I mean, if it’s all so humane and ethical …

People willingly disclose information if it demonstrates consistency between their WORDS and their ACTIONS, between the CONSEQUENCES of their PROMISES.

So if the USDA and the USDA cheerleaders are not transparent, then there is a reason: because contrary to claims of “humane”, the reality is violent suffering and painful death required of animals exploited for food (USDA releases years of slaughterhouse records following lawsuit) and the public pays for it.

It’s important to understand that in the USA, the AVMA acknowledges that “humane” actually isn’t HUMANE, it’s the minimization of UNnecessary pain and distress, meaning that pain and distress is both “necessary” and inherent. Additionally, do note that the AVMA only provides guidelines on slaughter and the people performing slaughter are NOT actual veterinarians, and furthermore, the oxymoronic HSA (humane slaughter act) EXCLUDES >90% of animals exploitatively killed for food, including poultry and fish.

I mean, this isn’t rocket science: if it’s humane and ethical, it wouldn’t be hidden/concealed/lied about, just like those commercials of, oh, I don’t know, a sentient antique table promoting “dairy” that doesn’t refer to animals AT ALL much less the violent practices required of animals violated, mutilated, separated from infants, and killed for the “dairy” industry. Yeah, I’m looking at you, Kerrygold, like, what in the AF is that about? Sure, “furniture has feelings” is perfectly legit but violent animal suffering is completely ignored in favor of profit, greed, trivial taste preference, pathetically nonsensical ads, and ZERO transparency.

Vegans aren’t the brainwashed bunch here: rather than cower behind normalized violence, people need to acknowledge the FACTS required of the most innocent of beings: animals, and accept that the ONLY humane is VEGAN because what’s actually more humane: violently killing animals or NOT violently killing animals? Take a moment to think about that if talking about nonviolence makes you enraged.

And do note that killing animals (for food, fashion, fun, religion, testing, education, etcetcetc) always requires violence, even if you desperately need to deceptively define said killing as “quick/humane/one-bad-day/blahblahblah”.

SL

Lawsuit Filed Demanding USDA Produce Documents Related to the Environmental Review of Publicly Funded Factory Farms

Source Animal Legal Defense Fund

Despite repeated FOIAs, the USDA has failed to post the documents in violation of the law.

Washington, D.C. — Today (May 22, 2024), the Animal Legal Defense Fund and Food & Water Watch filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Farm Service Agency under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for failing to proactively post documents in an online reading room after rural community and advocacy groups have filed repeated requests for the documents, many of which are still outstanding. In particular, groups are seeking to compel access to environmental review records required under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) as part of the USDA’s provision of loans and loan guarantees for concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), also known as factory farms.

Nonprofit groups, advocacy organizations, reporters, and members of the public rely on these records to receive information about federally funded CAFOs intruding into their communities and to participate in the NEPA process to advocate for a safer environment. By failing to affirmatively create an online reading room for these records, USDA is violating FOIA disclosure requirements, which mandate that frequently requested records be made available for public inspection in an electronic format.

“The USDA’s unwillingness to make publicly available its agency environmental review documents related to its subsidies to factory farms continues to exclude people most affected from learning about, let alone participating in, decisions to build and expand animal factories in their communities,” says Animal Legal Defense Fund Managing Attorney Daniel Waltz. “The Animal Legal Defense Fund seeks to bring the USDA’s secretive practices to light.”

A recent Food & Water Watch FOIA request found that from 2008-2021, USDA disbursed over $3.2 billion in financial assistance for factory farms in just five states: Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, South Dakota and Oregon. The environmental reviews required for those loans were not made easily accessible online, limiting transparency into how the agency makes funding decisions, and limiting public participation in the NEPA process.

“It’s no secret that USDA funnels billions of taxpayer dollars toward factory farms. The big secret is how they make those decisions despite these facilities’ well-known environmental harms,” says Food & Water Watch Legal Director Tarah Heinzen. “USDA’s decision to dole out high-dollar agency loans and guarantees to factory farms and shield the process from public scrutiny is illegal. We seek to compel USDA to provide timely public access to NEPA documentation for factory farm financing, as required by law.”

Without real-time public access to factory farm NEPA records, the public must repeatedly submit FOIA requests for the records. But making these requests is resource intensive, and putting the burden on citizens to make FOIA requests is impractical and unjust. In addition, because USDA routinely fails to respond to FOIA requests in a timely manner, by the time the plaintiffs receive NEPA records associated with a specific subsidy to a factory farm, the time period to review and comment on a draft NEPA document — for example, a draft Environmental Impact Statement or Environmental Assessment — will typically have long passed. The lapse of time makes the information less valuable to the organizations’ advocacy efforts and obstructs public participation.

The USDA requires NEPA review for loan financing for the construction or major expansion of large-sized CAFOs. Although the agency promulgated a rule categorically exempting Farm Service Agency loans to medium-sized CAFOs from NEPA review, a federal district court vacated the CAFO provisions of the rule, and agency loans and guarantees to medium-sized CAFOs are now also subject to NEPA review.

The plaintiffs are represented by Public Citizen and in-house attorneys for the organizations bringing the lawsuit.

Contact: media@aldf.org

See also:

USDA releases years of slaughterhouse records following lawsuit

99% of “livestock” in the USA are factory-farmed

CAFO info USA:

Source EPA

Source EPA

Animal Feeding Operations (AFOs) are agricultural operations where animals are kept and raised in confined situations. AFOs generally congregate animals, feed, manure, dead animals, and production operations on a small land area. Feed is brought to the animals rather than the animals grazing or otherwise seeking feed in pastures. Animal waste and wastewater can enter water bodies from spills or breaks of waste storage structures (due to accidents or excessive rain), and non-agricultural application of manure to crop land.

Source EPA

There are more than 21,000 LARGE CAFOs in the USA:

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humane slaughter is an oxymoron.

Karen Lyons Kalmenson