDA were intended to protect the public. From the current activities of these agencies there is no way to know this. I thought some young people might be interested.