OHIO'S LARGEST EGG FARM ORDERED CLOSED

"The pollution and nuisance problems caused by this farm during the last decade were intolerable," Agriculture Director Fred Dailey said. "The sad legacy of mismanagement of Buckeye Egg Farm is rapidly coming to an end." The farm promises to appeal, and chickens could still die there if the company succeeds in selling the farm to someone else. However, the AP quotes industry analysts as predicting that "potential buyers are likely to lose interest in Buckeye Egg Farm if state agriculture officials succeed in forcing its closure and that losing the eggs it produces -- 4 percent of the nation's supply -- would likely drive up prices in supermarkets." Heh. Eggs-cellent!

CANADIAN MAD COW MIGHT BE FROM U.S.

This is late, only because I couldn't believe I hadn't already blogged it. As everyone probably knows by now, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency say it's a "distinct possibility" that the Mad Cow that started all the current trouble originally came from our country. Overall, the odds are against it, but as Business Week points out, the USDA hasn't done much to earn our confidence in this area, so who knows?
UPDATE 7/10: USDA urged to employ mad cow rapid test, reports UPI.

NEWS ACROSS THE WATER

Big doings, both pro-animal and con, over in the UK: A damning report revealing profound misgivings over the harvesting of animal organs for human transplants was secretly buried by government officials. Not much of a surprise there, considering the UK government's record on animal-testing reports. However, they didn't bury this one: Science has advanced so much that some drugs can be tested in tiny doses on humans rather than continuing to use monkeys for experiments, the (UK) government's official advisory body has decided. We'll see how long it takes that news to get all the way across the pond.

USDA TAKES NO PRISONERS

The Department of Agriculture just keeps getting tougher, and tougher, and tougher with meat & poultry producers. In a news release about the USDA's Increased Enforcement, we find that said enforcement equals: "a new registration form that asks registrants to provide certain information that was not requested previously, including an e-mail address, phone number and subsidiaries' hours of operations." YEAH! How do you like that, beee-yotch!?? Now you actually have to tell us your phone number!

PLEASE DON'T EAT THE ANIMALS

That's the headline of a Globe and Mail article that picks up on the points raised by a certain op-ed columnist a month ago, back when nobody knew what the word "zoonotic" meant, and makes some of the connections between animal industries and human diseases. Unfortunately, this column fails to deliver on the convictins expressed in its headline, restricting its meaning to exotic animals.