Speaking of citizen groups vs. the poultry industry, a group here (using out of state lawyers, I might add) is suing the big poultry producers regarding the public health hazard caused by arsenic--which enters the soil via chicken litter spread on fields and then becomes airborne in dust. There has been an unusually high rate of pediatric cancer cases recently in small farming communities and one thing that investigations revealed were extremely high levels of arsenic in school air filters. Now why, you might ask, would arsenic be used in poulty houses. The anwer: its put into the feed because it promotes faster bleed-out in chickens when they're processed. And then there's the featherless chicken, developed courtesy of Israeli researchers.
Not long ago an arts center here advertised a mural design contest that would capture the local esprit. I envisioned a giant godzilla-sized rooster scratching, pecking and rampaging its way toward Tyson Foods headquarters. Oh well, maybe in devachan.
