-Caveat Lector- >From http://www.guardian.co.uk/food/Story/0,2763,778054,00.html
Factory farming 'spreading disease around the world' Felicity Lawrence, consumer affairs correspondent Wednesday August 21, 2002 The Guardian The worldwide spread of factory farming is increasing poverty and threatening health, according to a report yesterday by Compassion in World Farming. The report collated for the first time data on livestock production in developing countries and economic analysis from World Bank and UN reports. The animal welfare organisation also examined figures on disease transmitted through food production around the world. It concluded that the "live stock revolution" was putting small farmers out of business, thereby compromising developing countries' ability to feed themselves, and leading to a global increase in antibiotic-resistant infections. "In developed northern countries we are moving away from this sort of intensive farming - as we realise the extent of the environmental problems, and the cost to human health - but we are exporting these problems to developing countries instead," wrote Leah Garces, author of the report, Detrimental Impacts of Industrial Animal Agriculture. Global demand for meat is expected to double over 20 years, with developing countries becoming the main producers for the rest of the world. But as developing countries industrialise their livestock, their ability to feed themselves declines as small rural farmers are forced out of business, the report argued. A case study showed how, until the 1970s, Brazil's livestock had been reared on small farms where animals and crops were interdependent and self-sustaining, with animals providing cash for food in years of poor harvest. By 1991, the industry was "vertically integrated", a few companies controlling meat processing, production of grain for feed, and farming itself. Thousands of small farmers could no longer compete. This pattern was repeated across Asia, Africa and Central America, and was driving urban migration and environmental degradation. Industrial animal farming also had implications for human health and food safety. Animals were often kept in overcrowded, poorly ventilated, dirty conditions - the ideal climate for disease. Although the EU had banned use of animal parts in animal feed because of BSE, in many countries industrial livestock was still fed animal material, and meat from them was imported into the EU. Use of antibiotics to promote growth and prevent disease was routine. Nevertheless, food- borne illness, almost exclusively associated with animal products, was rising dramatically. Estimates by the UK public health laboratory service suggested 30% of raw chicken was contaminated with salmonella, and 75% was contaminated with campylobacter. In the Netherlands, supplying much of the UK market, 85% of pigs sampled were found to be infected with campylobacter. Mirroring the rise in food-borne illness, was an increase in antibiotic-resistant infections. Their impact in developing countries could be devastating, the report said. Tests by Compassion in World Farming on factory chickens sold near Cape Town, South Africa, found they were contaminated by bacteria that caused severe diarrhoea, skin ulceration, and even typhoid. The bacteria were 100% resistant to common antibiotics. 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