CAFOs are cruel

What is a CAFO and why is it cruel? CAFO'S are confined animal feeding operations which were ushered in the 80's during the Reagon aministration. The government allowed - perhaps enabled is a better word --huge corporations to take over small farms and ranch businesses
and convert them into CAFOs, which, in my opinion, and I'm sure the opinion of many people who care about farm animals are factories from hell for them.

Over the years we have tried educating people about this cruelty, but sadly many people just don't seem to care. However, now that the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) has entered the picture, hopefully more will take notice, especially when they learn it has hit them
unfairly in their pocketbooks all these years.

Did you also know that these big CAFO corporations are being subsidized by Congress with our tax dollars? Finally, it has been brought to our attention by a neutral respected agency --UCS who have recently petitioned the U.S Department of Agriculture with 5,000
signatures- urging them to end policies that give an unfair advantage to the polluting CAFO industry and revert instead to what God and nature intended --that our animals be raised in outdoor pastures - in sunlight and in the
company of their own.

Re this issue, I hope that many of us will feel the need to bombard Congress with letters --disapproving the way Congress has been subsidizing CAFOs all these years. I don't think 5,000 signatures will do it.

According to UCS, when it comes to most meat, milk, and eggs sold in the United States, consumers have paid more for years though they just didn't know it. In "CAFOs Uncovered" they reveal how the methods by which most of our food animals are raised causes fish kills through water polluted by manure or fertilzers, generate antibiotic-resistant bacteria through the overuse of antibiotics in CAFOs, and emit air pollution to rural neighbors who can't even
leave their windows open.

We know that spreading animals out in pastures minimizes pollution and produces healthier animals and abundant meat, milk and eggs. So, hopefully this may be the year when the destructive CAFOs will no longer be allowed to
dominate the rural landscape and a start in freeing the animals from the factories from hell will begin. Yes, we can blame Congress AND the presidents who served during this time because they either helped or enabled the CAFO system
to continue without question or interruption. As for our legislators - were they ALL sleeping on the job?

The more I learn re the political manueverings of Congress, the more I am certain that we don't have a truly democratic governing body. Cruel, selfish interests such as CAFOs exist because of greedy corporations and the legislators (I believe largely Republican in this case) who support them.

I would like to ask the 2 presidential candidates their position on CAFOs. I hope they
don't scratch their heads and ask what are they? If so, its time they were educated, since obviously Congress has kept on subsidizing them
with their votes for all these years. I hope I am wrong. If not, they have probably
contributed to the horrible existence of millions and millions of our suffering
farm animals during the time they have served within the last 20+ years. They have also helped to line the pockets of these wealthy corporations with money better used by the ordinary taxpayer who could have saved money if a more economical system had been in place. Now, with the rising cost of food due to the outrageous gasoline situation, I think disbanding CAFO's would prove a boon to us as well as to the poor suffering animals.

Story ID:	3956
Written by:	Suzana Margaret Megles (bio, contact, other stories)
Story type:	Musings, Essays and Such
Location:	various various USA
Year:	1980
Person:	Pres. Ronald Reagon