Factory Farming and Diabetes

I want more, more, more! This is the cry of the world today. Have you ever wondered what goes into producing enormous amounts of meat to satisfy the economy? To accomplish this task, factory farming was introduced. Factory farming, according to the ASPCA website, is a "large-scale industrial operation that houses hundreds or thousands of food animals in extremely cramped conditions..." (What is a factory farm). When we think of farming we normally think of animals grazing on a farm and growing the way nature intended them to. Traditional farming is better than factory farming because of the lowered risk of meat contamination and the processing of food can lead to the increase in diabetes II; we should revert back to traditional farming and cut back on the processing of foods in order to counteract diabetes II.

Before going into detail of this paper, a short history of the factory farming and diabetes will help enlighten the readers as to what is being discussed. According to Factory Farming Facts, factory farming started in the 1920's, just a little after vitamins A and D were discovered. After these discoveries, these vitamins were added to animal feed which made it unnecessary for the animals to exercise and be in the sunlight (Factory farming facts). With the invention of these vitamins, and these animals being housed in such close quarters, diseases in the animal community started ramping up. With the invention of antibiotics in the 1940's, farmers saw this as the solution to combating diseases these animals experience from living in such close confines.

On the other hand, the first discovery of diabetes is a point to be contention. It is stated that the first mention was by an Indian physician by the name Sushruta in 6th century BC. He noticed the sweet nature of urine and therefore called the diseases Madhumeha ("Who discovered diabetes?"). Others say it was mentioned in Egyptian records by 3rd dynasty physician Hesy-Ra around 1500 BC. It wasn't till 200 AD that the term diabetes was coined. It's a Greek word that means to siphon or pass through. The first study to differentiate between type 1 and type 2 diabetes was published ("Who discovered diabetes?") Overall this can lead back to the process of factory farming.

Traditional farming is better than factory farming because of the lowered risk of meat contamination. With the increase of factory farms or Concentrated Animal Feeding Lots (CAFO's) as they are referred to in Pollan's book, The Omnivores Dilemma, farmers that farmed traditionally, found it difficult to compete with the cheap production offered on these CAFO's. Many claim that factory farming helps to keep up with the pace of the markets demand, by cutting the amount of time it takes to bring animals such as cows to slaughter. The cost of production on a factory farm is cheaper than it is on a traditional farm due to the fact that it is more mechanized than a traditional farm. However this is not entirely true. Overtime if you look at the costs associated with medical bills that may pile up due to diseases that are passed on from the meats we eat, it may turn out to be more costly than we expect it to be. In order to keep pace with demand and make these animals grow faster, their diets are changed to include corn, hormones and many other substances that the animals were not intended to eat. Corn especially posed a major issue for beef producing animals. Owing to the fact that their bodies were not meant to handle the grain, many diseases arose. One such disease was acidosis. Acidosis is where the rumen of the cow becomes highly acidic causing various problems. "Corn renders it acidic, causing a kind of bovine heartburn that in some cases can kill the animal, but usually just makes him sick. Acidotic animals go off their feed, pant and salivate excessively, paw and scratch their bellies, and eat dirt. The condition can lead to diarrhea, ulcers, bloat, rumenitis, liver disease, and a general weakening of the immune system that leaves the animal vulnerable to the full panoply of feedlot diseases--pneumonia, coccidiosis, enterotoxemia, feedlot polio" (Pollan, 2007).

With these many strains of diseases arising, copious amounts of antibiotics are fed to these animals to counteract diseases that can occur. Normally antibiotics are given to fight infections that already exist in either humans or animals. On factory farms however, animals are given large doses in order to prevent certain diseases such as those mentioned above due to the animals eating too much corn. This feeding of antibiotics when it is not needed can allow for antibiotic resistant strains of diseases to develop. Many individuals defend CAFO's saying that they help keep up with the demand of the market therefore making them essential in today's economy. This may be the case in terms of demand but what are the long term effects of "trying to keep up with the Jones?' Traditionally farming allowed the animals used in human consumption to be raised the way that nature intended. This means allowing them to forage for their food, eat grass, and roam the way they were meant to do. Some say factory farming is cheaper, but is it really? If you look at the long term effects that it has on us humans eating the meat that is produced, the cost effect is much more than in traditional farming. From reading the article, Grass-Fed vs Grain Fed Beef, by Kathleen Wills, she states that "Not only does grain-fed beef have up to 500% more saturated fat and less nutritional value than grass-fed beef, the pesticides, fertilizers, hormones and antibiotics consumed by the cows are passed on to us through the meat. The implications of this are serious, including premature development in children and our growing immunity to antibiotics" (Wills, 2010). This is the start of food production processing.

The processing of food can lead to the increase diabetes II. According the WebMD, diabetes is considered a number of diseases that involve problems with the hormone insulin. Diabetes is said to occur when one of the following exists: "When the pancreas does not produce any insulin, when the pancreas produces very little insulin or when the body does not respond appropriately to insulin, a condition called insulin resistance" (Martin, 2010). In type II diabetes, the body produces insulin, but it is not enough or the body doesn't use it effectively. When there is a deficiency of insulin or it is not being used correctly, then there is a buildup of sugar in the blood stream. This means that cells in the body are not getting the nutrients that they need and therefore cause them to basically malfunction.

With the introduction of processed foods this increased the risk of diabetes. The major food that comes into play