When thinking about agriculture and where our food comes from, the famous farmer’s red barn comes to mind. There is an image, of a farmer raising healthy animals, with acres of land and freedom for the animals to roam. Whenever we buy and prepare our food, especially our meat, we do not usually consider where exactly the food comes from. Several people are not educated about the reality of the severe conditions that our meat is put through, and blindly trust what is given and said to us. The majority of animals, which are raised for food, live inhumanely in large, overcrowded warehouses called factory farms. Animals in these warehouses, mainly chickens, pigs, and cows, are also exploited to dangerous chemicals in order to progress aging and size. Regrettably, these chemicals do not only affect the animals in the long term.
Obesity is an ever growing epidemic in America. It has become so severe that 1 in 3 Americans born after 2000 will develop early onset diabetes. There are numerous reasons as to why this is: lack of exercise, stress, and poverty to name a few, and of course what we put into our bodies. The animals in these factory farms are forced into such diseased and cruel situations that companies are compelled to use chemicals and antibiotics in the animal’s food in order to compensate for the unsanitary and tight conditions that they are raised in. An estimated 70 percent of antibiotics in the U.S. are sold and fed to animals in factory farms. They are crammed so closely together, in such quarantined quarters, they practically live in their own waste, which causes various infections and diseases. Ashley Brooks, a registered nurse specializing in nutrition, explains that the antibiotics and chemical used to “sanitize” the animals can cause consumers to develop weight gain, obesity, and illness. There were 60 deaths and 2,000 hospitalized in the year 2000