Inside Smithfield's Toxic Pig Farms
INSIDE SMITHFIELD’S TOXIC PIG FARMS A DxE investigation at Smithfield Foods finds animal cruelty, suffering, carcinogenic drugs, air pollution, and death Farmland®, Armour®, Farm- Typically in the pork 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 Direct Action Everywhere At the farms investigated, DxE In addition to being the big- (DxE), an international grass- found animal abuse and air gest producer of pigs in North roots animal rights 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 manure 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 animals 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.
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