The Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production (PCIFAP) has put the factory farm industry on the defensive. A major, two-and-a-half year, 124-page independent study shows the devastating impact that intensive animal agriculture has on human health, the environment, rural economies and culture, and animal welfare. The Commission maintains that drastic changes in the way animals are raised for meat, dairy and eggs are desperately needed, and has made recommendations that align with what vegan activists have been saying all along. They include:

- Phasing out the most intensive animal confinement systems (including battery cages for egg-laying hens and gestation and farrowing crates for pregnant sows) within ten years.
- Banning other cruel industry practices like force-feeding ducks and geese for foie gras, and cutting off the tails of dairy cows.
- Outlawing the non-therapeutic use of antibiotics.
- Formation of a disease monitoring program that can trace contaminated meat back to its origins within 48 hours to optimize the effectiveness of recalls.
- Enforcing stricter regulations against the dumping of animal waste, which contaminates natural habitats and makes humans sick.
- Fundamental economic reform to provide a fair playing field for independent farms that compete with powerful and highly-subsidized agribusiness conglomerates.

The Pew Commission panel is comprised of 15 experts in animal agriculture, including a former Kansas governor, a former assistant Surgeon General, and the head of the University of Iowa College of Public Health. Some members claimed that the animal agriculture industry tried to block their research, threatening withdrawal of funds in retaliation for speaking the truth. Citing the industry's financial influence over scientific inquiries into the impact of industrialized animal agriculture, the Commission advocates increased public funding for objective and reliable research into this field.

That a body as distinguished as the Pew Commission has made such strong recommendations for reform is significant in itself, but their report also adds weight to the scientific consensus that is forming around the destructive effects of factory farming. The report argues that the scientific evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates a dire necessity for significant changes in the way animals are raised for food. The devastating impact of intensive animal agriculture has already begun to unite public health proponents, environmentalists, small farmers and animal protection advocates behind a common goal: setting a new national policy agenda that prioritizes the public good over the profits of corporate interests.

Please Take Action to ask your elected officials to introduce legislation that reflects the Pew Commission's recommendations to protect public health, the environment, rural values and animal welfare. One example of such legislation currently before Congress is the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act, which would ban the non-therapeutic use of antibiotics on animals on farms.