Chinese dairy farmers bear brunt of scandal's wrath

Chinese dairy farmers, the lowest on the milk production totem pole, used to be able to milk their cows at home. Now they have to travel, sometimes miles, to the nearest milk collection station with their cows because of safety requirements. It's a change that follows international public criticism and anxiety over a milk contamination crisis that has killed four babies and sickened 54,000 others --- considered the worst Chinese food safety crisis in decades.

The Times' John Gilonna offers a glimpse into how the farmers are dealing with the mess:

Moving to stem the scandal, Chinese officials now require producers to track raw-milk purchases back to the farmers. Monitors have also been sent to larger farms.

Officials announced standards for allowable levels of melamine in milk and other food and have encouraged whistle-blowers to report violations.

The milk contamination led China's food safety chief to resign, and other officials have lost their jobs.

In tiny Panzhuangzi, a dozen villagers gathered recently to rue the new collection rules. Plummeting demand has forced some farmers to feed the unwanted milk to other animals and sell their dairy cows. All because of melamine -- san ju qing an -- a chemical they'd never heard of until the scandal.

The new rules have created an unlikely rush hour in this enclave of 400 families, as farmers hit the road twice a day with their prized cows. Pandemonium rules, the skittish, 1,200-pound animals bolting from passing cars and motorcycles and often dragging their helpless wards into the adjacent cornfields.

For days, Gao, 58, walked with a limp after being kicked by a terrified cow. But what hurts more, he says, is being considered a criminal by consumers in his own country.

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo credit: John M. Glionna / Los Angeles Times

Former California slaughterhouse worker sentenced in cow abuse case

A former Southern California slaughterhouse worker was sentenced Wednesday to nine months in jail and probation after being caught on undercover video abusing sick and injured cows, leading to the largest beef recall in U.S. history, the Associated Press reports:

Daniel Ugarte Navarro, 49, was sentenced after pleading no contest in June to two felony counts of animal cruelty and two misdemeanor counts of cruelty to downed animals. (Navarro, left, is pictured above standing outside Chino Superior Court after his sentencing. With him is defense attorney Ruben Salazar.)

Navarro can serve his jail time on weekends in a work-release program, must attend counseling and must serve three years of felony probation, said Susan Mickey, a spokeswoman for the San Bernardino County district attorney. He could also serve the time through electronic monitoring at the discretion of the jail, she said.

Another worker, Rafael Sanchez Herrera, pleaded guilty in March to three misdemeanor counts of illegal movement of a non-ambulatory animal and was sentenced to six months in jail.

The undercover video shot by the Humane Society of the United States led to a federal investigation and the recall of 143 million pounds of beef in February. The video shows workers at Chino-based Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. dragging sick cows with metal chains and forklifts, shocking them with electric prods and shooting streams of water in their noses and faces.

Salazar told the Associated Press that his client was just following orders and that prosecutors overcharged Navarro to appease an angry public and animal-rights activists.

--Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: David Bauman / The Press-Enterprise via the Associated Press

Campaign event for Proposition 2

"Pet Out the Vote." That's what the Proposition 2 folks are calling their campaign event in Santa Monica on Wednesday. The organizers of the November ballot initiative -- which would outlaw confining cages and crates for hens, veal calves and pigs -- are inviting supporters to bring their dogs to a rally at 11:30 a.m. at the entrance to the Santa Monica Pier.

Dogs should be on a leash. Their people can be unleashed (and with campaign signs, if they like.)

You can also read up on the anti-Proposition 2 folks' arguments at www.safecaliforniafood.org.

--Carla Hall

Process to genetically engineer animals gets green light

The Food and Drug Administration today opened the way for a bevy of genetically engineered salmon, cows and other animals to leap from the laboratory to the marketplace. The Times' Karen Kaplan and Thomas H. Maugh II report:

"It's about time the federal government has acknowledged that these animals are on [the] doorstep and need to be regulated to ensure their safety," said Greg Jaffe, director of the project on biotechnology at the Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington.

Many experts, however, fear that the proposed regulations do not go far enough to protect and reassure the public. In particular, they argue that the approval process would be highly secretive to protect the commercial interests of the companies involved and that the new rules do not place sufficient weight on the environmental impact of what many consider to be Frankenstein animals.

Animals can't be treated exactly like drugs, said Jaydee Hanson, a policy analyst at the Center for Food Safety in Washington. "Drugs don't go out and breed with each other. When a drug gets loose, you figure you can control it. When a bull gets loose, it would be harder to corral."

The genetically modified animals have a variety of potential uses:

Some, like many agricultural crops now in use, are more disease resistant. One company, for example, has produced a cow that is not susceptible to mad cow disease.

Others are more nutritious or grow faster, improving the diet and enhancing farmers' profits.

Some would serve as sources for organs for human transplants, expanding the small pool of donor organs now available.

Others, called biopharm animals, would be used to produce drugs such as insulin, which are now manufactured in yeast or bacteria.

The full story here.

--Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Pat Sullivan/Associated Press

Cows truly have animal magnetism

Birds do it, bees do it, and so, apparently, do ... cows?   

No, it’s not that. We’re talking about sensing the Earth’s magnetic field.

German scientists using satellite images posted online by the Google Earth software program have observed something that has escaped the notice of farmers, herders and hunters for thousands of years: Cattle grazing or at rest tend to orient their bodies in a north-south direction just like a compass needle.

Studying photographs of 8,510 cattle in 308 herds from around the world, zoologists Sabine Begall and Hynek Burda of the University of Duisburg-Essen and their colleagues found that two out of every three animals in the pictures were oriented in a direction roughly pointing to magnetic north.

The resolution of the images was not sufficient to tell which ends of the cows were pointing north, however. Asked if he had ever observed such behavior in cows, dairy farmer Rob Fletcher of Tulare said, “Absolutely not.” But, he added, “I don’t spend a lot of time worrying about stuff like that.”

Similar results were found in field studies of 2,974 red and roe deer in the Czech Republic, the researchers reported Tuesday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The researchers had been studying magnetism in smaller animals and were looking for a way to extend their work to larger species. Cows are known to align their bodies facing uphill, facing into a strong wind to minimize heat loss or broadside to the sun on cold mornings to absorb heat, but the fact that the pictures were taken at many locations, at different times of day and in generally calm weather minimized the impact of environmental factors, the researchers said.

Researchers have long known that certain bacteria, birds, fish, whales and even rodents have minute organs in their brains containing particles of magnetite that can act like a compass. But the new results are the first hint that larger land-based mammals may also have such organs, said biologist Kenneth J. Lohmann of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who was not involved in the research.

The findings are “very interesting and not at all implausible,” said Caltech geobiologist Joseph Kirschvink, who was also not involved in the research. “We have to remember that whales are descended from a common ancestor of [cows], so this is not a surprise given what we know about whales.” And, he added, “this is an incredibly neat use of Google Earth. This is a study we would not have dreamed about doing five years ago.”

Bats, birds, bees and whales all use their magnetic sense to help navigate. Kirschvink recently reported, for example, that if a pulsing magnetic field is applied to bats perpendicular to the Earth’s field, the animals will change the direction of their flight by 90 degrees.

What the benefit could be for cows, however, remains a mystery. It might help them find their way home, experts said, or perhaps it is simply a vestigial sense that is no longer used for any purpose.

Furthermore, the authors noted, no one has examined cows or deer to determine whether their brains contain magnetic particles. Experts acknowledged that the research almost certainly has no practical applications.

-- Thomas H. Maugh II

File photo: AP

Raw milk program ends after 15 people get sick

Raw, or unpasteurized, milk is a popular alternative for consumers concerned about the chemicals and hormones used in traditional dairy farming but has its own risks too.

A Del Norte County dairy has ended its raw milk program after more than a dozen people fell ill, including a woman who became partially paralyzed, the Crescent City-based Daily Triplicate reports.

The raw milk came from Alexandre Family EcoDairy Farms, which supplied the product to 115 customers. The county's Department of Public Health suspects at least 15 people were sickened by Campylobacter, a common bacteria found in domesticated animals.

Nicholas Grube of the Triplicate has a thorough take on the story, explaining the challenges of even getting a raw milk program off the ground:

It is illegal to sell raw milk in California, but it is not illegal to get it from your own animal. The Alexandres devised a cow-share program that allowed people to buy stock in an Alexandre cow. That gave them personal ownership of the animal and allowed them to legally take raw milk from Alexandre EcoDairy.

Cow-share customers had keys to a storage area where they could also obtain organic eggs, beef, ice cream and cheese.

Before customers could join the cow-share program and get the raw milk, owners Blake and Stephanie Alexandre gave them a three-ring binder full of information. In the first section are a number of articles relaying the dangers of consuming raw milk.

"I wanted people to be very clear on the risks," Stephanie Alexandre said, adding that many times people would take that chance. "They're realizing that the risks are there and they'll realize that the benefits outweigh the risks and they'll come begging for it."

To join the cow-share program, customers signed an agreement relieving the eco-dairy of liability in case of health problems caused by raw milk.

The raw milk program constituted less than 1% of the company's total organic dairy business.

"We've never done any of this for money," Blake Alexandre said. "This is a thing we were doing for folks who thought they needed access to raw milk."

But as Grube reports, not all the company's raw milk drinkers are left with a sour taste in their mouth:

Christine Mitchell of Crescent City, 42, drank Alexandre's raw milk for almost two years. Before she started the program, she said her joints ached, especially in her knees.

"I started drinking it and about four months later all of my joint pain was gone," Mitchell said. "That was a huge change in my life."

She asked her doctor why raw milk would get rid of her pain, and she said he told her that the enzymes in the product—the ones normally taken out during the pasteurization process—help her body digest the calcium in the milk.

Now Mitchell is struggling to find a new source of raw milk. For nearly two months she hasn't had it and her joints are starting to hurt again. Pasteurized milk, she said, just doesn't compare.

"What's the point of drinking pasteurized milk," she asked, "if you can't use the good stuff that's in there?"

--Francisco Vara-Orta

Man pleads guilty in another cow cruelty case in Chino

A cattleman accused of housing cows in unsafe living conditions pleaded guilty today to a felony animal abuse charge, the San Bernardino Sun reports:

Albert Buitenhuis, 28, accepted a plea deal in Superior Court in Chino that included a sentence of fines and three years' probation.

Prosecutors say he failed to remove dead cows from a barn at his Chino dairy.

There were six cow carcasses in the barn, including several in a water trough, said Beth Les, humane investigator for the Inland Valley Humane Society.

"I'm glad with what we got" for the sentence, Les said.

It's not the only Chino-based cow case still in the courts.

This year, the largest recall in U.S. history of beef was prompted by an animal rights group investigation of another Chino slaughterhouse where sick cows were being abused.

One of the workers accused of animal cruelty, Daniel Ugarte Navarro, pleaded no contest this summer in San Bernardino County Superior Court in Chino to two felony counts of animal cruelty and two misdemeanor counts of cruelty to downed animals.

He is scheduled to be sentenced Monday and could get up to a year in jail.

Another worker, Rafael Sanchez Herrera, pleaded guilty in March to three misdemeanor counts of illegal movement of a non-ambulatory animal and was sentenced to six months in jail.

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

California cows carrying TB are slaughtered

More than 4,800 dairy cows at risk of carrying tuberculosis are being slaughtered this week in Central California, where nearly 16,000 cattle in the country's largest milk-producing region have been quarantined, the Associated Press reports today:

Undersecretary of Agriculture Bruce Knight met privately with local dairy operators Tuesday along with the state veterinarian and other industry officials monitoring three new cases of TB recently discovered in Fresno County dairies.

Federal and state agriculture officials were still tightlipped about the identities and locations of the three dairies where cows tested positive for the disease, which can be transmitted to humans and other mammals through the air or through drinking unpasteurized milk from an infected cow.

The discovery of the highly contagious respiratory disease already has prompted changes in interstate shipping regulations.

A routine inspection of a slaughterhouse cow in January found TB lesions on its lymph nodes, prompting the California Department of Food and Agriculture's inspection of 150,000 cattle so far. Ninety percent of infected cattle do not show symptoms, which include weight loss, cough and rough coats.

The Associated Press reports that California had been free of the disease since 2005, two years after cases detected in Kings and Tulare counties prompted the testing of 876,000 cattle. As a result, more than 8,000 head cattle in two infected herds were slaughtered that year.

State officials are still trying to understand how the cows got exposed, but the culprit may be south of the border:

DNA testing shows that two of the cows that tested positive this spring share a strain of the bacteria that originated in Mexico.

In June, the state Department of Food and Agriculture issued a warning against contact with cattle of Mexican origins, and the USDA is drafting an order that restricts transport of California cattle across state lines without testing by a veterinarian.

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

Former slaughterhouse worker pleads no contest to animal cruelty charges

The Associated Press reports that a former Southern California slaughterhouse worker has pleaded no contest to animal cruelty charges after being caught on undercover video abusing sick and injured cows.

The footage prompted the largest beef recall in U.S. history. Daniel Ugarte Navarro entered the plea Friday in San Bernardino County Superior Court in Chino to two felony counts of animal cruelty and two misdemeanor counts of cruelty to downed animals.

He could get up to a year in jail when he is sentenced on Aug. 25. Another worker, Rafael Sanchez Herrera, pleaded guilty in March to three misdemeanor counts of illegal movement of a non-ambulatory animal and was sentenced to six months in jail.

Pandas, sharks and more -- an animal news roundup from today's Times

The eight young pandas evacuated during the recent earthquakes in China have become the Beijing Zoo's media darlings, Barbara Demick reports.

Visitors to the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta can pay to swim with whale sharks, but some experts says the practice could be risky for the sharks, Richard Fausset reports.

Speaking of risk, some SoCal surfers are opting to take the risk of a swim in the shark-populated waters at a beach north of Ixtapa, Mexico, Pete Thomas reports.

President Bush urges offshore drilling in wildlife refuge areas, but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger disagrees with tampering with California's coast.

Meanwhile, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, a nonprofit coalition of hunting, fishing and other organizations, filed  a lawsuit against the Interior Department and the Bureau of Land Management in U.S. District Court in Washington, saying the government agency "failed unequivocally" to monitor and mitigate the effects of gas and oil drilling on wildlife in Wyoming, Tami Abdollah reports.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's refusal to let firms test for mad cow disease denies consumers a safety net, a Times editorial says.

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Andy Wong/Associated Press

Jessica Simpson and the "Real Girls Eat Meat" T-shirt

Jessica Simpson was photographed last week at LAX wearing a "Real Girls Eat Meat" T-shirt. Some animal lovers are less than happy, especially the folks at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. The Baltimore Sun's Mutts blog shares some details:

"For a gal who's best known for her less-than-stellar brains (Chicken of the Sea, anyone?) and her ability to proportionately fill out daisy dukes, I'm gonna go on record saying that if anyone had to wear a ridiculous shirt like this, I'm glad it was Jessica — as people are more likely to follow the opposite of her lead," a PETA blogger wrote. Maybe the meat-eaters of the world will be embarrassed to be categorized in the same field as Jessica Simpson."

Simpson family insiders told OK! Magazine that the slogan is a dig at boyfriend Tony Romo’s ex-girlfriend, country superstar Carrie Underwood -- who has twice been named "World’s Sexiest Vegetarian" by PETA.

The PETA blog also lists "the top five reasons that only stupid girls brag about eating meat."

1. Meat increases the risk of breast cancer.

2. Real girls don't support animal abuse.

3. The meat industry is destroying the Earth.

4. Meat will make you fat.

5. Eating meat steals food from starving kids.

-- Alice Short

Photo: Tony Gutierrez / Associated Press

1. Meat increases the risk of breast cancer.

2. Real girls don't support animal abuse.

3. The meat industry is destroying the Earth.

4. Meat will make you fat.

5. Eating meat steals food from starving kids.

-- Alice Short

Photo: Tony Gutierrez / Associated Press

South Korea will not import U.S. meat from older cattle

South Korea's president vowed Sunday not to allow the import of meat from older cattle, in hopes of quelling public anger at the resumption of beef imports from the United States, the Associated Press reports:

President Lee Myung-bak's comments came as the chief U.S. and South Korean trade envoys met in Washington on the dispute. But today, the Foreign Ministry said that there was no breakthrough.

"The government stance is firm that beef from cattle older than 30 months will not be brought" into South Korea, Lee said. Meat from older cattle is thought to be at greater risk of carrying mad cow disease.

Talks will continue through diplomatic channels, the Foreign Ministry said.

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

Taking their beef peacefully to the streets

About 80,000 people demonstrated in Seoul against U.S. beef imports, with candlelight vigils lasting into the early hours today. President Lee Myung-bak was expected to accept Cabinet resignations over the issue.

--Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Dong-A Ilbo/Associated Press

Economy takes a toll on farm animals

The Riverside Press-Enterprise is reporting that Inland Empire farm animals are the latest casualty of a tightening economy. Apparently hay and feed prices have more than doubled over the last year.

Owners of horses, pigs and chickens are deciding to sell, give away or even abandon their animals as the cost of feeding and keeping them shoot through the roof, say feed store operators and others who take care of animals. "It's really bad," said Cathey Burtt, owner of Moon Shadow Farms, a horse-boarding facility in Norco.

Recently, she said, she saw a horse running down the street outside her home, apparently abandoned by its owner. She said animal control officers took the horse, but had to put it up for adoption after no one claimed it for a month.

"People are really desperate," Burtt said. "Having a horse is a luxury and people have other priorities, like paying the mortgage."

Photo: Giuseppe Aresu/Bloomberg News

South Korea's Cabinet offers to resign over U.S. beef

South Korea's entire Cabinet, including Prime Minister Han Seung-soo, offered to resign today to take responsibility for the government's handling of beef imports. Bloomberg News reports:

Han and the other 15 Cabinet ministers told President Lee Myung-bak that they would step down, said Kim Wang-ky, a spokesman for Han.

Lee agreed in April to lift a ban on American beef to win support from U.S. lawmakers for a wider free-trade accord, sparking mass protests (pictured above) against his 4-month-old government by people concerned about mad cow disease. Lee's approval rating has fallen by half since he took office in February, undermining his ability to win support for tax cuts and public works projects promised during the campaign.

"It's not just about beef anymore but everything about the Lee Myung-bak government that has lost public trust," said Kim Jung-youn, a 35-year-old Web designer who has participated in the rallies since May 2. "The resignations are just a show. It would be best for Lee himself to step down."

South Korea was the third biggest buyer of U.S. beef before imposing a ban in December 2003 over concerns about the brain-wasting disease, also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy.

Scientists say mad cow disease is spread in cattle by tainted animal feed. Eating contaminated meat from infected animals can cause a fatal human variant that has been blamed for the deaths of 151 people in Britain, where it was first reported in the 1980s.

The letters on the banner pictured read "Denounce the government's notification of U.S. beef imports."

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Bak Seung-ryul/Associated Press

U.S. asked to alter beef import deal

South Korea said it was delaying implementation of a beef import agreement and has asked the U.S. to make a key change to it--after large anti-government protests over the weekend by people concerned over mad cow disease, Times wire sources report. (In the photo above, protesters' signs read "Enforce Re-negotiation.")

Agriculture Minister Chung Woon-chun said at a news conference today that the government had asked the U.S. to refrain from exporting any beef that comes from cattle aged over 30 months, considered at greater risk of the illness.

South Korea agreed in April to reopen its market to U.S. beef after it was blocked for most of the last 4 1/2 years after the first case of the brain-wasting cattle sickness in the U.S. in late 2003. The country delayed the accord Monday, and Chung said quarantine inspections of any U.S. beef will not resume until Seoul receives a response from Washington.

--Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Lee Jin-man / Associated Press

Steak for dinner?

So I say to hell with tofu. Pass me the cow.

Columnist Al Martinez muses on a healthy diet, tofu salads, and the joys of a big steak and a martini in today's L.A. Times. And he confesses:

Worrying about my health, the planet, animals and the frightening possibility that PETA's efforts might end up turning the world over to humorless true believers who eat nothing but organically grown lettuce and seaweed put me in a blue funk.

We guess that's what the martini and steak are for ... to cure the blue funk.

In the meantime, PETA offers a "free vegetarian starter kit" on its website.

--Alice Short

USDA to tighten cow slaughter rules

The government plans to close a loophole in meat inspection rules that led to the record recall of 143 million pounds of ground beef this year. The Baltimore Sun's Jonathan D. Rockoff reports:

The Department of Agriculture will prohibit meat plants from slaughtering any cow that can't stand and walk on its own at any point after it arrives at a plant, Schafer said.

The rule would eliminate existing provisions that allow plants to send "downer," or sick, cows to slaughter if they fall ill after passing an initial inspection and then pass a second inspection.

"I believe it is sound policy to simplify this matter by initiating a complete ban on the slaughter of cattle that go down after an initial inspection," [Agriculture Secretary Edward T.] Schafer said in a statement. The new rule should be in effect by the end of the year.

The revision of the rules was prompted by an undercover Humane Society video showing abuse of sick cows at Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. in Chino that lead to a massive recall earlier this year.

-Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Cezaro De Luca/EPA

Turning cow patties into energy

Here's the latest poop on saving energy: poop.

On a dairy farm near Fresno, cow manure is being turned into natural gas for use by PG&E in what the utility hopes will be a new way to power homes with renewable, if not entirely clean, energy, Reuters reports.

The Vintage Dairy Biogas Project, the brainchild of lifelong dairyman David Albers, aims to provide the natural gas needed to power 1,200 homes a day, Albers said at the inauguration ceremony for the facility in Riverdale.

"With nearly 2 million dairy cows in California, the potential is great," said Roy Kuga, vice president of energy supply for San Francisco-based PG&E.

Apparently what is one cow's poop is one man's treasure.

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: David Silverman/Getty Images