U.S. Meat Production: Protect Your
Health and the Environment
Rick North
Campaign for Safe Food
Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility
Goals
↑ awareness of problems associated with
the U.S. meat system
↓ negative health, environmental, and
animal welfare impacts associated with
meat production
↑ support for sustainable meat purchasing
Industrial Meat System
•Large CAFOs make up only 5% of livestock
operations but produce more than 50% of our food
animals.
•A large CAFO operation contains more than 1,000
beef cattle, 2,500 hogs or 100,000 broiler hens.
VS.
Industrial Meat Production
CAFOs/factory farms are where the majority of meat comes from – 67% poultry and 42% pork
Done to produce the highest output at the lowest cost
Requires many inputs for economic viability (pesticides, antibiotics, feed, etc.)
Impacts
Health
Environment
Animal Welfare
Health - Antibiotic Resistance
What is it?
◦ Bacteria develop ability to withstand the
effects of certain antibiotics, making treatment
difficult
Slide adapted from Keep Antibiotic’s Working. Antibiotic Resistance – An Emerging Public Health Crisis
Health – Antibiotic Resistance
How does antibiotic resistance affect us?
◦ Monetarily: Estimated that resistant infections
cost $30+ billion annually
◦ Health: Resistant infections and illnesses afflict millions each year
Campylobacter, Salmonella, MRSA
Slide adapted from Keep Antibiotic’s Working. Antibiotic Resistance – An Emerging Public Health Crisis
Health - Antibiotic Resistance Non-therapeutic antibiotics:◦ Administered in animal feed and water to compensate
for poor living conditions and promote growth
◦ Antibiotics also enter feed through crops grown on soil
fertilized with manure (human food exposure as well)
◦ Many of these drugs are the same or similar to what is
used in human medicine
Health - Antibiotic Resistance
Health - Diet Related Disease
Diets high in red and processed meat are associated with greater incidence of Type 2 diabetes and mortality from cancer and cardiovascular disease
Saturated fats ↑ cholesterol levels which ↑ risk of heart disease and stroke
Animals raised on grain fed diets may have more total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, and calories and less Vitamin E, beta carotene, Vitamin C, and omega-3 fatty acids
Health Additional Concerns
Cloned Animals
◦ ↑ antibiotics and hormones
◦ Few studies have looked directly at food
safety
◦ No long-term studies have looked at food
safety
Environment – Global Warming
Livestock contribution
◦ Worldwide – 18% - more than all
transportation
◦ U.S. – 3-5% on farm
U.S. emissions come from enteric
fermentation, manure management, and
soil management
Environment – Global Warming
Effects of global warming:
◦ Drought:
Difficulties with accessing potable water
Loss of agricultural crops - ↑ food prices
Devastation to forests - ↑ wildfires
◦ Rising Temps
Heat related illness
Endangered species
◦ Flood
Displacement
Death
Environment - Water
Contamination
◦ Nitrates and other nutrients, heavy metals, and antibiotics found in manure leak from lagoons, runoff from fields and contaminate water
“Blue Baby Syndrome,” spontaneous abortion, gastrointestinal problems
“Dead zones” (Gulf of Mexico 5-8k miles2 )
Fish kills
◦ In just 22 states, 35,000 river miles polluted with animal waste
Environment - Water
Overuse
◦ Estimated that it takes 2,500 gallons of water
to produce 1lb. of meat
It take only 25 gallons to produce 1lb. of wheat
◦ Irrigation for feed crops accounts for much of
water use
It takes 10 lbs. of grain to produce one lb. of meat
~80% of grain (corn and soy) in U.S. goes to
livestock production
Environment – Land Degradation
Forests and native habitats are converted
to crop and grazing land for animal feed
Unsustainable grazing practices lead to
erosion
Environment – Genetic Engineering
Genetically Engineered Animals:
◦ ↓ in biodiversity from reproduction with non-GE
species (e.g., fish, insects, mice, etc.)
Genetically Engineered Crops for Feed:
◦ Contamination, “super weeds,” harmful to
beneficial insects, increased pesticide use
80% of corn and 92% soybeans planted in the U.S. are
genetically engineered
80% of corn and at least 50% of soybeans go to livestock feed
Animal Welfare - CAFOs
Confinement – Cannot act out innate
behaviors, unable to naturally mate,
aggressive behaviors
Sanitation – Increase in disease (directly
related to antibiotic resistance)
Animal Welfare – Cloned Animals
Cloned Animals:
◦ 90%+ prenatal failure
◦ 50% Large Offspring Syndrome (LOS)
◦ ↑ rates of diabetes and heart damage
What Can You Do?
Reduce your meat consumption
◦ Meatless Monday
Abstaining from red meat one day a week could
result in a 4-5% decrease in GHG emissions related
to food intake in avg. household.
What Can You Do?
Move meat off the center of your plate/↓
portion sizes – USDA nutritional
guidelines $ saved can be used for increased fruit and
vegetable consumption or purchasing sustainably
raised meat.
What Can You Do?
Vote with your dollars:
◦ Purchase sustainably produced meat –
environmentally responsible, without
antibiotics, humanely raised
◦ Avoid products that are known to be GE or
cloned
Sustainable Options
Third Party Certified Labels
◦ Organic, Food Alliance, Humanely Raised
USDA Approved Label Claims
◦ No hormones added, raised without
antibiotics, grass-fed
Local
◦ Farmers’ markets, CSAs, U-Pick, etc.
◦ Make sure choices are sustainable
What Can You Do?
Educate others:
◦ Friends, colleagues, students
Encourage change:
◦ Hospitals
◦ School Cafeterias
◦ Senior Centers
◦ Catered Events
What Can You Do?
Weigh in on the issues:◦ Submit comments on proposed rules
◦ Write to your congress person regarding introducing or supporting legislation
Sen. Ron Wyden
Sen. Jeff Merkley
Rep. David Wu
Rep. Greg Walden
Rep. Earl Blumenauer
Rep. Peter DeFazio
Rep. Kurt Schrader
“Every choice we make can be a
celebration of the world we
want.”
-Frances Moore Lappe
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