United Poultry
Concerns (UPC), as posted on
LA Times, October 20
October 2016
Comparing the production of chickens and cows environmentally is like comparing rotten apples and oranges: Neither is “better.”
To the editor at L.A. Times: Peter Singer and Karen Dawn suggest that chicken
production may be less environmentally degrading than beef, but this claim
is disputable. A study possibly behind this assertion, by the National
Academy of Sciences published in 2014, focused only on the environmental
impact of feeding these animals. (“Thinking
of giving up red meat? Half measures may end up increasing animal
suffering,” Opinion, Oct. 16)
The chicken industry in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States mirrors
the poultry industry’s baleful effect on the environment. More than 5,000
chicken houses hold a half a billion birds at any given time on a tiny strip
of land. The 750,000 tons of waste produced annually by these captive birds
has made the poultry industry the primary polluter of the Chesapeake Bay and
coastal bays of Maryland, Delaware and Virginia.
Comparing the production of chickens and cows environmentally is like
comparing rotten apples and oranges: Neither is “better.”
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