To the Editor:

In his July 23 letter to The Enterprise, Dick Stolz advised us to buy plant-based alternatives to chicken and eggs since “the horrendous conditions in today’s factory farms make egg and chicken production…not sustainable.”

The conditions on the factory farms that produce most of the beef and pork eaten in this country are as horrendous and unsustainable as those on farms producing chicken and eggs.  Most beef and pork animals are raised in confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) where they are crowded together and treated like units of production rather than living creatures.  The Humane Society of the United States has detailed information on the treatment of farm animals on its website.

The enormous numbers of animals kept in CAFOs produce unmanageable amounts of manure that are piled into mountains or stored in lagoons.  These huge concentrations of manure pollute surface water and groundwater, contaminating drinking water in many rural areas.

The walls of manure lagoons have broken, releasing millions of gallons of untreated waste into streams, fouling the water, sometimes for hundreds of miles downstream.  Manure piles generate ammonia, a highly irritating gas that pollutes the air.

The crowding in CAFOs creates such a high risk of infection that the animals are routinely given antibiotics as a preventive measure.  Many of the antibiotics used by CAFOs are the same ones that humans use when sick.  More antibiotics are given to livestock than are used in human medicine, contributing to the development of antibiotic resistant bacteria, a serious threat to human health.

The website for Meatless Monday lists environmental advantages of eating less meat: Meatless foods require less water and fossil fuels and create less greenhouse gas in their production.  The Meatless Monday campaign is associated with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and mentions health benefits of reducing meat consumption, including reducing one’s risk of heart disease, cancer, stroke and diabetes, before it mentions environmental benefits.

There are many highly affordable foods available at the grocery store that can replace meat in our meals.  Dry beans and lentils are inexpensive and highly nutritious.  Tofu and other soy-based foods are available in supermarkets.  The Meatless Monday site offers many recipes for meatless meals.

Meatless Monday is a great idea that can easily be viewed as a good beginning.  The more meatless days one has a week, the greater the environmental and health benefits.

Edna Litten                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Altamont