Eating David Kirby's Book "Animal Factory" Is Probably A Better Idea Than Eating Meat

David Kirby's new book "Animal Factory" has an interesting, if not widespread, demographic: anybody who eats.  Best known for his stunning bestseller "Evidence of Harm," about the effects of thimerasol-laden vaccines, Kirby focused this time on another subject that should sufficiently scare the hell out of everybody.

"Animal Factory" follows three different American families-one in Washington State's Yakima Valley, one in Illinois, and another in North Carolina-whose communities were "invaded by giant animal factories that came in and started polluting the air, the ground, and the water," said Kirby.

Most of these families are farmers themselves, "bedrock, Conservative Americans," Kirby added, who started out as Republicans but "they're not anymore." Far from being anti-agriculture, the people in "Animal Factory" are merely trying to defend their communities, and inspire reform at both the local and national level.

The family in Washington spent years in the Yakima Valley farming cherries and other fruits, and immediately noticed a change in the late 1980s, when "mega-dairies" moved onto their turf. Also known as Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, or CAFOs, these mega-dairies are considered factory farms.

"Almost immediately there were air pollution problems," Kirby said of the CAFO's impact in the Valley. The offensive smell of cow dung infiltrated the family's house, and the giant waste lagoons that hold liquefied manure leeched into the ground, leading to high levels of nitrates in the ground water there.

The main problem with the CAFOs is the feeding process, which is really the main purpose for keeping the animals-whether cows, hogs, or chickens-in confinement. The goal of the CAFO, Kirby explained, is "to get them to market as quickly as possible;" additives in the feed hasten that process, but also further contaminate the product.

"They need to be outside on pasture," Kirby said of the animals. "They need to have a social life, establish pecking order, they need to mate, they need to nest, to forage."

Instead, they are crammed by the thousand into spaces more suitable for ten, because CAFO's seek to produce very large amounts of food in very short periods of time at a profit for the company. But Kirby insisted not all farming has to be this way.

"We need more of a mixture," he said, acknowledging that the CAFO's won't go away anytime soon. "As long as they're here, we should try to reform them."

Reform will occur by encouraging different policies and consumer behavior, and by promoting small, independent, localized, sustainable farms. Despite Imus's needling, Kirby said he would have no problems eating a chicken from a farm like that. When Imus called him a murderer, Kirby was confused.

"I thought I was a pansy?"  he asked.

The most important message in "Animal Factory," said Kirby, is that current methods of raising most animal protein in this country are unsustainable, and will not last in the long run. "Mother Nature may very well have the last word," he said.

With the origins of viruses like swine flu, MRSA, and mad cow disease all linked to factory farms, Kirby warned that nobody, not even vegetarians are safe. "We all live downstream, we all live downwind, even if you're not consuming the product," he said, happily giving it back to the I-Man.

-Julie Kanfer