US Senator Cory Booker Says “Phasing Out Factory Farming Should Be High on the Agenda”
“These cramped warehouses of livestock are breeding grounds for infectious disease” explains Booker, as the politician gathers support for a ban on factory farms in the U.S.
Credit: Gage Skidmore
U.S. Senator Cory Booker has called for a ban on factory farms to be “high on the agenda” as the Biden administration begins their work for the four years ahead.
The politician called out factory farms for their role in helping to spread infectious diseases, as the huge warehouses of tightly-packed animals forced to live in stressful and unnatural conditions are a potential breeding ground for diseases.
Not only do outbreaks of infectious diseases like Avian influenza kill millions of animals each year, but the current COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the risk of zoonotic diseases for humans, too: more than 6 out of every 10 known infectious diseases in people can be spread from animals, and 3 out of every 4 new or emerging infectious diseases in people come from animals, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Booker previously introduced The Farm System Reform Act back in 2019. The bill, which seeks to shut down America’s huge factory farms which have “broken” the food system and have “undue influence” over public policy, is co-sponsored by Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Ro Khanna.
“For years, regulators looked the other way while giant multinational corporations crushed competition in the agriculture sector and seized control over key markets," Warren said in a statement seen by Newsweek. "The COVID-19 crisis will make it easier for Big Ag to get even bigger, gobble up smaller farms, and lead to fewer choices for consumers."
The bill will also seek to introduce more regulations for CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations), such as holding their corporations responsible for any environmental damage they cause, and prohibiting the Department of Agriculture from labelling imported meat as a “Product of USA”.
More stories:
Species Unite
A collection of stories of those who fight the good fight on behalf of animals.
In the United States, around 80% of antibiotics are sold for use in animal agriculture.