By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: April 4, 2012
New York Times
Let’s hope you’re not reading this column while munching on a chicken sandwich.
That’s because my topic today is a pair of new scientific studies suggesting that poultry on factory farms are routinely fed caffeine, active ingredients of Tylenol and Benadryl, banned antibiotics and even arsenic.
“We were kind of floored,” said Keeve E. Nachman, a co-author of both studies and a scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Center for a Livable Future. “It’s unbelievable what we found.”
He said that the researchers had intended to test only for antibiotics. But assays for other chemicals and pharmaceuticals didn’t cost extra, so researchers asked for those results as well.
“We haven’t found anything that is an immediate health concern,” Nachman added. “But it makes me question how comfortable we are feeding a number of these things to animals that we’re eating. It bewilders me.”
Likewise, I grew up on a farm, and thought I knew what to expect in my food. But Benadryl? Arsenic? These studies don’t mean that you should dump the contents of your refrigerator, but they do raise serious questions about the food we eat and how we should shop.
It turns out that arsenic has routinely been fed to poultry (and sometimes hogs) because it reduces infections and makes flesh an appetizing shade of pink. There’s no evidence that such low levels of arsenic harm either chickens or the people eating them, but still...
Big Ag doesn’t advertise the chemicals it stuffs into animals, so the scientists conducting these studies figured out a clever way to detect them. Bird feathers, like human fingernails, accumulate chemicals and drugs that an animal is exposed to. So scientists from Johns Hopkins University and Arizona State University examined feather meal — a poultry byproduct made of feathers.
One study, just published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal, Environmental Science & Technology, found that feather meal routinely contained a banned class of antibiotics called fluoroquinolones. These antibiotics (such as Cipro), are illegal in poultry production because they can breed antibiotic-resistant “superbugs” that harm humans. Already, antibiotic-resistant infections kill more Americans annually than AIDS, according to the Infectious Diseases Society of America.
The same study also found that one-third of feather-meal samples contained an antihistamine that is the active ingredient of Benadryl. The great majority of feather meal contained acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol. And feather-meal samples from China contained an antidepressant that is the active ingredient in Prozac.
Poultry-growing literature has recommended Benadryl to reduce anxiety among chickens, apparently because stressed chickens have tougher meat and grow more slowly. Tylenol and Prozac presumably serve the same purpose.
Researchers found that most feather-meal samples contained caffeine. It turns out that chickens are sometimes fed coffee pulp and green tea powder to keep them awake so that they can spend more time eating. (Is that why they need the Benadryl, to calm them down?)
READ ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE
Showing posts with label factory farming. Show all posts
Showing posts with label factory farming. Show all posts
9/15/10
Where the Salmonella Really Came From -9/8/10
CALM Action/flickr
Barry Estabrook
It's been nearly one month since the nationwide recall of 550 million eggs, and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) still hasn't figured out where the salmonella that sickened 1,470 people originated.
Well, I know where it originated, and I am about to reveal it here, both to save the FDA further trouble and to warn the public that the food safety bill currently before the Senate (which may be fast-tracked as election-wary lawmakers return from their break) might not prevent future food contamination epidemics. In fact, it could even cause serious harm to conscientious farmers whose meat, poultry, and produce has never sickened anybody.
Put simply, the cause of the current salmonella outbreak is industrial-scale factory farming, which has also been the cause of virtually every instance of bacterial food contamination the country has experienced in recent years. Huge farms and processors that ship their products across the nation have given us E. coli in ground beef and spinach, Salmonella in peanut butter and fresh salsa, and Listeria in processed chicken. Scanning this list of food-borne illness outbreaks in the United States in the last 15 years, I can find only one instance, Listeria-tainted milk from Whitter Farms in Massachusetts, where a small, local operation sickened its customers.
READ WHOLE article here
9/2/10
With Salmonella, It's A Chicken-Or-Egg Conundrum - NPR
Courtesy of John Ingraham
Eggs themselves are remarkably resistant to germs like salmonella. The shell and proteins in the egg white normally do a good job of fending off pathogens. But eggs laid by a bird infected with salmonella will likely be infected, too.
"Eggs have been getting a bad rap lately as the number of people being made sick by eggs contaminated with salmonella continues to rise. But from an egg's point of view all of this is a bit unfair. Eggs get contaminated because the hen that's laying them is infected. Eggs themselves — if they come from a healthy bird — are remarkably resistant to contamination.
John Ingraham is particularly interested in how eggs stay microbe-free. He is a microbiologist and a chicken owner, and he happens to be my grandfather. He has spent years exploring the world of tiny organisms and so-called "retirement" hasn't changed that.
About a dozen chickens strut and peck in a large chicken coop tucked in between the clothes line and the gleaming pool in Ingraham's back yard in suburban Sacramento. They're quite vocal, and Ingraham points out the distinctive cackle that means one has laid an egg. They sound quite proud of the accomplishment."
READ and LISTEN to whole article here
Clearing out the hen house - NYT 9/2/10
Op-Ed Columnist
Cleaning the Henhouse
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: September 1, 2010
"About 95 percent of American egg-laying hens are still raised in small battery cages, which are bacterial breeding grounds and notoriously difficult to disinfect. Hens are crammed together, each getting less space than a letter-size sheet of paper. The tips of their beaks are often sheared off so they won’t peck each other to death.
They are sometimes fed bits of “spent hen meal” — ground up chickens. That’s right. We encourage them to be cannibals. "
READ WHOLE ARTICLE HERE
Cleaning the Henhouse
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: September 1, 2010
"About 95 percent of American egg-laying hens are still raised in small battery cages, which are bacterial breeding grounds and notoriously difficult to disinfect. Hens are crammed together, each getting less space than a letter-size sheet of paper. The tips of their beaks are often sheared off so they won’t peck each other to death.
They are sometimes fed bits of “spent hen meal” — ground up chickens. That’s right. We encourage them to be cannibals. "
READ WHOLE ARTICLE HERE
6/29/10
FDA Guidance: Non-Medical Antibiotic Use in Animals a Bad Idea
By Katherine Hobson
June 28, 2010, 3:11 PM ET
The FDA says that using antibiotics in animals simply to increase production or spur rapid growth is a public-health hazard.
This notion isn’t new to Michael Pollan acolytes or repeat readers of “Fast Food Nation,” but the fact that the FDA is issuing draft guidance on the issue signals it may be ready to take more aggressive measures — including instituting new rules — if voluntary efforts don’t succeed. “We’re not handcuffed to the steering wheel of a particular strategy at this point,” said Joshua Sharfstein, the agency’s principal deputy commissioner of food and drugs, in a conference call with reporters. “I’m not ruling out anything we could do to accomplish these important public-health goals.”
The concern is that the widespread use of antibiotics in both animals and people fosters resistance in the microbes that afflict humans, making infections more difficult and sometimes impossible to treat. (And, as we reported last year, resistance also makes infections more expensive to deal with.)
CLICK HERE for whole story.
June 28, 2010, 3:11 PM ET
The FDA says that using antibiotics in animals simply to increase production or spur rapid growth is a public-health hazard.
This notion isn’t new to Michael Pollan acolytes or repeat readers of “Fast Food Nation,” but the fact that the FDA is issuing draft guidance on the issue signals it may be ready to take more aggressive measures — including instituting new rules — if voluntary efforts don’t succeed. “We’re not handcuffed to the steering wheel of a particular strategy at this point,” said Joshua Sharfstein, the agency’s principal deputy commissioner of food and drugs, in a conference call with reporters. “I’m not ruling out anything we could do to accomplish these important public-health goals.”
The concern is that the widespread use of antibiotics in both animals and people fosters resistance in the microbes that afflict humans, making infections more difficult and sometimes impossible to treat. (And, as we reported last year, resistance also makes infections more expensive to deal with.)
CLICK HERE for whole story.
6/5/10
Tougher E.P.A. Action on Factory Farms - From NYT
Veronica Lukasova
for The New York Times
Bowing to pressure from advocacy groups, the Environmental Protection Agency will step up efforts to monitor the nation’s thousands of factory farms.
This week the E.P.A. reached a settlement of a lawsuit filed last year by environmental groups arguing that the agency needs to pay closer attention to the effects of the livestock industry on waterways.
READ MORE HERE
3/6/10
New Book - Animal Factory
ANIMAL FACTORY (St. Martin’s Press; March 2, 2010) is a dramatic exposé of factory farms and the devastating impact they have on human health, the environment, and the economy by New York Timesbestselling author David Kirby.
2/28/10
Chicken Housing Crisis Hits U.S. From Wall Street Journal
"Thanks to last year's bankruptcy filing by poultry giant Pilgrim's Pride Corp., scores of farmers suddenly find themselves unable to make hefty mortgage payments. WSJ's Lauren Etter reports."
2/21/10
New Research Reveals Why Factory Farms Have Become Superbug Factories–and Why Worse is yet to Come
from Politics of the Plate
Posted by Barry on February 19, 2010
Several scientific examinations of pork and poultry operations in this country have shown that anti-microbial-resistant “superbugs” such as flesh-eating methicilin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) and certain tough-to-kill strains of E. coli are showing up, not only in farm animals, but in the humans who tend them—and even in members of their families who don’t work on the farms.
Now, a group of researchers at Boston University has discovered a mechanism that causes these superbugs to develop. It could mean that the problem with antibiotic-resistant bacteria is even worse than previously imagined. Their results are reported in the current issue of the journal Molecular Cell.
2/11/10
350.org Food and Farm (tx Jen S for h/t)
Food and Climate:
Livestock
"Factory farms require huge carbon inputs and produce huge carbon outputs in the form of methane. It takes more than a calorie of fuel to produce every calorie we eat and, in industrial meat production, the ratio of calories-in to calories-out can be as high as 58:1. Eating livestock from your local community lessens this problem, but it still has a higher carbon output than a vegetarian."
Livestock
"Factory farms require huge carbon inputs and produce huge carbon outputs in the form of methane. It takes more than a calorie of fuel to produce every calorie we eat and, in industrial meat production, the ratio of calories-in to calories-out can be as high as 58:1. Eating livestock from your local community lessens this problem, but it still has a higher carbon output than a vegetarian."
2/10/10
No thanks, don't want it.
"Some people say giving animals antibiotics to prevent illness or promote growth is like putting antibiotics in a child's cereal" Couric said
Weird we are trying to keep all the animals healthy but making everything sicker.
Weird we are trying to keep all the animals healthy but making everything sicker.
2/9/10
2/7/10
YAHHH
"Ms. Kessler’s pupils study factory farming and corn subsidies, read articles by Michael Pollan and Wendell Berry and watch documentaries like “Food, Inc.,” a dark look at the nation’s industrialized food system. " From NYT
READ HERE
READ HERE
1/7/10
Have you read this!!
"Commissioners’ Conclusions The Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production considers animal well-being an essential component of a safe and sustainable production system for farm animals. Food animals that are treated well and provided with at least minimum accommodation of their natural behaviors and physical needs are healthier and safer for human consumption. After reviewing the literature, visiting production facilities, and listening to producers themselves, the Commission believes that the most intensive confinement systems, such as restrictive veal crates, hog gestation pens, restrictive farrowing crates, and battery cages for poultry, all prevent the animal from a normal range of movement and constitute inhumane treatment.
Putting Meat on the Table: Industrial Farm Animal Production in America
Apr 29, 2008
Apr 29, 2008
1/5/10
I'm doing my school project on E. Coli and factory farms
Sources so far
Mr. Bill Marler
on twitter he is @bmarler
Mr. Tom Philpott
on twitter he is @tomphilpott
Eat Wild
suggestion from my friend @nycUlla
E. coli beef recall update raises more concerns about food safety
from my friend @boguskyswife
Food, Inc,
Of course thans @sarahnow
NYT
About EColi
Mr. Bill Marler
on twitter he is @bmarler
Mr. Tom Philpott
on twitter he is @tomphilpott
Eat Wild
suggestion from my friend @nycUlla
E. coli beef recall update raises more concerns about food safety
from my friend @boguskyswife
Food, Inc,
Of course thans @sarahnow
NYT
About EColi
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