Suppressing Science: Choosing Profits Over People

Scientists agree that the government should protect the public from factory farms, but politicians and government agencies continue to ignore the growing threat that these farms pose to our health and to the environment. The combination of powerful meat industry lobbyists in Washington, large campaign contributions from the meat and dairy industries to key legislators, and executive agencies (e.g., the U.S. Department of Agriculture) that hire meat and dairy industry representatives to fill crucial posts means that the interests of the agriculture industry usually come before the public good.

The Center for Public Integrity puts it this way: “The meat industry has created one of Washington’s most effective influence machines, partly by recruiting federal lawmakers and congressional aides for its lobbying juggernaut. … From filling lawmakers’ campaign coffers to plying them with all-expenses-paid trips and dangling the possibility of lucrative post-employment opportunities, the meat interests have overwhelmed the supposedly objective decision-making process in Washington.”⁴¹

Read more about the conflicts of interest that prevent our government from protecting the environment, factory workers, and animals from the massive farmed-animal industry.

Find out how you can help.