Nigerian Vets Call for Separation of Animals and Agriculture

The American Veterinary Medical Association should take a page from their Nigerian counterpart, whose Delta State chapter is asking the government to give farm animals their own governing body, separate from the Ministry of Agriculture.

Unlike the AVMA — which defends factory farm abuse of antibiotics to compensate for overcrowded and unsanitary conditions — Nigerian veterinarians don't believe in cradle-to-grave drugging of animals. Dr. Gani Enahoro, speaking on behalf of the NVMA's Delta chapter, said "The wholesomeness of meat does not rest squarely on the presence or absence of contamination by germs alone. We now discover that most meat, especially poultry meat, contain a lot of drug residue as meat contamination."

This is true of U.S. poultry, too, which is why a number of countries refuse American chicken on the grounds that it doesn't meet their food safety standards. And, while the AVMA has sided with the agriculture industry against dozens of human medical associations, Dr. Enahoro and the NVMA say that more cooperation is needed between veterinarians and human medical practitioners.

He argues that his state needs a health commission to bring veterinary and medical knowledge together and, like other Nigerian states, they need an independent Ministry of Animal Health and Livestock. By separating animal care from the rest of the agriculture industry, it would ensure that people who understand the unique needs of animals determine policies and conduct proper inspections of facilities. It would mean that animals have a shot at decent living conditions without the larger industry interests getting in the way.

It has never made sense, in any country, to treat cows like corn.

If people are going to eat animal products, then they need to consider the health of the animals. Jonathan Safran Foer asks, "Why aren't there more people aware of, and angry about, the rates of avoidable food-bourne illnesses?" In the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates there are 76 million cases of food-bourne illnesses each year in this country alone.

This affects you even if you don't eat animal products: Enahoro points out that, worldwide, 60 percent of known infectious diseases are common to man and animals, and 75 percent of recent emerging human diseases originated from non-human populations.

Clearly, pumping millions of pounds of antibiotics into farm animals hasn't resolved these problems, so it's time for industry hacks to hand over the reins to animal doctors ... and not the ones who are in bed with agribusiness, but the ones like Dr. Enahoro and his colleagues, who recognize that what's best for animals is also what's best for humans.

Photo credit: Hulivili