Dairy and Beef goes hand in hand. The following are only
some of millions cases every year regarding the extreme cruelty of the
industries. Here is an account of CALF slaughter (* most of them are
by-products of "milk") : "To get done with them faster, we'd put eight
or nine of them in the knocking box at a time...You start shooting, the
calves are jumping, they're all piling up on top of each other.
You don't know which ones got shot and which didn't....
They're hung anyway, and down the line they go, wriggling, yelling to be
slaughtered while fully conscious. ("Slaughterhouse", Gail Eisnitz, '98)
According to one of the Special Reports by Humane
Farming Association
(1998) : Some of the slaughterhouse workers described :
"When a conscious cow arrives at the first hind-legger
hanging upside down, usually the legger tries to make a cut to start
skinning out the leg. Unfortunately, it is very difficult and dangerous
to do that when an animal is kicking violently. So the legger will cut
off the bottom part of the animal's leg he's working on with a pair of
clippers." (Source: "Slaughterhouse", by Gail Eisnitz, 1998)
"It starts when the animals are hauled long distances
under extreme crowding and harsh temperatures. Here is an account from a
worker assigned to unloading pigs: "In the winter, some hogs come in all
froze to the sides of the trucks. They tie a chain around them and jerk
them off the walls of the truck, leave a chunk of hide and flesh
behind........Once at the slaughterhouse, some animals are too injured
to walk and others simply refuse to go quietly to their deaths. This is
how the workers deal with it: "The preferred method of handling a
cripple is to beat him to death with a lead pipe before he gets into the
chute... If you get a hog in a chute that's had the shit prodded out of
him, and has a heart attack or refuses to move, you take a meat hook and
hook it into his bunghole (anus)...and a lot of times the meat hook rips
out of the bunghole. I've seen thighs completely ripped open. I've also
seen intestines come out....." "A lot of times the skinner finds a cow
is still conscious when he slices the side of its head
and it starts kicking wildly ........" (SOURCE: "SLAUGHTERHOUSE", Gail
Eisnitz, 1998)
Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman conceded recently
in an interview with C-SPAN Washington Journal that the ENFORCEMENT of
the Humane Slaughter Act is almost NON-EXISTENT ! (Source: Humane
Farming Association, May, 1999)
MILK's (Cow's Milk) POLITICAL LINKAGE
1. WITH CONGRESS :
Congress has assigned USDA two radically opposing
missions. The very same officials who are charged with promoting the
sale of agricultural products are also supposed to protect the consumers
from filth and unscrupulous practices. President Reagan appointed three
agribusiness leaders to head up the USDA: the Secretary of Agriculture
was John Block, a corporate hog producer from Illinois; the Assistant
Secretary--later to become Secretary--was Richard Lyng, President of the
American Meat Institute. The Assistant Secretary for Marketing and
Inspection Services was William McMillan, a former meat-packing
executive and V.P. of the National Cattleman's Association. Once these
officials were placed in positions of such influence, the industry was
virtually running the USDA! In may 1989, Bush Administration appointed
JoAnn Smith, a cattle
rancher and policy maker to the meat industry, as the Assistant
Secretary of Agriculture for Marketing and Inspection Services. Her
entire career was to convince Americans to eat more BEEF. (Source:
"SLAUGHTERHOUSE", Gail Eisnitz, 1998)
The promotion and regulatory functions are all in one
Agency -- USDA. The conflict of interests are often clashed.
On March 1, 1999, we (US constituents) contacted
Congressman Larry
Combest's office, Chairman of House Agricultural Committee in Washington
DC. His Deputy Staff Director Mr. Tom Sell said loud and clear "We
represent for the Agricultural business." Shouldn't this Committee
represent the American people and NOT just a special interest group ???
2. WITH AGENCIES AND OTHERS :
Any one can request from the Press office of the
Department of Health and Human Services a huge poster (2' x 2.5') which
showed that Secretary of Health Donna Shalala's White Mustache photo.
Dr. Marion Nestle, who served on the USDA panel when the
last revisions were made in 1995, said the food industry traditionally
has driven the Diet Guidelines. She said in the past the industry has
successfully pressed the USDA to modify initial suggestions from the
panel (The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee) that consumers should
eat less meat and dairy products.---- Dr. Marion Nestle, a professor and
Chairwoman of the Department of Nutrition and Food Studies at New York
University. (Source: Chicago Tribune, June 24, 1999, Chicago Sports
Final, P. 20).
"The National Fluid Milk Processors Promotion Board, a
group created by the US Department of Agriculture and financed by the
dairy industry. It spends $80 million a year on the milk-mustache ads.
"----(Source: "MILK" ,page A01 of the Boston Globe on 06/08/99. )
"FDA Deputy Commissioner Michael Taylor, a former
counsel for Monsanto company, wrote confusing guidelines to prohibit
milk Hormone labeling to block the consumers the right to know the
truth. " (SOURCE: "A needless New Risk of Breast Cancer" by Dr. Samuel
Epstein, Chairman of the Cancer Prevention Coalition, Los Angeles Times,
Mar 20, 1994)
"BGH Hormone is used on dairy cows. BGH manufacturer
Monsanto made payments to the American Dietetic Association and the
American Medical Association, both of which issued favorable statements
about BGH on the same day". (SOURCE: "Good Medicine", "Milk and Breast
Cancer" , 1998)
CSPI, one of the biggest consumer advocacy groups, may
also linked to Dairy Industry. It can be seen from the following : "
FDA's final rule was prompted in part by a petition filed jointly by the
Milk Industry Foundation and the Center for Science in the Public
Interest (CSPI), a consumer advocacy group, and a separate petition
filed by the American Dairy Products Institute. The petitions asked FDA
to lift the labeling exemption provided for in the Nutrition Labeling
and Education Act of 1990 for lower fat dairy products. " (Source: "FDA
Consumer", Jan 1998).
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