More people are stepping up against factory farming!

In one of history's most stunning victories for humane farming, Australia's largest supermarket chain, Coles, will as of January 1 stop selling company branded pork and eggs from animals kept in factory farms. As an immediate result, 34,000 mother pigs will no longer be kept in stalls for long periods of their lives, and 350,000 hens will be freed from cages.

Not to be outdone, the nation's other dominant supermarket chain, Woolworths, has already begun phasing out factory farmed animal products. In fact all of Woolworth's house brand eggs are now cage-free, and by mid-2013 all of their pork will come from farmers who operate stall-free farms.

Coles and Woolworths together account for a dominant 80 percent of all supermarket sales in Australia.

The move to open up the cages was fueled by "consumer sentiment,"...  Please read all the incredible details & see more links of information here: http://www.alternet.org/food/good-news-animal-lovers-factory-farmings-days-may-be-numbered?akid=9733.53075.snK4Kx&rd=1&src=newsletter752025&t=11

Study Finds Most Pork Contaminated

Recent Consumer Reports research found that 69% of raw pork products have been found to contain the bacteria Yersinia enterocolitica.  According to an article by Alyssa Newcomb (link to article below), over 100,000 Americans get sick from from this bacteria each year (bloody stools, diarrhea, fever, cramps). For each reported case, there may be 120 or more unreported cases. So, the numbers of infection are high. 11% also contained other enterococcus bacteria strains. 4% contained Salmonella and Listeria strains, also. It is very important that you thoroughly cook meat. In addition, thoroughly wash any utensils or plates that come into contact with raw meat. [Personal note: my highest recommendation is to abstain from eating meat. Good for the planet, for the animals, and for you.]  For more information, see: Study Finds Most Pork Contaminated.  For the actual study by Consumer Reports, see: What's in that pork?

Hawaiian corals dying more every month!!

Growth attacking, killing Hawaiian corals

A mysterious growth has been spreading in Hawaiian waters, killing all the coral it strikes, and scientists say they can't stop it.
The white growth has been spreading rapidly across coral reefs in bays on Kauai's north shore, affecting up to 40 percent of the coral in some bays.
Other areas are "just as bad, if not worse," biologist Terry Lilley, who has been observing the phenomenon, told the Los Angeles Times.
Scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey say the growth has been identified as both a cyanobacterial pathogen, a bacteria that grows through photosynthesis, and a fungus.
Deadly to coral it strikes, the invader is moving at the rate of 1 to 3 inches a week on every area of infected coral, scientists said.
"There is nowhere we know of in the entire world where an entire reef system for 60 miles has been compromised in one fell swoop," Lilley said. "This bacteria has been killing some of these 50- to 100-year-old corals in less than eight weeks.
"Something is causing the entire reef system here in Kauai to lose its immune system."
Experts said there is little they can do to stop the threat.

"It's very alarming," Wendy Wiltse with the Environmental Protection Agency in Honolulu said. "All of us are concerned about it. We want to do more. Part of the problem is we don't know what to do, especially in the case of a disease that's spread by a pathogen. It's not like we can put antibiotics in the ocean."