Ethical Issues On Factory Farming

Our nation’s industrial farming has become more than just feeding people; it has become a way for the food industry to make more money as human population continues to grow. Jonathan Safran Foer in his book Eating Animals, illustrates the effects factory farming has had on animals meant for human consumption. Furthermore, Foer asks many questions to the reader on what will it take for us to change our ways before we say enough is enough. The questions individuals need to be asking themselves are: how do we deal with the problem of factory farming, and what can people do to help solve these issues? Eric Schlosser in Fast Food Nation, also illustrates the animal abuse that goes unseen within the food industry as well as Bernard Rollin and Robert Desch in their article “Farm Factories”, both demonstrate what is wrong today with factory farming. Foer gives such examples of employees who work in slaughterhouses giving accounts of what goes on in the kill floors, and stories of employees who have witnessed thousands and thousands of cows going through the slaughter process alive (Animals 231). Namit Arora in the article “On Eating Animals”, as well as Michael Pollan in his book The Omnivore’s Dilemma, both address some of the issues that animals face once they hit the kill floor. The food industry has transformed not only how people eat, but also the negative effects our climate endures as a result of factory farming as illustrated by Anna Lappe in “The Climate Crisis at the End

Factory Farming is an increasing industry in the United States. These large farms, which evidently appear to be more like slaughterhouses than the typical farms a person can imagine are located throughout the United States. These factory farms contain animals ranging from chickens, sheep, goats, cows, turkeys, and pigs, they also contain dairy products. The conditions for the animals and the employees of these factory farms are inhumane and vile. Life behind the walls of the factory farm is both unsanitary for the animals and the employees. Employees are forced to endure long hours and poor treatment. Animals in these conditions withstand living in cages and are forced to live in uninhabitable ways.

Factory farmed animals are not only poor, but also low quality. Since the animals, pigs for example, are in contact with each other so close, they are sprayed with antibiotics to keep germs from spreading. Those antibiotics are used many, many times, resulting in very low quality meat and are harmful to our human body.

Even though higher yields are met for demand and human consumption, factory farming is cruel to animals due to the fact animals are often subject to harsh living conditions, more susceptible to diseases and injuries and are treated inhumanely during the slaughtering process. Unfortunately, with an increase in human population worldwide, the strain on farmers to meet the demand increases as well. This in turn causes more animals to be subject to this cruelty.

    The first problem is that some people do not see factory farming as a problem. They will put their love for meat above the inhumane treatment of animals. This already puts factory farming

Did you know that buying that burger at dinner or frozen chicken at the grocery store is killing you, your family, and the environment? Despite that you grew up eating meat and accumulated the thought that you “can’t live without it,” you CAN go without consuming meat. If you were to give up meat, even for a while or better yet all together, you would not only be helping the earth, but also your health, and even our future generations to come. Believe it or not, eating meat causes huge side effect to your health. Factory farming even causes more pollution and chemical fume releases than cars. On top of that, it is wiping out vast sums of land and is causing deforestation, which is even causing plants and insects to become extinct every day. Factory farming and the consumption of meat is bad and should be limited or stopped altogether.

I chose to write about how the Future Farmers of America organization always get bashed and never really given the credit they work so hard for. I wanted to show how all the animal activists and Peta always attacking the article and showing how such bad people we are. I picked an article that really shows how these groups write and talk about the organization. The code of ethics a member should live by and follow is sometimes looked in the wrong way of other people. The FFA gets mistaken for things factory farms due, FFA is an agriculture course you take in high school and raise animals for show or production and you learn leader ship skills. A factory farm is a farm that is run by big corporations and their only goal is to make profits and do anything to make the animals bigger faster for butcher.

God gave man dominion over the land and the animals so that he could take care of them and prosper with them Genesis 1:24-31. Since the human race was created in God's image, humans should exercise that dominion with wisdom and mercy like God does upon man. Yet man has perverted this duty by taking too much from the land and animals, and not fulfilling the original contract to take care of them. This has become evident in factory farming because man is mistreating the animals in order to produce the cheapest and most productive system for vast amounts of meat no matter the moral standing to animals and the land. This has to be changed to keep the contract intact, which Peter Singer and Jim Mason are trying to do in The Ethics of Eating

Another argument in support of factory farming is the opinion that so much of our meat comes from factory farms, there is no way to avoid it and that we must continue to eat meat because it is an essential part of a human’s diet. Humans do not actually need meat, but we do need protein, iron, and other nutrients found in meat. Anyone living in America who has access to a grocery store would have access to other sources of all of these nutrients. Foods like nuts, broccoli, kale, beans, and quinoa have more protein and iron in them than most meats and can be found at a walmart for lower prices than meat. If one continues to eat meat, choosing where their meat comes from is important.

The added hormones, and steroids to get the animals through the harsh conditions, are being eaten by people as well. Most factory farms are trying to get as much bang for their buck. The more animals they give to the companies that process the meat, the more money they get in return. So the strategy is to fit as many animals as possible into the barns. No matter if the animals have ventilation or even room to walk. A few animals will die before they even come to take them away. The animals over the years have been genetically modified so that they are bigger. The bigger the animal the more meat that is produced. The more meat produced the more money the factory farm and the processor earns. PETA (people for the ethical treatment of animals) is the largest organization that helps to fight for animal rights. ! PETA was formed in 1980 by Ingrid Newkirk and Alex Pacheco. According to a biography on The Famous People website, when Ingrid was younger she never payed much attention to animals. Infact, she rather enjoyed eating meat. Prior to becoming co CEO of PETA, Ingrid had been studying to become a stockbroker. Her neighbor had abandoned some kittens, so she tok the kittens to a

Close your eyes and step into the world of an individual. You are born into a world where nights and days are never constant (attention getter). You are fed three to five times a day, but no one is there to nurture you. Not even the numerous others crammed into your living space. You grow frantic, scared, and sickly. Now open your eyes, to reality. What I have just described is one of America’s worst ghettos. You know this individual who is trapped in this environment. He is your breakfast, lunch and dinner. It is the meat you eat . Today’s farms not only abuse their animals they also produce harmful diseases and environmental hazards that affect each and every one of us, regardless of whether you consume animal products or not. The U.S. government should ban factory farms and require the meat industry to raise animals in their natural environments (preview of points and statement of purpose).

“Recognize meat for what it really is: the antibiotic- and pesticide- laden corpse of a tortured animal.” says Ingrid Newkirk, co-founder of (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) PETA and animal activist. Factory farming should be banned or demolished thoroughly due to more harm than good that is being presented worldwide. Animal brutality, which can be found constantly and excessively throughout factory farms, is a deleterious act involving the animals and a diabolic act regarding human morals. The antic actions that proceed have an effect on both humans and the environment, as well as the unethical, inhumane treatment and the atrocious sufferings of animals. Besides factory farms offering a copious amount of cheaper food, factory farming is a detrimental agricultural practice to both humans and the environment. The way we receive our food is inhumane and unhealthy to humans and the environment, thus factory farms should be banned.

While there are many aspects of how the majority of our food is produced that the majority of people may disagree with such as the mistreatment of animals and larger environmental impacts. Outrage regarding those grievances are often only expressed after viewing material such as the numerous videos on organizations websites such as PETA.org which seldom acknowledge that the practices taking place in those videos are legal and federally approved by the USDA. While I myself have been a vegetarian or vegan for the past twelve years and that the mistreatment of animals is an important issue there are many smaller more nuanced issues that come with factory farming that are equally if not more important but get only a fraction of the

All animals should be treated with compassion and protected from suffering, throughout their lives. Sadly billions of factory farm animals lack the basic protections under the law. A factory farm is a large-scale industrial operation where thousands of animals are retained for food. Factory farms, or industrialized facilities, maximize profits by treating animals as production units rather than sentimental creatures. The facility threatens them with antibiotics and hormones to maximize and prevent disease their growth and food output. The antibiotics fed to the animals on a consistent basis cause many humans to lose some of their ability to fight strains of certain bacteria. The farm also forces animals to breed and produce young at accelerated unnatural rates that cause stress and exhaustion. Animals raised for food are jam-packed onto trucks and transported to the slaughterhouse without food or water, when they have finally grown large enough. Those who survive the punitive expedition are often conscious while their throats are split. The problem with the farm is so many animals being confined in one place creates an environmental hazards, such as land, water, and air pollutions. Factory farms are inhumane and contribute to many health problems for humans, and animals.

Factory farming is a hot topic amongst animal rights groups such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) or the Humane Society. Most animal rights organizations object to the use of gestation crates in modern pig farming. Gestation crates are individualized spaces designed to restrict the movement of the pigs contained within its four walls (see Figure 1) during the gestation, or pregnancy, cycle of a pig.