From a recent article in the Chicago Tribune:
“although food-safety activists and animal-rights organizations have different agendas, they both agree on one thing: Much of the public is unaware of what happens to their food before it arrives on their plate.”
This is why it’s so important for animal advocates to educate the public. We have to do outreach such as leafleting and sharing videos. People deserve to know the truth. They can’t make a free choice unless they know all the facts. But animal agribusissness would rather conceal the truth.
“‘We have to stop them,’ Forrest Lucas, founder of the Lucas Oil Co, said of the activists. He owns a 16,000-acre cattle breeding ranch in southwest Missouri. Lucas said he invested more than $600,000 to start the agriculture advocacy group Protect the Harvest and plans on spending ‘much, much, much more’ to help back political candidates and social media campaigns to thwart critics this election year.”
Earlier the article stated:
“The agribusiness sector spent $123.8 million on lobbying efforts in 2011, up from $110.2 million in 2007, according to OpenSecrets.org.”
Agribusiness fears animal advocates, particular well organized advocates such as those in the HSUS:
“Over the years, the Humane Society has become known for its undercover videos. One shot in 2008 at a California slaughterhouse, where workers were shown using chains and forklift to move so-called ‘downer’ cows, led to the largest beef recall in the country’s history.” [...]
See one such video here : http://video.humanesociety.org/video/629262638001/Channels/729780768001/Factory-Farming/775461364001/Downer-Cow-Investigation/
“Worried about a repeat in other agricultural sectors, the industry is battling back. Much of that fight has resulted in legislative efforts to block or restrict undercover investigations on farms”
Read more about that here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/will-potter/animal-cruelty-_b_852675.html
It’s a tought fight but animal advoates will win this war. It may take a lot of time, money, and effort. But we will win. We have justice, love, compassion, peace, and truth on our side. “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. paraphrased from Theodore Parker (source)