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