A sampling of recent articles on factory farms shows an emerging consensus that the health and environmental costs of these operations are unacceptably high. "Prescription for Trouble," an article in the winter 1998-99 Nucleus, the magazine of the Union of Concerned Scientists, discusses the administration of subtherapeutic doses of antibiotics to animals on factory farms, to prevent disease and to cause weight gain under intensely stressful and crowded conditions.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has concluded that this use of antibiotics is the primary cause of the rise of drug-resistant strains of bacteria, and both the CDC and the World Health Organization have called for "an end to the use for growth promotion in animals of those drugs that are used to treat human disease or that are related to such medicines." The September 1998 EDF Letter (newsletter of the Environmental Defense Fund) reports that "EDF Seeks to Curb Pollution from Factory Farms."

With factory farms producing an estimated two trillion pounds of animal waste per year, the Environmental Protection Agency is proposing a strategy for controlling factory farm pollution. EDF thinks the proposal is too weak; for example, implementation would not even begin until the year 2005. EDF is working at both the national and state levels to strengthen environmental standards for factory farms. EDF is also urging a nationwide moratorium on new and expanding factory farms until effective programs are in place.

Finally, "Hog-Farm Revolutionary," an article in the winter 1999 issue of HSUS News, the magazine of the Humane Society of the United States, profiles an Iowa hog farmer named Tom Frantzen who, after adopting "efficient" production methods in the 1970's, moved in the direction of more humane treatment of his pigs. Mr. Frantzen was inspired by listening to the Pope's speech on land stewardship, delivered on a visit to Des Moines in 1979, as well as by observing his animals and listening to his own feelings. For example, when sows were put in farrowing crates, "You couldn't touch the sow because she was so irritable." Mr. Frantzen now says: "Sustainable agriculture . . . is the issue of our lifetime. The development of a food system that is ecologically humane and sociologically sound is the greatest cause there is." Every vegetarian will agree that factory farming takes an unacceptable toll, not only in human health and environmental devastation, but also in animal suffering.

The efforts of these organizations and individuals are welcome, yet we would argue that they do not go far enough. As always, we are reminded that the most powerful antidote for all of these kinds of suffering is one over which we, as individuals, have control: to forego animal products completely. We can exercise the power of our plate to dry up the demand for animal products so that the factory farms will go out of business.