Monday, August 31, 2009

Vets Are Supposed to Care About Animals, So What Is the Deal with the AVMA?

All of us that use vets assume, and wrongly it seems, that vets care about animals. I have said for a long time that the AVMA doesn't give a damn about animals and here's why. They fight legislation that helps animals, particularly agribusiness. You see the commercials on TV about the California "Happy Cows". Well, I am here to tell you that it is anything but happy when you see the conditions the California cows are in. I gave up drinking milk or eating beef because of seeing this. They stand in pens up to their knees in what appears to be mud but is actually feces and urine. They aren't out roaming the grass fields, far from it. It makes you think how clean can this animal's meat be in those conditions. And then to see the downer cows being pushed by bulldozers, you don't know why those cows are down. Are they putting tainted meat on the market? I am going to put up part of Wayne Pacelle's recent blog post about the AVMA. The HSUS is now taking them on and I think their time is limited. And if you check the recent Board of the AVMA you will see the connections the Board members have with agribusiness. They can't be trusted because money talks and care for animals walk.

"We’ve known for a long time about the AVMA’s push to legalize the slaughter of horses for human consumption. This week, the AVMA issued a report attacking the prestigious Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production, which had expressed support for a variety of important reforms in the realm of industrial agriculture, including federal legislation to end the widespread, routine use of sub-therapeutic antibiotics on factory farms. This misuse of antibiotics has been proven to increase the risk of antibiotic resistance in human medicine. It is estimated that 70 percent of all antimicrobials used are fed to animals on factory farms."

Ted Kennedy took on the subject of antibiotics for animals for food. I wonder who will take up that cause now. Connect the dots. We are having bacterial strains immune to conventional medicine. It means that the public is in danger when our medicines no longer work effectively because we have been fed so much of the antibiotics in what we eat every day. What will it take to see this is wrong, an epidemic?

"At the AVMA, we’ve seen time and again how the livestock veterinarians, such as the swine and poultry veterinarians, control the thinking of the organization. These vets typically work for agribusiness and they embrace the mindset of the industry, including the view that animals are just production units. And unfortunately, it’s standard for the AVMA to stand in the way of sensible reforms in the realm of industrial agriculture. "

So what can we do? We can see if our personal vets are members of the AVMA. I have already left a vet because he was and saw nothing wrong. And if they are, do something. Either tell your vet to drop his membership or you drop the vet. We want vets that uphold their oaths to help animals, not uphold agribusiness pocketbooks. Your life and those that you love could be hanging in the balance. If you care about your health, then do what you can do to tell the AVMA that you won't do business with their members.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The AVMA is primarily made up of agricultural vets, and they drown out all other vets. Livestock vets are radical pro-profit. Many of the personell of AVMA is "good ole boy" hostile, male, dominant, aggressive from schools that teach arcane, outdated techniques and philosophy.

This is big money for these guys and their clients, and they will do anything to protect them.
If it makes money for the clients, it makes money for the vets, so the vets support heinous cruelty and even unhealthy animal practices.

The idea that all vets go into veterinary medicine to "help animals" is just not there when it comes to livestock vets (and the connected ones, like the ones that service the puppy mill industry, which they consider "dog farming")

HonestyHelps said...

That's so true, Anon. But my biggest concern is the antibiotics issue and also the environmental issues. Beef cattle create environmental disasters. What happens to all the feces from cattle is the question that needs to be asked. It is reported that the majority of pollution in the Santa Monica bay is from animal feces. Some muncipalities have passed ordinances requiring you to clean your pet feces from your own yard, which you should do anyway. So it is a serious problem.

Since the AVMA is so agribusiness and resist efforts to clean up these dairy farm, etc., then they are also responsible for damaging the environment. Their stance has further reaching effects than just the cruelty issue and they need to be called on it.