The California Senate has released a report extensively documenting many of the cruelties that are inherent in animal agriculture. The full report can be viewed by clicking here. To read the press release of Senator Burton, who requested the report, click here.

Senate report spells out concerns on 'factory farming'
By Jennifer M. Fitzenberger -- Bee Capitol Bureau
Published 2:15 am PST Wednesday, November 24, 2004

Large dairy cattle, beef cattle and poultry farms use factorylike methods that enhance product quality and profits but can pollute the environment and may cause animals to suffer, according to a new state Senate report.

Produced by the Office of Research, the report explores the concerns of environmentalists and animal rights activists about confined animal facilities, ranging from the debeaking of poultry to how dairy owners dispose of cow waste.

Senate President Pro Tem John Burton, who requested the report, said consumers and policy-makers should be concerned, but he didn't recommend specific legislation. The San Francisco Democrat has reached his term limit and will leave office next month.

Burton pushed a bill through the Legislature this year to ban foie gras - a liver pâté derived by force-feeding geese - beginning in 2012 unless its makers adopt more humane feeding practices.

Californians should understand the impact of "factory farming," Burton said in a statement. "We aren't saying don't eat meat or poultry or don't raise meat or poultry, but the people need to be aware of, and the Legislature and the governor should pursue, the public health and animal cruelty impacts of factory farming."

Bryan Pease, outreach director for the Animal Protection & Rescue League, said he hopes the report will prompt legislation to help regulate the industry. "It's not an industry that is capable of regulating itself," he said. "The treatment of these animals is driven by profit, not by concern for animal welfare."

According to the report, sales of feedlot beef cattle, dairy, swine and poultry constitute a $75 billion-plus industry.

Dairy operations threaten California's air and water, it says. Dairy lagoons can break, sending wastewater in to streams. Cows and their manure produce gasses that help form ozone and tiny chemical specks which can lodge in human lungs and cause health problems.

California is the top milk producer in the United States with more than 2,200 dairies producing a total of 3.5 billion gallons of milk each year.

In the poultry industry, activists are concerned about the practice of cutting or burning beaks so the birds don't hurt each other in close quarters.

According to the report, evidence exists that factory farming can harm human health. Hormones and chemicals can be transmitted through food and drinking water, it states. U.S. meat producers routinely put low levels of antibiotics into feed given to healthy animals to encourage faster growth, it says.