[Mb-civic] When Animals Suffer, So Do We - Kelly Overton - Washington Post Op-Ed

[William Swiggard]

When Animals Suffer, So Do We
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By Kelly Overton
The Washington Post
Wednesday, April 12, 2006; A17

Do the animal rights nuts know something we don't?

As we observe the growing number of avian flu cases worldwide, bide time 
until the eventual large-scale outbreak of mad cow disease in the United 
States and hope what the world experienced in 2004 wasn't just a dress 
rehearsal for SARS, the time has come to reconsider humanity's treatment 
of nonhuman animals -- if only for the repercussions to our own health.

In past decades we have removed animals from pastures, sunshine and 
fresh air to stack them on top of each other in petri-dish-like 
buildings. As wild animals lose more and more of their habitats, they 
are forced to live on the perimeters of cities and towns and in a 
proximity to humans that increasingly appears to be detrimental not only 
to their health but also to ours.

Our health is being put at risk by our demand for low food prices. In 
the past decade consumers have chosen low prices over quality in the 
products and services we purchase -- but animals aren't products that 
can be endlessly manipulated for lower food costs. As a society it is 
time to ask ourselves if we are willing to trade our health and the 
health of our land, air and water in return for cheap milk, eggs and meat.

Because factory farms are legally recognized as farms -- not the 
industrial sites they are -- they are exempt from many of our most 
important environmental laws. The communities surrounding most factory 
farms have become wastelands from the constant flow of toxic emissions 
and waste polluting the air, ground and water. Inside the farms, safety 
and human health also take a back seat to profit. Animals too sick or 
diseased to stand are dragged or bulldozed to slaughter and into our 
food supply. Mad cow disease was born of such recklessness and greed -- 
a desire by corporations to minimize financial losses by using the 
remains of diseased animals to feed the animals that enter our food supply.

Animals raised on a diet high in antibiotics ensure human consumption of 
antibiotics, decreasing their effectiveness when we need them to fight 
infection. The presence of antibiotics in our food and water also 
encourages the emergence of drug-resistant illnesses. In fact, an 
increasing number of public health issues are linked to our mistreatment 
of nonhuman animals -- including the growing human resistance to 
antibiotics and the many health consequences of global warming.

Meanwhile, the change from a nation whose food was once supplied by 
thousands of small to medium-size farms spread across the country to a 
nation now dependent on just a few factory farms in specific areas is 
inviting disaster. This new concentration of meat and food production in 
specific geographic corridors allows for one incident of accidental 
contamination, sabotage or terrorist activity to cripple our food supply.

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, or CJD, the human version of bovine 
spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease), can lie dormant for up to 
40 years. Once discovered it is too late -- the disease has proved fatal 
in every human case to date. The repercussions to human health from 
factory farming and habitat destruction may not be known for decades, or 
they may immediately fly into our daily lives via an avian flu pandemic.

It is ironic that animal-borne diseases may very well achieve what human 
activism has failed to do -- guarantee nonhuman animals more humane 
lives by making animal welfare synonymous with human welfare. Regardless 
of how our society arrives at the conclusion, it is time to end one of 
the most inhumane and shameful chapters in our nation's history.

We humans remain only one species in what has always been a global 
ecosystem -- an interlinked web of life where the health of one species 
depends on the health of others. Whether through reckless factory 
farming, the pollution of waters and the poisoning of the species within 
them, or the continued rampant destruction of forests and nonhuman 
habitat, our blatant mistreatment of other species for the benefit of 
our own is not inviting disaster, it's guaranteeing it. It is time to 
end the treatment of God's living creatures as products and to begin 
treating all life forms with respect and reverence before the health 
repercussions to the human species are irreparable.

The writer is executive director of People Protecting Animals and Their 
Habitats.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/11/AR2006041101511.html
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