Friends of Rural New York

Let’s hope that this is an honest effort and not the usual theater we get where a task force is studying the issue and just regurgitates industry propaganda!

The Pew Charitable Trusts has created the independent National Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production, with a $2.6 million grant to Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The Commission will be conducting a national study of large-scale animal agriculture, considering such matters as animal welfare, antibiotics, avian influenza, and the environment. It is made up of 19 members as diverse as actress Daryl Hannah, Cargill Meat Solutions Corp. President Thomas Hayes, and James Merchant, dean of the University of Iowa’s College of Public Health. It began operating in March and plans a national publicity campaign in September. The panel plans at least six public hearings before making recommendations in about 2 years. Pew is a nonprofit organization, founded by heirs of the Sun Oil Company. It has financed studies of a wide range of social issues.