The following selection of articles are about issues that concern PCIFAP and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Commission. | 
Final Report: Putting Meat on The Table: Industrial Farm Animal Production in America
Executive Summary  click here (2.7 MB)
Full Report click here (6.2 MB)
The current industrial farm animal production (IFAP) system often poses unacceptable risks to public health, the environment and the welfare of the animals themselves, according to an extensive 2½-year examination conducted by the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production (PCIFAP), in a study released April 29, 2008. Commissioners have determined that the negative effects of the IFAP system are too great and the scientific evidence is too strong to ignore. Significant changes must be implemented and must start now. And while some areas of animal agriculture have recognized these threats and have taken action, it is clear that the industry has a long way to go. Below are the Commission’s key recommendations. 1. Ban the non-therapeutic use of antimicrobials in food animal production to reduce the risk of antimicrobial resistance to medically important antibiotics and other microbials. 2. Implement a disease monitoring program for food animals to allow 48-hour trace-back of those animals through aspects of their production, in a fully integrated and robust national database. 3. Treat IFAP as an industrial operation and implement a new system to deal with farm waste to replace the inflexible and broken system that exists today, to protect Americans from the adverse environmental and human health hazards of improperly handled IFAP waste. 4. Phase out the most intensive and inhumane production practices within a decade to reduce the risk of IFAP to public health and improve animal wellbeing (i.e., gestation crates and battery cages). 5. Federal and state laws need to be amended and enforced to provide a level playing field for producers when entering contracts with integrators. 6. Increase funding for, expand and reform, animal agriculture research.
The PCIFAP consists of 15 Commissioners who bring individual knowledge and expertise in diverse fields, including public policy, veterinary medicine, public health, agriculture, animal welfare, the food industry and rural society. The Commission assessed the current state of industrial animal agriculture based on site visits to production facilities across the country; consultation with industry stakeholders, public health, medical and agriculture experts; public meetings; peer-reviewed technical reports; staff research; and Commissioners’ own expertise. PCIFAP is a project of The Pew Charitable Trusts and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Read More |
A lack of consistent and transparent regulations governing concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) is underscored by a report released April 21, 2008 by the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production (PCIFAP) and the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL). The report is entitled Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations: A Survey of State Policies.
The survey highlights the patchwork of regulation from state to state, and in many cases, a complete lack of regulation in areas that are essential to protecting public health and the environment. While many states do have regulations beyond federal requirements, it is clear that the regulation has not caught up with the CAFO model of food animal production. Kentucky, for example, is contemplating whether or not to even continue regulating CAFOs. And other states, like New Mexico, have limited policies on animal feeding operations and rely on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate CAFOs in their states. What is actually being done to regulate CAFOs within the EPA delegated states is obscure. South Dakota refused to respond to the survey and Mississippi responded only minimally. It should be noted that all information requested from state agencies is supposed to be available to the public. The survey also revealed that several states have made strides in their attempt to mitigate the potential threats posed by CAFOs. Oregon, for example, has gone beyond regulating just those facilities that fit the federal definition of a CAFO, and thus regulates more than double the number of animal feeding operations that federal law requires. California, a state that faces ongoing water quality issues, appears to be working diligently to curb any runoff from CAFOs into water sources. While this survey showed that some states appear to be setting comparably robust examples of CAFO regulations, the survey did not address the actual enforcement of their respective policies.
Survey Introduction click here
For a copy of the report contact NCSL click here | Op-Ed, Robert P. Martin, PCIFAP Executive Director , March 21, 2008
Recently, the Bush administration found agreement with a group of lobbyists for some of the nation's biggest industrial farms. What the public got out of it was a proposal by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to eliminate the requirements for industrial farming facilities to disclose toxic gas emissions, as currently mandated by law. While few could fault the EPA for trying to take the concerns of the animal agriculture industry into consideration, developing a new policy on agriculture air emissions that ignores the concerns, advice and input from any other stakeholder just plain stinks.
Read More | Philadelphia Inquirer, March 19, 2008
"A leading Democrat yesterday asked the EPA's top official to explain why the agency has proposed to exempt corporate pig and poultry farms from air pollution reporting rules.
House Energy and Commerce Chairman John D. Dingell said the Environmental Protection Agency's proposed rule appears to run contrary to the findings of one EPA study that warned of human health risks in big industrial agriculture. " READ MORE
Chairman Dingell's letter to the EPA Administrator click here
| Washington Post Investigations Blog, March 7, 2008
" Environmental scientists and agribusiness have long been at odds over the impact of discharges from industrial-sized hog, poultry, beef and dairy farms. The latest arena for their battle: a blue-ribbon commission that has been studying the problem for three years.
The panel is expected to soon issue a major report calling for tighter regulation of microbial and chemical contaminants from farms that often keep thousands of animals in close confinement. But even as the group nears publication of its findings, accusations of interference, misinterpretation and intimidation have been flying, reports The Post's Dan Morgan.'' Read More
| The Tribune (Greeley, Colorado), March 7, 2008
Iowa's U.S. Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Charles Grassley (R-IA) expressed their concerns over JBS SA's plan to purchase National Beef and Smithfield Foods' beef division. In a press release Sen. Grassley said the deal will further consolidate the U.S. beef industry and "reduce market opportunities for family farmers and increase prices and provide less choice for consumers." The Tribune cited a Dow Jones Newswire story that says Senator Harkin, chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, "is urging the U.S. Department of Justice to carefully evaluate the effect the acquisition will have on producers and consumers." Read Article
Letter to DOJ from Robert Martin, PCIFAP Executive Director Read Letter
| Washington Post, Feb. 26, 2008 According to the Washington Post, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was pressured by industry lobbyists and lawmakers from agricultural states to propose a new rule that would exempt industrial farms from reporting "their emissions of toxic gases, despite findings by the agency's scientists that the gases pose a health threat." read article Letter to EPA Administrator from Robert Martin, PCIFAP Executive Director read letter | EPA News Release, Feb. 20, 2007 EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson announced the appointments of 30 people to serve on the newly-formed Farm, Ranch, and Rural Communities Advisory Committee. According to an EPA news release the members were selected from a pool of more than 200 applicants. The EPA says the group represents "large and small farmers, ranchers, and rural communities; rural suppliers, marketers, and processors; academics and researchers who study environmental issues impacting agriculture; and, environmental and conservation groups." The EPA has asked the committee to focus on issues ranging from greenhouse gas emissions to managing waste from livestock operations. For a list of the committee members click here | New York Times, Nov. 20, 2007
The USDA says it made a mistake when it agreed to allow Tyson Foods to use a “raised without antibiotics” label on its fresh chicken products reports New York Times reporter Andrew Martin. According to agriculture officials, says Martin, they changed their mind when they realized Tyson’s feeding plan lists animal medications called ionophores. Martin says the department claims it has long considered ionophores to be antibiotics.
Read Article | The Boston Globe, Nov. 12, 2007 “The latest example (of how animals can make people sick), says Boston Globe reporter Stephen Smith, is “pigs and MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus).” Canadian researchers from the University of Guelph linked workers on hog farms to a strain of the antibiotic resistant bacterium. “That’s potentially powerful evidence that community cases of MRSA, which until recent years had been limited to hospital patients, may have originated in animals,” reports Smith. read article | UPI, August 28, 2007
Purdue University’s College of Agriculture developed a new informational Web site about concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs). As part of the Purdue Extension Service the animal science department hopes the site will be used by people who make decisions about CAFOs in Indiana. “Let’s say a zoning board has to make a decision about allowing a producer to build a CAFO within 5 miles of an elementary school,” said Paul Ebner, Purdue Extension expert in animal science and Web site operator. “Now, the zoning board can visit the CAFO Web site and read about the environmental and public health issues of animal agriculture that could potentially affect children attending the school and sort myth from fact” says Ebner. Read Article Click Here | (July 20, 2007)
The effects of pollution on the environment and public health is a hot issue on Capitol Hill these days. In fact, the heads of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention made a significant agreement Wednesday morning by officially recognizing that both agencies could better serve communities suffering from environmental health problems by combining their resources. CDC Director Julie Gerberding and EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson signed a memorandum of understanding that the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports will help the agencies be “more productive.”
Under the agreement the agencies will launch pilot initiatives in Boston, MA; Cerro Gordo, IA; Cherokee Nation, OK; and Savannah, GA. None of the communities are dealing with animal waste issues. When asked if communities near concentrated animal feeding operations would fall under the agreement, EPA officials said everything is on the table and that communities themselves will decide what environmental health issues should have the highest priorities. One issue Dr. Gerberding said is high on the list of many U.S. citizens and her office is climate change and how it affects public health.
| Telegraph, July 19. 2007
Japanese scientists claim the production of 2.2lbs of beef puts out just as much greenhouse gas as driving a car for three hours, reports the UK’s Telegraph. “Taking into account all the processes involved, they(scientists) said, four average sized steaks generated greenhouse gases with a warming potential equivalent to 80.25lb of carbon dioxide,” the Telegraph reports. It also reports the study found “more than two thirds of the energy used goes towards producing and transporting cattle feed." The study was led by Akifumi Ogino from the National Institute of Livestock and Grassland Science in Tsukuba, Japan.
Read Article | Vernon County Broadcaster, July 18, 2007
Vernon County, Wisconsin is considering a moratorium on large-scale animal feeding operations and an ordinance that would place a cap on the number of animals allowed on those farms reports the Vernon County Broadcaster. The Broadcaster says currently the county “has no countywide zoning, no comprehensive plan, no animal siting ordinance and its manure management ordinance has not been revised for many years.” Read Article | Sunday Telegraph, July 15, 2007
Chickens suffer no more stress in battery cages than those hens that roam free say Sydney University researchers. The UK’s Sunday Telegraph reports the scientists “measured corticosterone, a hormone produced in response to stress or fear, in eggs from free-range and caged hens. They found that the levels in both were very similar.” Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals leaders told the Telegraph that the research is contrary with several studies that suggest birds living in battery cages suffer more than those that live in free-range facilities.
Read Article | Washington Post, May 10, 2007 Researchers at Iowa State University claim group housing systems may produce pigs at a lower cost than individual gestation stalls in hog confinement facilities. Mark Honeyman, animal science professor and coordinator of Iowa State’s Research Farms said, “We found reproductive performance can be maintained or enhanced in well-managed group housing systems for gestating sows, such as deep-bedded hoop barns.” The Associated Press' Amy Lorentzen reports researchers found that group housing may cost as much as 11 percent less per weaned pig than gestation stalls.
Read Article | New York Times, May 9, 2007 Chemical industry officials tell the New York Times that a second industrial chemical, which U.S. regulators recently found in contaminated pet food, may have been intentionally added by producers to increase profits. “The three chemical makers said Chinese animal feed producers often came to purchase cyanuric acid to blend into their feed because it was cheaper and helped increase protein content,” says Times reporter David Barboza. Originally the FDA and USDA were concerned only about the chemical melamine. But Barboza says the information from the chemical producers may help scientists who were having a difficult time determining the cause of the animal deaths. Scientists tell Barboza that the combination of melamine and cyanuric acid, along with other related compounds, may have caused the formation of crystals in the kidneys of pets and led to kidney failure.
Read Article | Capital Press, May 8. 2007
Lawmakers from one of Idaho’s biggest dairy counties may impose a temporary moratorium on livestock development says Capital Press’ reporter Dave Wilkins. Wilkins reports “Jerome County officials said they’re worried about water quality and the possibility that the county could be held liable if potato fields are contaminated with dairy waste.” Dairy industry officials told Wilkins the county is rushing ahead with a moratorium that is not necessary and that “folks in Jerome County are not under any imminent peril.”
Read Article | Washington Post, April 27, 2007
Food and Drug Administration officials announced that federal and state regulators identified 6,000 hogs in seven states that may have eaten contaminated pet food or pet food byproducts says Post reporter Rick Weiss. Agriculture Department officials said no more than 300 of the hogs may have already entered the human food supply. There is also a possibility that some chickens may have eaten chow contaminated by the pet food, which Weiss reports officials believe was tainted with chemicals imported from China. Read Article | International Herald Tribune, March 28, 2007
The second-largest hamburger chain announced it would begin buying eggs and pork from suppliers that did not confine animals in cages and crates says IHT's Andrew Martin. Read article | USA Today, March 8, 2007
Researchers at the University of Georgia claim antibiotic resistance in chickens may be transmitted down family lines says USA Today's Elizabeth Weise. In a UGA press release, the lead researcher Dr. Margie Lee said, “These findings suggest that banning antibiotics at the farm level may not be as effective as assumed. We need further studies to identify which management practice would be effective” Read article | The Washington Post, March 4, 2007
"Despite warnings from many of its own experts and health groups the FDA is closer to approving a new antibiotic to treat disease in cattle", says Washington Post reporter Rick Weiss. Weiss says the drug, known as cefquinome, is a highly potent antibiotic often used for serious human infections. So far, according to Weiss, the U.S. has never approved a drug from the class of which cefquinome belongs for use in animals. Read article | The Virginian-Pilot , Feb. 27 2007
Smithfield Foods has promised to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the United States by at least 6% by 2010 says the Pilot's Philip Walzer. Walser says the move allows Smithfield to join the Chicago Climate Exchange, which is a voluntary market that allows companies to trade pollution credits. Read article | Salon.com, Jan. 18, 2007 Salon’s John Feffer recently focused on food service giants like Sodexho, Aramak and Bon Appétit Management Co. (BAMCO), which are all promoting the use of locally grown foods, and posed the question, “Will the corporate attention give a boost to sustainable agriculture, or defuse the grassroots revolution?” Fair disclosure: NCIFAP Commissioner Fedele Bauccio, is also the CEO and Co-founder of BAMCO. Read Article | Washington Post, Jan. 26, 2007 The nation's largest pork producer, Smithfield Foods Inc., announced it will phase out all of its sow gestation crates within 10 years and replace them with group housing pens. Smithfield CEO, C. Larry Pope said customers "have made their views known on the issue of gestation stalls, we are pleased to be taking this precedent-setting step." Read Article | International Herald Tribune, Jan. 04, 2007 Using antibiotics to promote growth in chickens may actually be more costly for poultry producers, according to a new study by researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The study published in this months's edition of the journal Public Health Reports says it used data from a previous report published by the Perdue company on seven million broiler chickens. Researchers claim "The net effect of using GPAs (growth-promoting antibiotics) was a lost value of $ 0.0093 per chicken (about 0.45% of total costs)." The National Chicken Council told the AP the study is flawed becuase it applied average figures for costs that vary across the country. Perdue and the three other major U.S. poultry producers that account for almost 40% of the broiler market reportedly no longer use antibiotics as growth promoters. The National Chicken Council also told the AP that poultry producers use antibiotics primarily to treat disease in animals or to promote animal health, not for growth. However, the Keep Antibiotics Working coalition told the AP "The use of antibiotics for growth is still substantial in the poultry industry..." Read article | UN News Centre, Nov.29, 2006 Citing a new United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report on the livestock sector's impact on the environment, the UN claims "Cattle-rearing generates more global warming greenhouse gases, as measured in CO2 equivalent, than transportation, and smarter production methods, including improved animal diets to reduce enteric fermentation and consequent methane emission, are urgently needed..." Read Article FAO's Livestock, Environment And Development (LEAD) report "Livestock's long shadow, Environmental issues and options" Click Here | LA Times, By Marla Cone, Nov. 17, 2006 LA Times' Marla Cone highlights the findings of a series of scientific reports published last week that claim livestock feedlots in the U.S. and many European countries are "poorly regulated, pose health and ecological dangers and are responsible for deteriorating quality of life in America's and Europe's farm regions." Read Article The reports were published by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences' monthly journal Environmental Health Perspectives. Links to those papers can be found on our web site. Click here | The Morning News, Northwest Arkansas by Tim T alley, Associated Press AP's Tim Talley reports Oklahoma's Attorney General Drew Edmondson, who is suing Arkansas poultry producers over alleged water pollution, says his state will face dire consequences if it does not protect the quality of its water. Talley reports Edmondson filed a federal lawsuit against 14 Arkansas-based poultry companies last year, accusing them of polluting the Illinois River watershed. Read article | USA Today by Amy Lorentzen, Associated Press AP's Amy Lorentzen highlights the findings of an Iowa-based non-profit group of scientists that warns more research is needed on ethanol production. Lorentzen quotes the executive vice president of the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST), John M. Bonner, as saying "The main thing that we all have to be aware of is the complexity of the feed, food and fuel interaction, and how policy and research have to be conducted in a very conscientious fashion, or we are going to have ourselves out of balance." Bonner also told Lorentzen that in some areas of Iowa, the ethanol industry is already competing with the livestock and poultry industries for corn. Read Article Read CAST commentary |
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| Pew Commission Says Industrial Scale Farm Animal Production Poses “Unacceptable” Risks to Public Health, Environment - pdf (4/29/08)
| | "Antibiotics in our livestock" edtiorial - Los Angeles Times
"Report Targets Costs Of Factory Farming" by Rick Weiss - Washington Post
"Farming Critics Fault Industry's Influence " by Elizabeth Williamson - Wall Street Journal
"Livestock lobby meddled in study, authors say" by Perry Beeman - Des Moines Register
"Panel questions factory-like farms" by H. Josef Hebert - Associated Press
"Industrial animal farms need to be revamped: study " - Reuters
"Report: Health risks outweigh farming cost cuts" by Elizabeth Weise - USA Today
"Report calls ‘factory’ farms a threat " by Karen Dillon - Kansas City Star
"Experts urge U.S. to bar drugs in animal feed" by Tom Pelton - Baltimore Sun
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Telepress Conference (4/29/08) - mp3
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