Posted in Current Events

December 29, 2008 A few weeks ago, President-elect Barack Obama announced that former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack would be his selection for Agriculture Secretary, disappointing at least some of the interest groups focused on a food reform agenda for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and continuing his pattern of highly conventional and pr… read more

Posted in Current Events

December 22, 2008 Six-time Genesis Awards-winner Brad Woodard, an investigative reporter for the CBS television affiliate in Houston, is on top of the horse slaughter industry again. Last week, he aired an investigative story that reminded us of the continuing problems of slaughter, exposing again the propaganda of the Belgian companies and thei… read more

Posted in General

December 19, 2008 Last year, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) gave lift to the quest to end the use of animals in testing for the potential human health hazards of chemicals, drugs, and consumer products. In its report, “Toxicity Testing in the 21st Century, A Vision and a Strategy,” the NAS laid out a long-term proposal for shifting l… read more

Posted in Current Events

Dec 17, 2008. Today, in his regular blog "Animals & Politics," my colleague Michael Markarian posted a blog well worth reading about today's announcement by President-elect Barack Obama on his latest cabinet selections: former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack for Agriculture Secretary and current U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar from Colorado for Interior Secretary. I … read more

Posted in Current Events

In its waning days, the Bush Administration is racing against the clock to grease the skids for the factory farming industry. The Administration has always been aligned with Big Agriculture, but these new regulations are an astonishing abdication of the government’s regulatory responsibility. The Obama Administration will have to contend with the… read more