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Home , Direct Action Everywhere, Smithfield Foods, Wayne Hsiung

INSIDE SMITHFIELD’S TOXIC

A DxE investigation at finds cruelty, suffering, carcinogenic drugs, air pollution, and death Farmland®, Armour®, - Typically in the indus- EXECUTIVE er John®, Kretschmar®, John try, workers “thump” sick, Morrell®, Cook’s®, Gwalt- or small piglets in order to ney®, Carando®, Margherita®, kill them. Thumping means SUMMARY Curly’s®, Healthy Ones®, Mor- smashing their skulls against liny®, Krakus® and Berlinki®. a wall. An investigatory team with Everywhere At the farms investigated, DxE In addition to being the big- (DxE), an international grass- found animal abuse and air gest producer of in North roots network, pollution. When a journalist Carolina, Smithfield is also spent nearly a year (early for Vox contacted Smithfield the biggest producer of pig 2017 into 2018) investigating during his reporting of the in the state, which Smithfield Foods pig farms DxE investigation, a Smith- in turn has caused massive in North Carolina and found field veterinarian confirmed air and water pollution there. hundreds of suf- to him that the company dos- That pollution has been tied fering from what appeared es pigs with carbadox, a car- to various illnesses in hu- to be the potentially deadly cinogenic antibiotic that has mans, fish and other animals Greasy Pig Disease (Staphylo- been banned in Europe and is in North Carolina. coccus hyicus), entire rooms currently under FDA scrutiny. filled with pharmaceuticals In the state, a person who including antibiotics key to DxE rescued one pig from a removes a sick pig from a human health, and sows con- Smithfield farm, whom the in- farm without the owner’s fined in gestation crates only vestigators named Lauri, who permission can be charged slightly bigger than each pigs’ was sick with Greasy Pig Dis- with both larceny, a Class H body despite Smithfield’s an- ease, according to the vet who felony, and with breaking/ nouncement in January 2018 examined her. entering, also a Class H felo- that it had completely elim- ny. Each Class H felony con- inated the cruelly confin- Additionally, there was a se- viction carries a maximum ing gestation crates from its verely ill four day old pig who sentence of 39 months in jail farms. died within a few hours of be- if you don’t have prior con- ing rescued; a post mortem ex- victions. DxE co-founder and Smithfield, the largest pork amination by a vet found that lead investigator Wayne Hsi- producer in the United States the pig had a cranial fracture. ung has been charged with and in the world, killed 27 million hogs in 2006; the # company is now owned by ’s WH Group. Smith- field annually slaughters 25% of the pigs raised for food in the U.S. and its pork products are sold at Walmart, , Target, Sam’s Club, Bel Air, Food Maxx, Vons, Ralphs, Safeway and other retail- ers. Additionally, Smithfield bought Clougherty Packing PLC in 2016, which produc- es the Los Angeles Dodgers’ famous Dodger Dogs. Smith- field’s brands include Eck- rich®, Nathan’s Famous®,

Smithfield pigs still in cruel gestation crates in 2018. Photo by DxE 2 two Class H felony crimes and Additionally, North Carolina industry that dominates the a misdemeanor for remov- is an “ag gag” state, which state, and particularly whether ing a sick goat from a North means the DxE investigators the prosecutors have acted Carolina farm in early 2018. who researched the Smithfield with improper motives because farms could be subject to of their own extensive ties to DxE co-founder and lead penalties (including a fine of that industry,” wrote Pulitzer investigator up to $5000 a day) for going Prize-winning journalist Glenn has been charged with two on the property without Greenwald in The Intercept. Class H felony crimes and a Smithfield’s permission to misdemeanor for removing take pictures or video, and DxE’s findings make it a sick goat from a North publicizing the results of their clear that action is needed. Carolina farm in early 2018. investigation. Industrialized animal He has also been charged violates Americans’ with multiple felonies for DxE investigators believe the values and threatens families, removing sick or injured pigs charges against them are yet the industry is not just and turkeys from Smithfield meant to intimidate animal unregulated but receives and Norbest farms in Utah in rights activists and cause billions in government 2017, and for simply walking them to stop investigating subsidies. Nearly three dozen onto a farm in Petaluma, farms and exposing the investigations of farms by California in the fall of 2018. animal abuse they find there. DxE during the past five years have found the same kinds of Other DxE investigators have “These charges raise serious animal abuse, release of toxins been charged with multiple questions about whether into the air and water, and use felonies for investigating prosecutors are attempting of antibiotics crucial to human a Smithfield pig farm and to unconstitutionally punish health. a Norbest turkey farm; if the activists for filming, convicted, the investigators documenting, and exposing could face decades in prison. abuses by the agricultural

Farrowing crates as brutally confining as gestation crates. Photo by DxE

3 Pigs who are intelligent and social suffer extreme confinement at Smithfield. Photo by DxE

WHAT WE FOUND`

DxE made numerous visits to antibiotics. And investigators found sows Smithfield pig farms in North • Dead piglets rotting in confined in small (6.6 feet by Carolina during 2017 and crates with live piglets. 2 feet) crates which have been 2018, entering nearly a doz- • Pigs with infected cysts and described as “one of the cru- en different sheds during the wounds. elest forms of confinement visits. DxE investigators wore • Pigs suffering from stress devised by humankind” by sanitary coveralls, covers for and psychological torment. Ian Duncan, Emeritus Chair their shoes and sanitary dis- • Sows with bloody, damaged in at the Uni- posable gloves whenever they nipples such that their pig- versity of Guelph. These so- entered the farms. lets were nursing on blood called gestation crates do not and pus. allow pigs to turn around; During 2017 and early 2018 • Plastic bags filled with confinement in the crates investigators found: clipped-off pig testicles causes some pigs to exhibit and tails. (Smithfield vet- stereotypies (repeated move- • Hundreds of pigs who erinarian Battrell has ments having no purpose) appeared to be suffering confirmed that the pigs are such as head wagging and from Greasy Pig Disease, castrated and their tails chewing on the metal bars which can be resistant to clipped with no anesthetic.) in front of them. The sows

4 Infected wounds are common at Smithfield farms. Photo by DxE stand on slatted floors and rich social life. All of this is Eleven years later, in January the urine and feces falls to completely denied them by 2018, the company informed pits below them. The sows gestation crates and leads to the world that it had met and piglets are subject to enormous frustration.” their 2007 goal. Smithfield noxious fumes from the stated in a press release that waste, which cause respirato- Donald M. Broom, Professor it had “fulfilled its industry- ry problems. of Animal Welfare at the leading commitment of University of Cambridge providing group housing Sows spend about half of in England, told HSUS that systems for pregnant sows their short two-year lives in keeping a pig in a gestation on all company-owned these crates; the other half is crate “is much worse than farms in the United States.” spent in miserable, crowded severely beating an animal and concrete pens. most laboratory experiments.” Yet DxE found that sows were still confined in gestation “Sows are intelligent, inquis- In January 2007, Smithfield crates on the Smithfield- itive animals who natural- announced in a press release owned farms they visited. ly spend their time rooting, that it was “beginning the Additionally, at Smithfield, foraging and exploring their process of phasing out DxE found pigs with their environment,” Duncan con- individual gestation stalls at newly born piglets confined tinued in a statement he pro- all of its company-owned sow in farrowing crates, which are vided to the Humane Society farms and replacing them with only slightly less restrictive. of the United States (HSUS) pens—or group housing—over in October 2012. “When the next 10 years.” The kept in extensive conditions, company also said it would sows engage in a wide vari- “work with its contract growers ety of behaviour and lead a regarding system conversion.”

5 Lauri

At one Smithfield farm, DxE Additionally, there was a rescued a , whom the severely ill four day old pig investigators named Lauri, who died within a few hours of who was sick with Greasy being rescued; a post mortem Pig Disease (Staphylococcus examination by a vet found that hyicus), according to the vet the pig had a cranial fracture. who examined her. Greasy Typically in the pork industry, Pig Disease can be resistant workers “thump” sick or small to antibiotics. Lauri had piglets in order to kill them. “moderate-severe excoriation Thumping means smashing and scabbing over face,” their skulls against a wall. the vet wrote in a medical exam report. The S. hyicus bacterium produces toxins which are absorbed into the system and damage the liver and kidneys, according to The Pig Site. Seriously affected piglets will die. The vet treated the piglet with the antibiotic Excede (ceftiofur).

DxE investigator rescues sick piglet. Photo by DxE

6 Rescued piglet is treated to a banana. Photo by DxE

recognize their own names more refined than humans’. PIG by two weeks of age. Pigs have rescued humans Contrary to popular belief, from drowning and pigs hate being dirty. In from burning buildings. natural settings pigs take The intelligence and Like puppies and kittens, pains to not soil their sentience of pigs has piglets will play, chasing each immediate area, walking been well documented by other and roughhousing. some distance to find a place biologists, psychologists, Young pigs enjoy toys such to relieve themselves. Yet in animal behaviorists and as Kongs, rags, stuffed facilities like the Smithfield pigs’ caregivers. Pigs are animals, balls and even farms DxE investigated, believed to be one of the puzzles. Pigs have been there is no escape. All very smartest animals – documented playing video the pigs were filthy. smarter than dogs or cats. games, and opening gates, drawers and refrigerators. Pigs are highly social animals and have about 20 different No pigs were documented vocalizations indicating playing in the Smithfield everything from “I’m hungry” sheds. As miserable as it to “Let’s mate.” In sanctuary was for DxE investigators to settings they like to snuggle experience the noxious air at up with each other and often the Smithfield facilities, it was sleep nose to nose. Newborn significantly more miserable pigs learn to run to their for the pigs. Pigs’ sense of mothers’ voices and can smell is exquisite, much

7 A PHARMACEUTICAL SPREADING BUFFET ANTIBIOTIC

DxE investigators found en- Carbadox is typically RESISTANT tire rooms in the Smithfield given to pigs in their feed. farrowing barns filled with pharmaceuticals, including Carbadox has been found to BACTERIA large quantities of two an- be carcinogenic, even at trace Recent studies have found that levels. It has been banned in tibiotics: Gentamicin Piglet irresponsible use of antibiotics Canada and Europe. In early Injection (gentamicin), and is creating antibiotic-resistant April 2016 the FDA began Agrimycin 200 (tetracycline). “superbugs” that threaten the process of banning the Both are for the treatment of the lives of both humans and drug. The Codex Alimentarius porcine colibacillosis (which nonhuman animals. About Commission, a United Nations/ causes diarrhea or sudden 73 percent of antibiotics in World Health Organization death in pigs) which is caused the United States, according (WHO) agency, in July 2015, by strains of E. coli. Gentami- to the Pew Charitable determined there is no safe cin is also used to treat Greasy Trusts, are going to animals level of residues of carbadox Pig Disease. Gentamicin and raised for food to promote or its metabolites in food that tetracycline are antibiotics growth and prevent disease. used to treat humans as well represents an acceptable risk as nonhuman animals. to consumers. Battrell told a reporter from Vox magazine There were also bottles of in May 2018 that Smithfield Excede for Swine (ceftiofur), would continue to use which is used to treat carbadox unless it is banned. respiratory disease as well as Greasy Pig Disease. E. Smithfield says it uses coli strains resistant to antibiotics “as authorized ceftiofur have been reported. or prescribed by company Ceftiofur is an antibiotic veterinarians to control, of the cephalosporin treat and prevent disease,” type. Cephalosporins are emphasizing that “we do also given to humans. not, however, use medically important antibiotics to Additionally, piglets at promote growth or for feed Smithfield farms, according efficiency on farms.” However to Smithfield swine tetracycline – a drug found at veterinarian Mary Battrell, the farm which has been used are dosed with carbadox, an by animal ag to promote growth antibiotic used, according – is important to human health. to the FDA, “for production purposes (e.g., increased rate of weight gain and improved feed efficiency) and Some of these antibiotics that therapeutic purposes (e.g., to are used at Smithfield are control swine dysentery and critical to human health. bacterial swine enteritis).” Photo by DxE

8 The advent of superbugs puts Antibiotic-resistant bacteria and resistant food zoonotic everyone at risk, particularly can be transmitted to humans pathogens through the food the elderly, the immune- via contamination of food supply, direct contact with compromised and young products, the environment, animals, and environmental children. Animal farming is or even dust in the air, pathways. In 2013 [in one becoming a laboratory for particularly in areas close section of the country], a superbugs. The cruel, filthy to animal farms. Antibiotic- total of 19,056 infections, conditions in pig farms are resistant bacteria can also be 4,200 hospitalizations, and breeding grounds for disease, brought home by animal food 80 deaths were reported as pigs are packed so tightly industry workers. A 2008 to the Foodborne Diseases that infection spreads like University of Iowa study of Active Surveillance Network wildfire. Mass antibiotics are two pig farms found MRSA on [of the CDC]... For most being used as a preventive 49 percent of pigs surveyed infections, incidence was measure and growth stimulant and on 45 percent of the highest among children throughout the industry. workers. At one of those younger than 5 years.” Such non-therapeutic use of farms, MRSA was found on antibiotics, however, is a recipe 70% of the pigs surveyed and The alarming truth is children, for increased resistance, as on 64% of the workers. particularly, may be unable bacteria that survive the waves to recover from infections if of antibiotics become immune A Consumer Reports 2013 antibiotic-resistant strains of to their curative effects. investigation found that 69 bacteria become the norm. percent of the pork chops A number of recent and ground pork that the After decades of irresponsible discoveries – including a form organization sampled use, doctors and other health of E. coli immune to all known from brands including professionals are seeing the antibiotics at a pig farm in Smithfield tested positive emergence of potentially China, and staph infections for Yersinia enterocolitica, deadly antibiotic-resistant in humans tripling in areas a bacterium that can cause infections like Methicillin- surrounding major U.S. pig fever, bloody diarrhea, resistant Staphylococcus farms according to a 2013 abdominal pain, arthritis aureus (MRSA) and Clostridium study – is cause for public and death. Additionally, difficile (C. diff) in humans. concern. The USDA has known Salmonella, Staphylococcus The CDC estimates that more of this threat for years, yet has aureus or Listeria than 2 million people in the failed to take any meaningful monocytogenes were found in United States fall ill due to action. Disease-promoting 3 to 7 percent of the samples, antibiotic-resistant bacteria intensive confinement, filthy and enterococcus was and 23,000 die from these conditions, and unrestricted found in 11 percent. Some infections every year. The antibiotics remain standard of the bacteria were found CDC has added, “Simply using practice in the industry. to be resistant to multiple antibiotics creates resistance. drugs or classes of drugs. These drugs should only be While the U.S. Centers for used to fight infections.” Disease Control (CDC) along Children are particularly with the USDA and the WHO at risk as new strains of sound the alarm about the superbugs develop. The risk of a worldwide antibiotic- American Academy of resistant epidemic, companies Pediatrics issued a report in such as Smithfield continue to late 2015 stating: “Infants irresponsibly use antibiotics and children are affected by in animal farming. transmission of susceptible

9 ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS

Dead and rotting piglets are left among the living. Photo by DxE

North Carolina has almost as dumping toxic chemicals,” The lagoon and spray system many pigs as human residents. said Dave Rogers, State used by these giant CAFOs has The state’s some 9 million Director with Environment proved to be an environmental pigs live on approximately North Carolina. “But [our disaster. A study published 2,300 farms, many of them research] shows how, by Environmental Health industrial operations. increasingly, corporations Perspectives researchers like Smithfield are ruining concluded: “Based on The waste produced by all our farms and ruining our available data, generally those North Carolina pigs rivers and bays.” accepted waste defies imagination: 15.5 management practices don’t million tons a year in just five Smithfield, like other CAFOs adequately or effectively North Carolina counties in (confined animal feeding protect water resources 2008. About 4,000 lagoons, operations), uses a method from contamination often the size of football called “lagoon and spray” to from excessive nutrients fields, can be seen from the air. deal with the manure. Poop [nitrogen and phosphorus], The huge cesspools contain and urine that falls through microbial pathogens and feces, urine, blood, afterbirth, slats in the bottom of the pig pharmaceuticals present stillborn piglets, drugs and cages and pens is collected in the [animal] waste.” other chemicals. underneath. Minimally treated, it is then pumped out All that manure translates into large open-air cesspools. into a lot of both air pollution After about a month it is and water pollution for North sprayed onto nearby fields. Carolina residents, marine Invariably it ends up in the life and . “When air, in the water and on the most people think of water lands beyond the farms. pollution, they think of pipes

10 and windows anytime they After spending even a limited AIR want to. They have to negotiate amount of time in Smithfield’s with the air to decide when is pig facilities, DxE activists the best time to go outside. reported eye irritation, POLLUTION They can’t hang their clothes sore throats and difficulty on the clothesline anymore breathing. People living close inves- because the waste will get in to these pig farms report those tigators found the air thick with their clothes and they have same symptoms and more, ammonia and particulate matter to redo their laundry. And if including stress, anxiety, both inside and outside of the they wear their clothes they mucous membrane irritation, Smithfield pig facilities. It was will smell like it all day.” Kids respiratory conditions, and hard for both humans and ani- described to researchers being acute blood pressure elevation, mals to even breathe. Some pigs teased at school because their according to a University of were panting and attempting to clothes smelled of hog waste. North Carolina (UNC) 2014 breathe through their mouths. study by epidemiologists The smell was foul. In over two dozen current Steven Wing and Jill Johnston. lawsuits more than 500 A study from the University of The activists spotted homes neighbors of Smithfield Iowa, added to those ailments as close as across the street facilities said their lives have and discomforts sleeplessness, from one farm they investigat- been virtually ruined by the skin irritation, diarrhea and ed. There was also a church, a noxious gases and noises headaches. school and other businesses emitted by these farms. For within three miles. one of the suits, in April Children living close to these 2018, a federal jury awarded facilities suffer from asthma According to a study by the En- 10 neighbors $50 million. at higher rates than other vironmental Working Group, (The award was subsequently children. A study of North 160,000 North Carolinians live reduced to $2.5 million by a Carolina public middle school within a half-mile of a pig or judge who said the $50 million students conducted by the poultry farm. If one considers exceeded limits set by North state’s Department of Health the people who live within three Carolina law.) For another suit, and Human Services found miles of a pig or poultry farm, in June 2018, a judge recently that kids living within 3 miles it’s as many as 960,000 resi- awarded a married couple $25 of an industrial pig farm had dents. That’s almost 10 percent million, though that award is more asthma. And in schools of the population of North Car- expected to be appealed, and where kids experienced olina. In one county, Duplin, the could also be reduced per livestock odor twice or more pigs outnumber humans by 30 North Carolina law. a month, kids had 23 percent to one. higher prevalence of wheezing The pig farm-generated air symptoms. It is not fun living near a pig pollution is not only stinky farm to put it mildly. One North and miserable to residents, it CAFOs, including those Carolina resident told the Earth also poses serious health risks. raising pigs, emit antibiotic- Island Journal, “I have never The gases produced in the resistant bacteria into the air. been to hell before, but it’s like greatest volume are methane, A 2005 study showed that this living in hell…the odor is worse carbon dioxide, ammonia, and bacteria does pose a health than a decomposed body; that’s hydrogen sulfide. threat. “The researchers what I smell in my home and the conclude that exposure to whole road I live on.” Other elements found in airborne bacteria from a CAFO fumes emanating from pig presents a potential pathway Naemma Muhammad, the co-di- CAFOs include 400 volatile for transferring antibiotic- rector of North Carolina En- organic compounds, ozone, resistant bacteria from vironment Justice Network particulate fecal matter and animals to humans.” told the Earth Island Journal: endotoxins. “People can’t open their doors

11 located, as much as 85 percent Disease-producing bacteria WATER of the population rely on and viruses can exist in fecal private wells, i.e. they rely on matter. Scientists from the POLLUTION the ground water. A study Water Research Center wrote: by UNC showed dangerously “Some waterborne pathogenic A federal judge has ordered high levels of nitrates in the diseases include ear infections, Smithfield to start rectifying private wells of 23 counties in dysentery, typhoid fever, viral the damage it has done to North the state, all counties where and bacterial gastroenteritis Carolina’s waters in five different there are large numbers of and hepatitis A.” The very counties. “Considering that each industrial pig farms. young, the very old and those of the farms were identified ... with compromised immune by conditions including lagoon It is primarily poor people of systems are most vulnerable leakage and elevated nitrogen color who are most threatened to these illnesses. The New concentrations, the corrective by Smithfield’s negligence. York Times editorial board action is necessary to mitigate also noted that animal waste such conditions,” U.S. District A 2000 UNC study concluded: can carry E. coli, salmonella Court judge Malcolm Howard “We examined the locations and cryptosporidium – bacteria wrote in 2017. of North Carolina’s that can lead to illness or even approximately 2,500 intensive death in humans. Pig manure contains large hog confinement facilities amounts of nitrates, a in relation to poverty, race A recent study of North contaminate when found in and household water source Carolina’s waterways found heavy concentrations. It ends of neighboring populations. E. coli and other dangerous up in the ground water and These facilities are located bacteria were significantly in rivers via three routes: disproportionately in higher in water both upstream leaking lagoons; catastrophic communities with higher levels and downstream from pig weather events; and by spraying of poverty, higher proportions farms. liquefied manure on already of nonwhite persons and over-saturated fields. higher dependence on wells Antibiotics and other for household water supply.” pharmaceuticals which are Nitrates in the drinking water given to pigs and other farmed poses serious human health Nitrates cannot be removed animals can also end up in risks. When humans are exposed from water by boiling. public water and in the soil. to nitrates concentrated in Residents can remove nitrates The Canadian medical journal the water, they can experience by installing reverse osmosis CMAJ concluded that the respiratory problems, diarrhea, or ion exchange systems. But biggest risk with the spreading miscarriage, respiratory disease, those systems are usually of antibiotics throughout insulin dependent diabetes and, not affordable for those most the environment is antibiotic in infants under six months, impacted. resistance and disruption of blue baby syndrome, which is the soil microbial activity. a potentially lethal condition Microbial pathogens in the where the blood is unable water from pig farms is another North Carolina’s rivers to carry sufficient oxygen in concern in North Carolina. have also fallen victim to babies. Some studies point to a A study conducted by Johns Smithfield’s disregard for the possible link between exposure Hopkins and UNC Chapel Hill environment. The four main to nitrates and certain types of found that swine facilities rivers, the Chowan, Roanoke, cancer. in Eastern North Carolina Tar and Neuse carry 13,000 are releasing high levels of tons of nitrogen and 1,100 tons It is estimated that fully ¼ of fecal bacteria into public of phosphorous – all products all North Carolina households waters. While municipal water of and animal waste get their water from private systems disinfect their water, – to the Albemarle-Pamlico wells. In the areas where most people relying on private wells Sound each year. of North Carolina pig farms are often do not.

12 From 1993 to 2005, the estuary events” and 458 cases of deposition to be received by became increasingly polluted. suspected and confirmed a small portion of the state’s A study by noted researcher human bloom-associated area, where aquatic systems are JoAnn Burkholder determined: illnesses such as rashes and most abundant. In particular, • Ammonia increased 500 gastrointestinal distress and the Albemarle-Pamlico Sound, percent. 175 cases of nonhuman animal which is vulnerable to direct • Nitrates increased 88 percent. morbidity and mortality deposition of reduced N is • Chlorophyll, an indicator of according to a 2015 study located within transport range algae blooms, increased by 76 reported in Toxins. of the majority of CAFOs… [It] percent. underscore[s] the importance • Dissolved oxygen decreased One particular type of algae, of understanding transport by 36 percent (a threat to fish). cyanobacteria, can harm distance and fate of NH3 humans and nonhuman emitted from CAFOs.” North Carolina’s rivers, the animals even in tiny Neuse, along with the Cape amounts. The North Carolina Not only does raising pigs Fear, were named as the seventh Department of Environmental for food pollute the water, it most endangered river (system) Quality confirmed the also uses water, a lot of water. in the United States by the presence of cyanobacteria Estimates vary, but researchers conservation organization, algae 19 times across North say it takes about 600 gallons American Rivers. According to Carolina in 2016. So far, no of fresh water to produce a the group, the biggest threat to human deaths have occurred pound of pork, significantly the rivers is the large number of but some dogs have died from more than soybeans (216 nearby CAFOs. exposure to this blue/green gallons) or corn (108 gallons). algae. After Hurricane Matthew in 2016, river monitors reportedly There is a need for more found 10 pig facilities under research on the impact of water and tallied 15 failed waste industrialized pig farms lagoons. on fish populations in the state. But still, scientists do Possibly the most dramatic sign see a clear threat to aquatic of waterways in trouble are life from these operations. dead fish littering the shores Researchers from UNC and surfaces of waterways. Fish concluded: “Our analysis kills are a common occurrence suggests that the aggregation in North Carolina. The typical of CAFOs on the Coastal Plain reason is low oxygen. Low oxygen of North Carolina causes the in the water is usually caused majority of the reduced N by an overload of nitrogen and phosphorous. These elements are typically deposited in the water from animal waste and fertilizer run-off. Excessive nitrogen in the water causes oxygen-sucking algae blooms. The fish can’t breathe.

Excessive algae also produces toxins which pose a threat to human and nonhuman animal health. From 2007 to 2011, 11 states including North Carolina reported some 4500 “bloom Investigators found a bag of testicles and tails at a Smithfield farm. Photo by DxE

13 This law, too, is often ignored. a big assist from the EPA: The THE LAW’S North Carolina’s ag gag law corporations that raise and or House Bill 405 allows kill some 9 billion animals businesses to recover damages a year in the United States PROTECTION in civil court from whistle- are no longer required to blowing activities. Activists report any air pollution at all, OF BIG AG could be subject to penalties which essentially decimates if they work undercover to attempts to limit it. “EPA is Under both federal and North document conditions of a working diligently to address Carolina state law, Smithfield particular operation or if they undue regulatory burden on can essentially do whatever it go on the property without the American ,” said Scott wants to pigs. And under North owner’s permission to take Pruitt, EPA chief, before he Carolina’s “business-friendly” pictures or video and publicize resigned. regulatory regime, Smithfield the information. can also essentially do North Carolina’s “business whatever it wants to the state’s Currently six states in the friendly” legislature and environment. And if activists, country have ag gag laws: governor have also turned using photographs or video, try Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa, a blind eye to the pollution to let the world know about any Kansas, Missouri and North caused by Smithfield’s animal cruelty or environmental Carolina. Federal judges struck farms there. Over the last devastation perpetrated by down such laws in Idaho and decade, the state legislature the corporation, they could be Utah, calling them violations has cut resources to North subject to penalty under the of the First Amendment. PETA Carolina’s environmental state’s current “ag gag” law. recently challenged North agency making it nearly Carolina’s law on similar impossible for employees North Carolina has laws grounds. PETA lost when a to conduct investigations of requiring owners to provide federal judge declared the polluters. One of the agency’s sustenance for animals in organization had no standing. supervisors quit, telling The their care and they must not Now the 4th U.S. Circuit Court Atlantic: “There really was place them in “endangering of Appeals reversed that the overall feeling of, ‘We conditions.” Owners also cannot decision, allowing PETA’s don’t send violations; we’re torment or torture them or lawsuit to go forward. North not going to do enforcement. expose them to extreme heat, Carolina, too, may lose its ag We’re going to be customer- cold or inadequate ventilation. gag law. friendly [industry-friendly].’” However, these laws explicitly exempt animals raised for food When it comes to For relief from the perils or used for research. environmental regulation, of air pollution emitted by CAFO’s, such as the ones Smithfield’s farms, neighbors The federal Animal Welfare Act operated by Smithfield, have have turned to the civil also exempts farmed animals. been able to skirt federal courts. Recently a federal Federal law only addresses the laws limiting industrial jury awarded 10 neighbors plight of animals raised for food air pollution. The problem of a Smithfield operation $50 during transport and slaughter. up until recently has been million due to the noxious air The 28 Hour Law requires that (to industry’s delight) the and noises they had endured. vehicles transporting livestock Environmental Protection But a subsequent judge cut stop every 28 hours to provide Agency’s (EPA) failure to come that settlement to $2.5 million, exercise, water and food. The up with a way to measure the citing a law recently passed by law is virtually never enforced air pollution emanating from the Republican North Carolina and birds are exempted. The factory farms. state legislature limiting the Humane Slaughter Act requires damages in such nuisance that animals be stunned into Now, industrial animal suits. For another suit, in June unconsciousness before killing. agriculture has received 2018, a judge recently awarded

14 a married couple $25 million, though that award is expected to be appealed, and could also be reduced per North Carolina law.

Both federal agencies and North Carolina state agencies have neglected to protect North Carolina’s groundwater, as well as rivers and lakes, from Smithfield’s waste. This year, Pruitt suspended for two years the Obama-era Clean Water Rule, sometimes called WOTUS. WOTUS limited how much industries including the animal agricultural industry could pollute smaller bodies of water and wetlands.

Like the neighbors, environmental groups have turned to the courts. In 2011, the court mandated that Smithfield start cleaning up its water pollution in North Carolina. Apparently Smithfield ignored the ruling since now in 2018, another federal judge has ordered the corporation to fulfill its obligation.

Horrific conditions at Smithfield. Photos by DxE

15 WHAT MUST BE DONE

Veterinarian examines a rescued Smithfield piglet. Photo by DxE

DxE has investigated dozens legal scholars such as Har- to protect cats and dogs. and dozens of animal agri- vard Law School’s Cass Sun- We must extend that same culture operations including stein, former regulatory czar consideration to animals be- many advertised as “humane.” in the Obama administration. ing currently used for food, The activists always find the clothing, entertainment and same thing: dirty, crowded Granting “legal personhood” research. conditions, where animals are to nonhuman animals would denied not only access to the allow for their interests to Until animal agriculture is outdoors, but individual veter- be represented in court and ended, both state and federal inary care as well as sufficient would ultimately mean the agencies must be compelled food and water. When animals end of animals being used as to take seriously their man- become a commodity as they commodities. Direct Action date to protect the country’s have in the food industry, the Everywhere calls for the end water and air from rapacious bottom line of companies like of animal agriculture and the corporations. Smithfield can supersede all end of animals being used for other considerations. clothing, entertainment and Because pigs nearly outnum- research. ber humans in North Caroli- Given the increasing consen- na and because the amount sus that animals matter, it is Some people already treat of manure produced by time to move seriously toward one class of animals – our these pigs apparently can- granting nonhuman animals own feline and canine com- not be adequately managed “legal personhood.” While it panions – with the respect and because it presents a sounds like a radical notion, le- and dignity that would be ac- health risk to a significant gal personhood for nonhuman corded a family member. And portion of the population, at animals has gained acceptance there are many laws in place, the least, a moratorium on from some highly regarded including in North Carolina, the building of new factory

16 farms in North Carolina resistant infection in humans. should be instituted now. These drugs must not ever be used for growth enhance- DxE calls for an immediate ban ment and feed efficiency. of the carcinogenic antibiotic Carbadox, which Smithfield We cannot continue to al- uses as a growth enhancer. low the financial interests of The USDA must ban the use corporations such as Smith- of other antibiotics on these field to take precedence farms to instances where over animal rights, public an individual animal is sick. health and the environment.

While the Food and Drug ad- ministration has warned the public against the overuse of antibiotic drugs, the animal agricultural industry wan- tonly continues to use them for growth enhancement, feed economy and to pre- vent disease in these filthy, over-crowded and unhealthy facilities. The failure on the part of both the industry and the government to strictly control the use of antibiot- ics has led to the spread of sometimes fatal antibiotic-

Free at last. Photo by DxE

17 CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS

Wayne Hsiung is co-founder of Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) and lead in- vestigator in the DxE Network. He formerly practiced securi- ties law at two national law firms and served on the faculty at Northwestern School of Law.

Leslie Goldberg is a lead researcher on the DxE investigatory team and former investigative reporter for the San Fran- cisco Examiner. She was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. An artist, political car- toonist and writer, she holds a master’s degree in interdisciplinary art from Goddard College.

Michael Goldberg is a lead researcher on the DxE investigatory team and was an investigative reporter and Senior Writer at Rolling Stone for 10 years. He has contributed to Wired, Esquire, Details, The Daily Pitchfork and other publications. His third novel, “Untitled,” was published in August 2017.