Problems Associated With Factory Farming In The United States

Factory farming is a big manufacturing corporation that rears good numbers of animals such as cows, pigs, sheep, gouts, chickens, and turkeys for food. In such as factories animals are treated with hormones and antibiotics to protect them from disease, and to speed and increase productions of animals at low cost, also to make it affordable to consumers. Most or almost all meat supplies in the United States are produced by factory farms. Factory Farms have become subject to debate and an issue that concerned many people. People concern about the way factory farmers raise animals for their food consumption.
In factory farming there are problems that are associated with it beside the benefits. The problems that associated with factory farming
such as health, environment and ethical are concerned by many people throughout the history of factory farming. According to Matthew Prescott from Washington Post, “People who eat animals increasingly care about the way their food was treated while it lived. When the American Farm Bureau, representing large-scale agribusiness interests, funded a study to gauge just how much, its researchers found that virtually all Americans - 95 percent of us, to be exact - believe animals on farms deserve proper care.”(Washington Post) The meat that comes from factory farms is consumed by large number of people, which gives them a concern in knowing how that meat is made.
Most people believe that the meat they consume came from unhealthy animals and they are concerned to become unhealthy themselves, because of the excess of hormones and antibiotics that animals injected with, also from the unsafe and filthy environment in the factory farming, which increase the danger of pathogens such as Salmonella and E.coli which cause several illnesses.
Also most people believe that the animals raised in factory farming are being abuse and treated cruelty, because the factory famers only cares about how to make money out of them. According to Andrew Johnson, the people who have no mercy or care for animals, ultimately will develop the same attitude toward human too. “Cruelty to other species is wrong solely as a bad example which may encourage cruelty to humans” (Factory Farming, 104). I strongly agree with Johnson, if a person doesn’t have care for animals, he / she will not have care for humans too. In addition, some people think that the factory farming harmful to the environment, the animals' waste cause widespread damage to the environment by increasing global
warming.
Since there are problems in factory farming, also there are benefits such as making the costs of meat affordable to consumers. People who support factory farming believe that techniques used in the factory farming and the environment are the only way to make enough food to feed the large population especially in the big cities. Also they argue that injecting the animals with antibiotics and hormones to prevent them from diseases and to make them grow or produce quickly for low costs and fast supply. I believe that factory farming is negative, I’m against the way factory farming treating animals, and also the way the animals’ rear in the factory farming.
I believe that factory farmers don’t care about the animals and don’t care about us the consumers as well. They only care about the money they are going to make. The factory farmer should open their factories doors to the public to see how the meat they eat is produced. But unfortunately the doors are closed and the government is protecting them. According to the New York Times “But in most of the major agricultural states, laws have been introduced or passed that would make it illegal to gather evidence, by filming or photography, about the internal operations of factory farms where animals are being raised” (The New York Times). Also the use of antibiotics in animal production is dangerous because some bacteria may resist and make the antibiotic becoming ineffective as
medicine.
If I have the power I would make strict laws on factory farming. I will end the practice of given and injecting animals with growth hormones and antibiotics, it is not save at all and is unnatural. I will force the factory farmers to feed animals with natural diets and the diets that fed to the animals must grow naturally. Also antibiotics only used to the animals with illness. Animals must live as naturally as possible, not in small pens where they cannot even move. Cleanliness is a serious issue neglected in factory farms. Also the places where animals are housed must be clean. In addition doors of the factory farm must be open to the public to see under what conditioners animals they eat are. According to Matthew Prescott from Washington Post, “food retailers have become increasingly worried about their affiliations with this abuse; they don't want to tarnish their brands. So they're creating new policies to protect themselves - and, in doing so, to help animals on factory farms.” The factory farming problem is not from yesterday, people started to care about it and make the government to pay attention to it in time of President Roosevelt. The book "The Jungle” played an important role in changing the meat packing industry. According to the book “after the fact” 2,500 copies sold just in one week. This showed how people were eager to know about the meat packing industry and how unsafe and unhealthy the meats in the market were. The book exposed the dangerous unsafe conditions in the meat packing industry. The people were shocked and became aware of the awful working conditions in the meat-packing industry. According to the book “After the Fact” “Roosevelt recognized immediately that the public would expect government at some level-local, state, or federal- to clean up the meat industry” (Davidson and Lytle 232), which made President Roosevelt act immediately upon the issue. We saw changes throughout the history but the government roles is not enough, the government should legislate strict laws to make factory farming clean and good environment for animals. nearly 100 years after passage of the Pure Food and Drug and Meat Inspection acts, the FDA is still an effective, and respected agency in the federal government and one of the most powerful agencies in the federal government today, but is not doing enough to make people compatible with it and to feel the meat they eat is safe and clean because cleanliness is a major issue neglected in factory farms.