Beware of Feedlot Propaganda

by Bill Du Bois

The large agri-business front groups hire public relations firms to do a hatchet job on anyone who opposes their agenda.

They try to paint anyone who dares oppose giant feedlots as “an extremist,” an “alarmist” or an “environmentalist.” Sure, I’m opposed to getting respiratory problems from giant feedlots next door. I don't like putting water at risk with liquid manure lagoons which often leak, seep or suffer massive manure spills. And as a taxpayer, I don’t think I should have to pay to clean up their mess.
Say all that and they’ll call you a “PETA member.” In fact, they yell “PETA” every time you criticize their inconsiderate greed.

I am not a PETA member and I find their tactics and many of their extreme positions disgusting. I still remember PETA in the 1980’s throwing a pie in the face of the Pork Princess at the Iowa State Fair. Here’s this young girl with her face splattered with pie on the front page of the Des Moines Register on what was supposed to be her big day. PETA doesn’t understand that you need to treat people ethically.
Like most Americans, I believe livestock shouldn’t be abused or neglected. But say that outloud and they’ll label you an “animal rights activist.”

I think state government should help small and medium sized farmers rather than use taxpayer dollars to recruit giant feedlots which strain local resources, destroy neighbors’ quality of life and drive small farmers out of business. I’m troubled by research showing surrounding property values sink 10%-40%. Say that, and giant feedlot proponents say you’re “anti-business.”

Good business benefits us all and grows the economy. Bad business lines the pockets of a few at everyone else’s expense. It looks to me like the only ones making much money are the speculators and the contractors. Say that, and feedlot propagandists call you “anti-agriculture.”

They say “sound science” supports them. When you check, you find their so-called sound science is typically funded by giant agribusiness companies. They refer to any research that disagrees as “junk science.”

“Junk science” is a term invented by former tobacco company lobbyist Steven Milloy who was trying to discredit research linking smoking and cancer. One of Milloy’s clients has been Monsanto which makes the hormones used by the factory-style dairy farms.

Last year, the American Cancer Society admitted the best studies show a link between the hormones and ovarian cancer. These hormones are banned in most countries including Canada and Europe because of concern with studies linking them to prostrate cancer, breast cancer, colon cancer and uterine cancer.

Milloy pooh poohs any health risks to consumers and even runs a website that was reproduced as a February Dakota Farmer article by Dan Little.

Sometimes with dueling experts, it’s hard to know what to think. A few years ago, the governor of Iowa asked Iowa State University and the University of Iowa to review all the peer-reviewed, scientific research on the dangers of large feedlots. They put out reports summarizing danger after danger.

Can you imagine having a neurologist testify in court that your 11 year old daughter has permanent neurological damage all because some greedy person had to stuff too many animals into a small, confined area? Or knowing your parents’ respiratory problems, depression, diarrhea or dizzy spells could have been prevented? What about your children’s head aches, coughing, burning eyes or asthma? Research shows large feedlots related to all this.

If we bring people in from other states to talk about what happened there when the giant feedlots moved in, they’re called “outsiders.” When we volunteer our time to work to educate people, we’re called “activists.”
Citizens deserve an honest discussion about whether we want giant feedlots in our rural neighborhoods. At a January workshop, I publicly explained most of what I’ve said above. One of the hired feedlot propagandists was in the audience. I turned and looked him right in the eye when I said, “In an honest discussion, the facts are overwhelming. Read ‘em and weep.”

The next week, he wrote a Letter to the Editor accusing me of being a PETA member.