Part
5 - An inhumane industry?
The critics
paint a different picture, saying cheap meat comes at a cost for
society at large. Intensively-farmed animals suffer more disease and
other health problems, they say, also pointing to the stress created
by early weaning and confinement, which can lead to animals starting
to injure and cannibalise each other.
The campaign
group Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) believes intensive farming
is inhumane, and cannot be justified by efficiency arguments. It has
launched a campaign highlighting what it calls the UK's factory
farming hotspots. According to CIWF there are nearly 17 million
factory farmed animals in Herefordshire, 15 million in Shropshire and
12 million in Norfolk.
“Bringing
animals off the land and cramming them into factory farms is not only
cruel to animals but also has far reaching effects on human health,
wildlife and the planet,” said the organisation’s campaigns
director Emma Slawinski who said it sounded like "a
space-saving idea but this ignores the fact that vast amounts of land
are used elsewhere to grow food for them – often in huge crop
fields doused in chemical pesticides and fertilisers – squeezing
wildlife out, as industrial farming methods sweep the planet.”
Farms can be
breeding grounds for food poisoning bugs such as campylobacter,
E.coli and salmonella. In intensive farms the close proximity of the
animals can mean diseases spread quickly. This has historically meant
the widespread use of antibiotics, the use of such drugs by poultry
farmers had dropped significantly in recent years.
Industrial-scale
farming also produces huge amounts of manure, carcasses, silage and
dirty water, all of which can have significant environmental impacts
even when disposed of properly. People living in the shadows of
megafarms complain of lorries clogging up local roads as they
transport grain and waste, and picturesque rural areas being spoiled
by foul smells and ugly buildings.
The Bureau’s
findings regarding the growth of intensive farms highlighted a
“hugely worrying trend”, said Zac Goldsmith, MP for
Richmond.
“American-style
agribusiness comes with serious environmental and animal welfare
implications, as well as posing a threat to our small and family
farmers,” said Goldsmith, who previously described plans for a
US-style mega-dairy in Lincolnshire as “squalid”.
“Even
more importantly, the continued overuse of antibiotics on intensive
farms is contributing to widespread antibiotic resistance and
consequently the biggest human health threat we face."
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