use is impossible. We create
demand for meat through
willful ignorance, but there is no
political agenda in our apathy.
While universal veganism would
solve the issue, only two per
cent of Canadians are vegan,
and becoming so won't improve
any factory animal’s immediate
circumstances. Only state-of-the-
art fast food advertising sustains
the status quo. By all means, go
vegan, but since most of us are
likely to continue eating meat,
the best we can do is to advocate
for farm animals to be treated
humanely before their time
comes.

According to the Criminal
Code of Canada, animal cruelty
is defined as willfully causing
“unnecessary pain, suffering, or
injury to an animal ora bird.”
Going by the NFACC approved
factory farming methods, there is
overwhelming evidence that pain,
suffering, and injury is borne
constantly by factory-farmed
animals. Is it necessary? Only for
production volume. NAMI and
NFACC will claim this volume is
necessary to feed humankind. In
searching for alternative means
of farming, we will make little
progress with these organizations
by arguing ethics on behalf of the
animals.

There is, however, an
extensive body of work
documenting the considerable
human costs of factory farming.
Scientific journals like the
American Journal of Clinical
Nutrition have reported numerous
clinical studies connecting red
meat consumption with type-

2 diabetes, obesity, and heart
disease in humans. It is, at the
same time, the official position of
the American Dietetic Association
that, since all protein amino-
acids can be readily sourced

 

from vegetables, nuts, seeds, or
beans, animal protein is simply
unnecessary in a healthy human
diet.

So it seems the suffering
of farm animals is unnecessary
after all, which implies factory
farm practice is contrary to
the Criminal Code. Given that
conclusion, clearly factory
farms are committing animal
cruelty—or would be, if they were
obligated to follow federal law.

But forget technicalities;
picture your own pet in these
awful conditions and judge if
that’s not animal cruelty. Think
of the millions of gallons of literal
bull shit produced every day
by factory farms, the untreated
700,000 square foot manure
pits frequently contaminating
the meat we consume, the fact
that factory farms generate 26
per cent of all worldwide nitrous
oxide emissions responsible for
global warming, and that they
prolifically spread airborne
salmonella and E.coli to nearby
communities. Look at all of this
and judge if humans aren't being
harmed.

It is our apathy, our
willingness to eat what we're given
that creates such a demand for
factory-farmed meat. Every time
we eat anything that was grown in
a factory farm, we are consenting
not just to unethical treatment
of animals but to cruelty toward
humans and planet earth alike. As
consumers, we are all to blame.
It’s as if we're all walking up to the
feed lots, bowls in hand, meekly
crowing “Please, sir, I want some
more.”

What to do? Consider the
recent history of smoking in
Canada. Health and Welfare
Canada reports over 50 per cent of

the Canadian population smoked
in 1965. Following the 1964, U.S.
Surgeon General’s report which
indicted smoking as a primary
cause of lung cancer, aggressive
anti-smoking advertising
campaigns evolved over the
ensuing half century, funded
largely through punitive taxation
of tobacco products at the
consumer level. At the same time,
comprehensive legislative reform
ultimately abolished all forms of
tobacco advertising in Canada.
Today, Statistics Canada reports
our country’s smoking population
is now less than 15 per cent.

Therein lies the solution:
advertisement. Just as cigarette
packs and points-of-sale are
mandated to advertise tobacco
use hazards, so too should meat
packages and their points-of-sale
offer images of the manure pit,
the killing floor, and the manifest
health hazards associated with
meat consumption. Let every
parent at the grocery store explain
to their children what is being
done to the cows on the meat
deli’s new TV screens. When the
human costs of factory farming
become indisputable public
knowledge, humanity’s self-
interest will override the pseudo-
consent of apathy.

By combining public health
mandates, taxation policy,
and media advertising, we can
all pressure factory farms to
either change their methods or
deconstruct. If even one of the
big distributors like McDonalds,
for example, were to change its
policy and “go vegan,” by popular
demand that would be the tipping
point. We made this problem
together, and fixing it won't be
easy. Perhaps we should discuss it
over dinner.