Abby Martin: talk about factory farming on your show.
Here are some some reasons why we have to bring this issue to the public:
- social justice: having to work in a violent and stressful environment, many become violent. Farms hire illegal immigrants including children, so they can get away with low wages, unsafe and dirty workplaces, no benefits. Most injured workers never get help, afraid of losing their job, and being deported. Poor countries plant grains to feed American cattle, instead of feeding their own people, because it pays more.
- climate change: factory farms are responsible for 51% of climate change, according to WorldWatch Institute. Manure releases methane gas, which is 20 times more harmful than CO2.
- pollution of our finite water sources: manure loaded with antibiotics and hormones, in huge quantities, is being dumped into rivers, lakes, oceans, without any accountability. Fish and frogs are being found with modified organs, missing limbs, all kind of aberrations.
- food contamination: the only source of E-coli is feces. Most outbreaks of E-coli in vegetables are caused by contamination from farm factories' manure. All animal products are also loaded with antibiotics. 80% of all USA production goes to factory farms.
- human health issues: most Americans are now overweight, or obese. Diabetes, heart disease, some say even cancer. it's all connected to high ingestion of animals,, with its excessive antibiotics and hormones. We are also an exporter of diabetes and heart disease, with developing countries copying our model. Super bugs are also related to this.
- unfair agricultural subsidies : Big Ag gets subsidies for corn, wheat and soy, all used to feed the animals that we don't need to eat and is making us sick. Meanwhile, broccoli and carrots don't get any break, so cheap food costs cheaper than healthy food, which goes back to our social justice issue. And those grains that feed the animals, all GMO.
- environmental destruction: clear cutting, deforestation, pesticides, loss of topsoil. We are also exporting this destruction model to other countries. The Amazon is being decimated to make room for cattle.
Factory farms and Big Ag that only care about profits are dictating our diets, torturing animals, and destroying the environment, while many people don't even know what a factory farm is. Abby Martin, you are so engaged in bringing us crucial issues and amazing thinkers that present solutions. Please help us and cover factory farming on your show Breaking the Set.
Abby Martin has a show on RT, the Russian TV, on Time Warner, channel 135 in NYC. RT is covering all the hairy issues American mainstream media does not talk about. They don't have advertisers.