http://planetgreen.discovery.com/food-health/denmark-drastically-limits-antibiotic-in-livestock.html
As we have learned in class, there is a very large difference between factory farms versus family farms. Few of these major differences include how quickly food is produced, how much land is used to produce the food, the cost of it, and animal treatment. In the article I read above, there are now starting to be put in place bans in certain countries or places on the usage of antibiotics on animals on factory farms. As we learned in class, many livestock are fed antibiotics even when they aren't sick, but instead to help fatten them up or to cure them of diseases present from filthy and poor living conditions, as the article made sure to also mention. Feeding animals for this specific purpose is done so often, it even has a formal name, it's called "sub-therapeutic usage." In the article, it went on to talk about how in Denmark, they decided to put a ban on antibiotics for sub-therapeutic usage after scientists studying the pigs from different farming locations found that this was the perfect breeding ground for drug-resistant bacteria. As the pigs (and other live stock) are fed these drugs as a back up to eliminate sickness from the filthy, cramped environment they live in, it was found that not all of the germs and bacteria were killed from these drugs they were being fed; the bacteria which survived were the ones that had genetic mutations. The genetic mutation bacteria would then find other genetically mutated bacteria and reproduce, quickly causing what could be a potentially very dangerous outbreak of drug-resistant bacteria which could mutate into strains of viruses. So of course, like any other smart nation would do, Denmark banned the drugs for this usage.
As a result from the ban, farmers quickly learned that the sizes of their pigs decreased. Forced to work around the drug restrictions, they found other ways of allowing their pigs to grow large: allowing piglets to stay longer with their sow mothers, giving the pigs more space to roam around and cleaning the stalls more vigorously promptly helped to make up for the initial lack of size in the pigs. When you actually consider it all, it's really quite sad though. The only reason why Denmark put a ban on these drugs in the first place is because it could be dangerous to humans. They didn't ban the drugs because it was harmful to the pigs, or because they knew that by banning the drugs farmers would have to treat their pigs better. No, no, they could care less about living conditions for these pigs, all they cared about was their own population. What about how the pigs were treated? Don't they matter anymore then we do? I think it's pretty unfair for them to only recognize the pigs at all simply because of these drugs. Animals deserve freedom and rights too!
Anyway, the article goes on to say America should make a change soon too, with this new information out. Denmark is the biggest pork exporting country in the world. If they can switch over to the new system, then why can't America? It should be noted as well that a drug-resistant disease has broke out in Los Angeles, CA in elderly patients. So far there's been 350 cases, and no cure has been found. If we're not careful, more diseases can come about if we don't put an end soon to sub-therapeutic drug usage.
Okay, so my questions for you are:
1.) If America were to make a transition over to eliminating sub-therapeutic usage in live stock, how would they go about making this change?
2.) Express what you're opinion on the whole topic of animal cruelty, and factor in how the treatment of the pigs was only recognized when the danger to humans came up.
3.) Based on this new information, has your opinion on factory based farms changed? Are they as safe to buy from as family-product farms?
4.) What measures can you take to helping raise awareness in your community about what is happening in factory farms?
I though this article was pretty interesting and it seems that the pigs seem to be the ones treated unfairly. I agree with your opinion on how you think the pigs were treated unfairly. When they banned the use of that drug it seemed like a good thing too. They also helped the pigs by not pumping them full of that stuff. Yes the pigs do need rightful living spaces and not cramped quarters. This end of using the drug seemed to help both sides in reality. It helped to make sure no other real viruses spread by use of that drug. Also it showed the farmers that you don’t really need drugs to help with the pigs and that if you give them more space and treat them right things will go better. So it gave the pigs more space at the end and it also almost stopped the spread of that harmful bacteria.
ReplyDeleteAt first thinking about what it reminded me of is “Doesn’t Remind Me” by Audioslave because it didn’t remind me at all of anything. Thinking about it though it reminds me of Animal Farm and about the animals struggles. In Animal Farm though the animals had to fight to get their freedom of the bad situations. So the animals were all cramped up. Yet the real animals pertaining to the ones who went for the freedom remind me of the people who changed the rule of the drug. They were the ones who really went for the animals so they would not be filled with drugs. At the same time though it shows that they did it for their own benefit because of how it was for them. Like in Animal Farm the pigs did it for themselves and not really the other animals. So the people did it really for themselves and not for the animals.
2. The topic of animal cruelty is very large and you could almost write a book on it, but it is a very disappointing subject on how we treat the animals. Yes, we treat farm animals badly and we need to fix that. Most people will treat their pet really well (except for maybe Vick) so if we could just treat all the animals like that things would be better. Most people can raise a strong and healthy dog, cat, or anything you would really want. No I don’t think we will realize that farm animals are treated horribly until they would “rise up” so to say. All in all though we will probably keep on demeaning farm animals until somehow they let us know that they need to be treated better
This is an utterly ridiculous thing for ANYOBODY to be doing because by doing this and creating more powerful virus bacteria, they are completely defeating the purpose of the anitibotics in the first place. I agree that america shoudl do this becuase if so many people realize that this is a stupid thing for us to be doing then we shouldn't be doing it at all. I also think that the pigs should be treated more fairly in this situation, especially because pretty soon they are going to be killed and eaten, so they deserve a good life too.
ReplyDeleteFor some odd reason, this remided me of the california cheese comercial where it says "good cheese comes from happy cows, happy cows come from california". then i think, are like these pigs because i bet that most of those cows are not very happy being only used for a profit and not treated properly. They are also probably fed antibiotics as well, and so i think that we should not only stop sub-therapeutic usage with pigs, but with all of the animals that this is happening to.
3. my opinion has not changed on this subject because i have always (since hearing about this subject) felt as if the family farms are better for everyone. It is just that i clearly do not make all of the deicions in my house and i cannot force my parents to buy me all organic foods becuase that would take a lot of work and a significantly larger amout of money, but if i could choose, i would choose to eat things from the family farm.
I find this artical extremely relative to what we are doing in class. It sums up what we have work on for the past week. The pigs rights are very important and I can see how you would be disappointed in the fact that the humans only helped the pigs to hel themselves. I completely agree in your opinion in the fact of the pigs should live without all of those drugs pumped into them. The factory farms have now realized that by keeping the pigs with their mothers for a longer time, not pumping drugs into what they eat, and cleaning their spaces which are larger now, the pigs can naturally get bigger. This is good break through in factory farms, and should be continued in other countries.
ReplyDeleteThis article reminded me of the album Animals by Pink Floyd. This reminds me of it becasue the album is loosely based on the political novel Animal Farm by George Orewell. Though the albums' concept is how the band see's the various society classes and relates them to animals, three of the five songs are about the lifestyle of the pig class. The pig class represents the class of ruthless and despotic people who overrule everyone. No idea why it reminded me of this, just listening to music while I was doing this so I guess that was why.
2. The topic of animal cruelty has been debated since anyone can remember at least. I love dogs a lot(not really a cat person) and I treat my two dogs with respect. It kills me when I see the ASPCA commercials with sad and abandoned animals or hurt and injured animals. The saying "Mans best friend" is not a joke. People only look at animal cruelty one way, and that way is house pets. No one stops to think about the animals that are being taken care of on farms or anywhere else besides homes. People need to realize cruelty is everywhere and we need to be aware so we can stop it.
I agree that this is completely ridiculous as well. The antibiotics are doing the opposite of they're supposed to so then why us them? Its just common sense to not use something that doesn't work. I mean, you're not gonna use a microwave to cook a turkey so why do this? I do think the animals should have some rights, but not full freedom; I'd have to swat chicken out of my way every morning to the bus stop (my neighbors have a chicken coop)!
ReplyDeleteThe only thing I could really connect this to was the website (Meatrix) Mrs. DeLuca showed us in class. With the cows in the video, the bacteria reproduced and became immune to the antibiotics being used by the factor farm owners. And its the same thing that was happening in Denmark BEFORE the ban of antibiotics.
3. My opinion hasn't changed since I read this article; I thought factory farms were bad to begin with. This just confirms my opinion on the matter and given me more information on the topic. The family farms are safer to purchase from, though family farmers do use antibiotics just not as frequently or overpowering as factory farms.