That Only Solves Half the Problem

"Not Grass-Fed, but at Least Pain-Free"

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/19/opinion/19shriver.html

By Adam Shiver of the New York Times

A "bone chilling" read indeed. Adam Shiver is "a doctoral student in the philosophy-neuroscience-psychology program at Washington University." And he proposes a new method of solving animal cruelty, since "we cannot avoid factory farms altogether." Scientists have researched how mammals feel pain, and apparently there are "two separate pathways for perceiving pain: a sensory pathway that registers its location, quality (sharp, dull or burning, for example) and intensity, and a so-called affective pathway that senses the pain’s unpleasantness. " The second pathway is located in the brain's anterior cingulate cortex, and scientists have successfully removed this pathway from the brains of lab mice. Shiver describes that the mice, know where the pain is in their bodies and what it feels like, but they do not avoid it or feel its "unpleasantness." He claims that scientists will soon be able to do the same with cows and pigs.

The worst part about reading this article is that it be probably happen in the future. I should not be surprised because humans have often used science as a way to cut corners around solving problems. Instead of getting rid of factory farms, corporations could pacify animal cruelty activists by stating that the animals simply feel no pain.

However, it is not so simple. Factory farming causes many more problems that this will not address at all. 1. Environmental pollution with the huge amounts of methane gas the cows emit. 2. The huge amounts of manure that are released into rivers, causing the destruction of ecosystems. 3. The animals will still be treated exactly the same, cruelly, and many will still be skinned alive on the assembly line.

So I say to you Mr. "Recent advances suggest it may soon be possible to genetically engineer livestock so that they suffer much less."- that's BS. Grass fed, organic, fresh, happy, free range meat is the only solution.

Terms-

Factory farming-

a system of large-scale industrialized and intensive agriculture that is focused on profit with animals kept indoors and restricted in mobility

Neuroscience-

the field of study encompassing the various scientific disciplines dealing with the structure, development, function, chemistry, pharmacology, and pathology of the nervous system.

Anterior cingulate cortex-

the frontal part of the cingulate cortex, that resembles a "collar" form around the corpus callosum, the fibrous bundle that relays neural signals between the right and left cerebral hemispheres of the brain.