Last week, an investigation by The
New York Times exposed a little-known institution called the U.S. Meat
Animal Research Center, where farmed animals are subjected to cruelty beyond
imagination. Not surprisingly, the facility’s mission is to help producers of
beef, pork, and lamb turn a higher profit.
Reuters
explains that in response to growing public outrage, USDA secretary Tom Vilsack
has “directed agency staff to create and deliver an updated Animal Welfare
Strategy plan within 60 days, according to an internal email.
Reuters also reports that “[t]he new strategy will include
updated training for government employees and others who work with animals in
the service’s research labs, according to the email. In addition, an
independent panel will be convened to review the group’s animal handling
protocols, policies and research practices.
MFA’s president, Nathan Runkle, spoke about this insidious facility with nationally celebrated journalist Jane Velez-Mitchell just this week:
While we’re certainly not holding our breath that the USDA will do the right thing and shut this house of horrors down, we are pleased
to see acknowledgment of this issue, and hope that the agency will
implement meaningful regulations to protect the animals at this facility.
Of course, the best thing that consumers can do to protect
all farmed animals is simply to stop eating them.