Karen Davis, PhD, United Poultry Concerns (UPC)
As printed on Corvallis Gazette-Times (Oregon), July 29, 2014
July 2014
Poultry litter – the mixture of fecal droppings, antibiotic residues, heavy metals, decaying carcasses, larvae, cysts and sawdust the birds are bedded in – contains harmful levels of nitrogen, phosphorous and other ingredients that burn plant cells and poison the water. Poultry waste spawns excess algae that consume aquatic nutrients and block sunlight needed by underwater grasses. Factory poultry manure exposes wildlife to diseases such as blackhead disease, which sickens and kills wild birds who eat the worms that carry this disease from chicken manure in the soil.
A study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences claims that cows and beef production harm the environment more that producing pork, poultry, eggs or dairy. This study irresponsibly tells people to replace beef by consuming more chickens, pigs, eggs, and cows’ milk to “help” the environment. UPC president Karen Davis published the following letter in response to two articles about the study that appeared in the Corvallis Gazette-Times.
Regarding the articles “Climate study scorches beef,” July 23, and “Beef pollutes more than pork, poultry, study says,” July 21:
Scientists are remiss to suggest that the answer to cattle pollution is to eat more poultry. In addition to the cruelty of poultry production, and contamination of poultry products with salmonella, campylobacter, and E. coli bacteria, poultry production is a major cause of environmental pollution.
Poultry litter – the mixture of fecal droppings, antibiotic residues, heavy metals, decaying carcasses, larvae, cysts and sawdust the birds are bedded in – contains harmful levels of nitrogen, phosphorous and other ingredients that burn plant cells and poison the water. Poultry waste spawns excess algae that consume aquatic nutrients and block sunlight needed by underwater grasses.
Factory poultry manure exposes wildlife to diseases such as blackhead disease, which sickens and kills wild birds who eat the worms that carry this disease from chicken manure in the soil.
Areas of natural beauty in the southeastern United States have been turned into smelly, fly-infested places by the poultry industry. Wildlife habitat is destroyed to erect ugly new chicken sheds, slaughter plants, and trailer camps for slaughter plant workers.
With dwindling land to absorb the volume of poultry manure and slaughterhouse refuse in the United States, the industry seeks land elsewhere. This expansion is needless. Plant proteins are far more sustainable for us to eat than poultry, including the cropland that is poisoned with pesticides to feed the unhealthy birds confined in filthy, sunless sheds.
Switching "from beef to chicken" is no solution to the mess
that animal agriculture and mass consumption of animal products are making
of the planet. (Photos of newborn chicks discarded in plastic garbage bags courtesy of
The
Animals Voice.
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