Final Report: Putting Meat on The Table: Industrial Farm Animal Production in America

The prestigious Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production just concluded its 2.5-year study of American animal agriculture with unanimous findings from its 15 members. The Commission was chaired by former Kansas governor John Carlin and included, among others, former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman, former Dean of the Univ. of Tennessee's College of Veterinary Medicine Dr. Michael Blackwell, and more.

The panel concluded that factory farms pose unacceptable risks to public health, the environment and animal welfare. It also issued a series of recommendations, including a phase-out of battery cages, gestation crates, veal crates, foie gras, and tail-docking of dairy cows, along with inclusion of poultry under the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act.

The Washington Post story is titled, "Report Targets Cost of Factory Farming." USA Today’s story begins, "The way America produces meat, milk and eggs is unsustainable, creates significant risks to public health from antibiotic resistance and disease, damages the environment and unnecessarily harms animals, a report released Tuesday says." The Wall Street Journal’s coverage focuses both on the problems caused by factory farming, and the Commission’s conclusion that the "agriculture industry is exerting ‘significant influence’ on academic research." And the Des Moines Register’s piece highlights the fact that the Commission is accusing "some livestock interests of trying to disrupt a wide-ranging study of the industry by threatening to yank financing for scientists and universities."
 

"No matter what you call it, it adds up to the same thing. Millions of animals are crowded together in inhumane conditions, causing significant environmental threats and unacceptable health risks for workers, their neighbors and all the rest of us."
~ The New York Times
 

Final Report: Putting Meat on The Table: Industrial Farm Animal Production in America     

Executive Summary click here PDF (2.7 MB)
Full Report  click here PDF (6.2 MB)

Frequently Asked Questions click here PDF (164 KB)

*Public Health, Environmental Impact, Animal Health & Farm Waste Technical Reports Just Released click here