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From: ACTION FOR ANIMALS
The Realities of Free-Range and Organic Animal Products
While the suffering animals endure is not the only reason one should be vegan, it is certainly a compelling one. Often when people think they are not supporting cruelty, they in fact still are. Good intentions are not always good enough, especially when conscious consumers are buying from companies who exist to make a profit. As long as we view animals as commodities to use for our own purposes or as production units to make a product, the animals will not be free. Thus is the case with free-range and organic meat, eggs, and dairy products. Not only are the animals prevented from living free, they are often mutilated and confined in many of the same ways as their brothers and sisters on factory farms. In the case of organic milk, the suffering can be even worse. In reality, most free-range and organic operations are themselves factory farms. The following articles reveal the truth behind free-range and organic animal products. If you are not vegan and you care about animals’ rights or even animals’ well-being, please take the time to read these articles. If you are vegan, please share them with your friends and family. Thank you! The Reality of “Free-Range” Eggs There are very few places that have truly free-range eggs. If a farm produces enough eggs to package them and put them on a store shelf, you can be fairly certain that it is not a small farm. A small farm would have fewer than 100 hens. Once hens number over 100 or so, they are unable to establish a pecking order, so they fight constantly, causing injury or even death to each other. To prevent this, the hens' beaks are cut off using a hot guillotine. This is very painful and crippling procedure. The beaks do not grow back, and the pain and mutilation from de-beaking prevents many hens from being able to eat or drink, resulting in death from starvation or dehydration. Fewer hens die from de-beaking than would die from the stress-induced fighting, so the industry looks at de-beaking as a money-saving procedure. The majority of "free-range" eggs come from de-beaked hens. When hens are no longer able to profitably produce eggs, they are killed. This is true on both free-range and conventional farms. Most free-range hens, like chickens killed for meat and all other hens no longer profitable for egg production, are transported to the slaughterhouse crammed into small cages on the back of a semi truck. They are hung upside down and have their throats slit. If a hen misses the whirling blades that are intended to cut her throat, she will be scalded to death in the feather removal tank. Most egg-laying hens become worn out and are slaughtered after one and a half to two years. When this happens the farm will buy replacement hens from a hatchery. All hatcheries that hatch egg-laying hens kill the males at a few days of age. The males are sorted and tossed alive into a grinder or, as investigators have repeatedly discovered, living male chicks are tossed in a dumpster, left to die from exposure, starvation, or suffocation. Males are killed because they do not lay eggs and are of the wrong stock to be profitable for meat production. All egg production results in the killing of these male chicks; even free-range roosters (males) will not lay eggs. Read more and see photos: http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=289856284&blogID=333716417 Organic and Free-Range Animal Products: Fact or Fiction? “Organic” simply means drug- and chemical-free—organic animals can be subjected to all the same types of cruelty that occur in factory farms, and as long as they are not dosed with drugs or fed food that was treated with pesticides, their meat and milk can be labeled “organic.” … Many organic farms cram thousands of animals together in sheds or mud-filled lots, just as factory farms do. Steve Demos, former overseer of the Horizon Organic brand of milk, explains, “There’s a certain idealistic appreciation for a farm with 10 cows grazing on a hill at sunrise. But there are 280 million people in the Unites States. … Long ago they said that small was beautiful; they forgot to tell you it’s not profitable.” Animals on organic farms often suffer through the same mutilations that occur in factory farms. Cattle have their horns sawed off and their testicles cut out of their scrotums, and they’re held down and branded with sizzling-hot irons, resulting in third-degree burns. Pigs on organic farms may have their tails chopped off and chunks of their ears cut out—and some have rings put into their noses in order to permanently prevent them from rooting in the grass and dirt, which is one of pigs’ favorite pastimes. Chickens on organic egg farms usually have their beaks burnt off. None of these animals are given any painkillers. The living conditions of animals on organic farms are often very similar to the conditions in factory farms. Chickens and pigs are often confined to large warehouses that reek of ammonia and rotting excrement. Many organic cows are sent to factory-farm feedlots, where they live in tiny enclosures caked with feces and mud, to be fattened prior to slaughter; cows who are fattened on feedlots can still be labeled organic as long as they’re given organic feed. Cows on organic dairy farms may be kept in sheds or filthy enclosures, where they spend their lives mired in their own waste, enduring the strain of continuous pregnancies and the theft of their babies. According to an investigative report by Salon.com, some organic dairy companies, such as Horizon Organic, are really factory farms in disguise—the report states that the cows “at one of Horizon’s dairy farms in central Idaho … don’t look too happy. … [E]xperts say that a substantial percentage of cows at [organic] farms like Horizon’s are confined to pens.” Farmers may not give medicine to animals who are suffering because the farmer can get a higher price for their meat and milk if the animals retain organic status. Studies have found that up to one-third of pigs on some organic farms are suffering from untreated infections, and reports also state that organic pigs often suffer from internal and external parasites, which could be passed on to the people who eat them. Organic chickens on some farms suffer from higher mortality rates than drugged chickens because extremely crowded and filthy housing conditions can lead to parasites and cannibalism. When the udders of cows on organic dairy farms become infected from frequent milkings, many farmers don’t give the cows medicine because then their milk would lose the organic label, which allows the product to be sold at a higher price. Read more: http://www.goveg.com/organic.asp Letter From A Vegan World At a time when most animal rights organizations are actively promoting, advocating and rewarding "humane" animal products and farming methods, I am writing to you on behalf of three of the recipients of that mercy. To the industry, they are known as production units #6, #35, and #67,595. To the “compassionate” consumer, they are known as feel-good labels: “organic dairy,” “rose veal,” "free-range eggs.” To welfare advocates, they are known as “humane alternatives.” To each other, they are known as mother, son, sister, friend. To themselves, they are simply what you and I are to ourselves: a self-aware, self-contained world of subjective experiences, feelings, fears, memories—someone with the absolute certainty that his or her life is worth living. Read more: http://peacefulprairie.blogspot.com/2008/05/letter-from-vegan-world.html Or download the PDF: http://www.peacefulprairie.org/outreach/letter.pdf Additional Reasons to Avoid all Animal Products Health and Nutrition http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/index.htm http://www.goveg.com/healthconcerns.asp The Environment http://afa-online.org/docs/rapeofmotherearth.pdf ACTION FOR ANIMALS http://www.afa-online.org http://www.myspace.com/actionforanimals http://actionforanimals.buzznet.com http://www.VeganStarterPack.com "Take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented." Action for Animals is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation. 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