A study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences claims that cows and beef production harm the environment more that producing pork, poultry, eggs or dairy. This study irresponsibly tells people to replace beef by consuming more chickens, pigs, eggs, and cows’ milk to “help” the environment. UPC president Karen Davis published the following letter in response to two articles about the study that appeared in the Corvallis Gazette-Times:

Regarding the articles “Climate study scorches beef,” July 23, and “Beef pollutes more than pork, poultry, study says,” July 21:

Scientists are remiss to suggest that the answer to cattle pollution is to eat more poultry. In addition to the cruelty of poultry production, and contamination of poultry products with salmonella, campylobacter, and E. coli bacteria, poultry production is a major cause of environmental pollution.

Poultry litter – the mixture of fecal droppings, antibiotic residues, heavy metals, decaying carcasses, larvae, cysts and sawdust the birds are bedded in – contains harmful levels of nitrogen, phosphorous and other ingredients that burn plant cells and poison the water. Poultry waste spawns excess algae that consume aquatic nutrients and block sunlight needed by underwater grasses.

Factory poultry manure exposes wildlife to diseases such as blackhead disease, which sickens and kills wild birds who eat the worms that carry this disease from chicken manure in the soil.

Areas of natural beauty in the southeastern United States have been turned into smelly, fly-infested places by the poultry industry. Wildlife habitat is destroyed to erect ugly new chicken sheds, slaughter plants, and trailer camps for slaughter plant workers.

With dwindling land to absorb the volume of poultry manure and slaughterhouse refuse in the United States, the industry seeks land elsewhere. This expansion is needless. Plant proteins are far more sustainable for us to eat than poultry, including the cropland that is poisoned with pesticides to feed the unhealthy birds confined in filthy, sunless sheds.

Karen Davis, President, United Poultry Concerns, Machipongo, Virginia

• Be vegan. When we eat animal products we consume many more plants indirectly than if we ate those plants directly. Better to enjoy pastas, potatoes, rice dishes, vegetable stir fry dishes, veggie burgers, tofu ice cream and other delicious foods made entirely from plants. Let us use our purchasing power to speed technological conversion to the production of all-vegetarian, animal-free foods. As long as there are people on the planet, food will have to be produced and someone will have to produce it. We can have jobs, health, happiness and a life to be proud of.
  
  
• Visit our Recipe webpage for lots of delicious, easy-to-make recipes at www.upc-online.org/recipes.