CIWF have published an informative and comprehensive report titled “The Role of Factory Farming in the Cause and Spread of Swine Influenza.”
Recommended.
Woofs to Maine!
Maine Gov. John Baldacci signed into law on May 13 legislation banning gestation crates and veal crates with effect from January 1, 2011. The bill was sponsored by the chair of the Senate Agriculture, Conservation & Forestry Committee and it passed the committee and both chambers unanimously. The Humane Society of the United States championed the legislation. By the way, Gov. Baldacci also signed into law recently legislation approving same-sex marriage, which made Maine the sixth state to approve it either through the courts or the state legislature. Opponents of same-sex marriage, however, have begun to collect signatures for a state ballot in 2010 to overturn it.
Woofs to The Graun (The Guardian)!
The Grumpy Vegan moans about The Graun and their treatment of animals … but they did a great thing yesterday. The centre spread in the paper’s main section usually includes a dramatic photograph. Yesterday, it consisted of a series of profile shots of abandoned dogs who have been recently given up to the Battersea Dogs Home. The RSPCA reports an increase in the number of abandoned dogs because of the recession. The Graun’s photo feature is currently the fourth most popular article!
If its Ghent, It Must be Vegetarian
The Belgian city of Ghent is about to become the first in the world to go vegetarian at least once a week. Starting this week there will be a regular weekly meatless day, in which civil servants and elected councillors will opt for vegetarian meals. Ghent means to recognise the impact of livestock on the environment. The UN says livestock is responsible for nearly one-fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions, hence Ghent’s declaration of a weekly “veggie day”. Public officials and politicians will be the first to give up meat for a day. Schoolchildren will follow suit with their own veggiedag in September. It is hoped the move will cut Ghent’s environmental footprint and help tackle obesity. Around 90,000 so-called “veggie street maps” are now being printed to help people find the city’s vegetarian eateries.
Swine Flu and Factory Farming–The Smoking Pig?
Health officials have found no connection between the pig farms, owned and operated by Virginia-based Smithfield Foods, and the flu virus that paralyzed Mexico for much of the past two weeks. But the crisis, which appears to be abating, has inflamed tensions between the world’s largest hog producer and the poor neighboring communities here that have long warned that the farms are a danger to their health.
“To the people of this community, what brought about this problem was the pig farms,” said Guillermo Franco Vázquez, the mayor of Perote, a county seat that has 22 farming communities, including La Gloria, in its jurisdiction. “To clear up this myth — or to confirm it as reality — we need more studies.”
Mexicans Blame Industrial Hog Farms: But Health Officials Have Found No Link to Recent Flu Outbreak
Watching Animal Cruelty
Please read my comments on “Watching Animal Cruelty” at the ASI Diary.
