The Virginian-Pilot
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A Missouri jury has awarded $11 million to 15 people who complained of foul odors emanating from a nearby hog farm owned by a subsidiary of Smithfield Foods Inc.
"These corporations have chosen to invade traditional family farming communities and construct industrial operations that simply fail to respect the community and the land," said Stephen A. Weiss, a New York attorney who represented the families.
The factory farm, owned by Premium Standard Farms, is in Berlin, Mo. It produces about 200,000 hogs a year.
The odors kept some neighbors from leaving their homes and were "so offensive that they defied description," Weiss said.
The jury Thursday awarded most of the plaintiffs $825,000 each.
In 2006, six people were awarded $4.5 million in a similar case involving another Premium Standard farm in Missouri.
Premium Standard said in a statement that it would appeal the latest verdict.
"The court gave the jury the impossible task of sorting through claims by 15 different individuals from seven different families in different locations, with each claim raising a set of distinctive issues," the statement said. "While the jury tried its best, it was inevitable that this 'gang trial' would result in a 'gang verdict.' "
After the verdict, "We have serious concerns whether we will ever make any future investments in the state of Missouri," Premium Standard said. "It threatens the viability of the Missouri farm economy when a farm that has been granted a permit to operate by the state and is in compliance with the permit and state and federal regulations can be held liable for such damages."
One of the company's lawyers, Jean Paul Bradshaw, declined further comment.
Weiss said the response didn't surprise him.
"Premium Standard Farms and their representatives," he said, "have demonstrated a much greater interest in deflecting blame and responsibility than in trying to resolve their problems and to be good neighbors."
Philip Walzer, (757) 222-3864, phil.walzer@pilotonline.com
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That 11 million could have been spent on safer production.
Not to mention the legal fees and efforts to avoid bearing some civic responsibility. Stockholders need to ask some questions about poor management.
how hog farms effect your health
Until three months ago, Thomas M. Dukes was a vigorous, healthy executive at a California plastics company. Then, over the course of a few days in December as he was planning his Christmas shopping, E. coli bacteria ravaged his body and tore his life apart.
Antibacterial drugs were revolutionary when they were introduced in the United States in 1936, virtually eliminating diseases like tuberculosis here and making surgery and childbirth far safer. But now we’re seeing increasing numbers of superbugs that survive antibiotics. One of the best-known — MRSA, a kind of staph infection — kills about 18,000 Americans annually. That’s more than die of AIDS.
Mr. Dukes, 52, picked up a kind of bacteria called ESBL-producing E. coli. While it’s conceivable that he touched a contaminated surface, a likely scenario is that he ate tainted meat, said Dr. Brad Spellberg, an infectious-diseases specialist and the author of “Rising Plague,” a book about antibiotic resistance.
Vegetarians are also vulnerable to antibiotic resistance nurtured in hog barns. Microbes swap genes, so antibiotic resistance developed in pigs can jump to microbes that infect humans in hospitals, locker
Until three months ago,
Until three months ago, Thomas M. Dukes was a vigorous, healthy executive at a California plastics company. Then, over the course of a few days in December as he was planning his Christmas shopping, E. coli bacteria ravaged his body and tore his life apart.
Antibacterial drugs were revolutionary when they were introduced in the United States in 1936, virtually eliminating diseases like tuberculosis here and making surgery and childbirth far safer. But now we’re seeing increasing numbers of superbugs that survive antibiotics. One of the best-known — MRSA, a kind of staph infection — kills about 18,000 Americans annually. That’s more than die of AIDS.
Mr. Dukes, 52, picked up a kind of bacteria called ESBL-producing E. coli. While it’s conceivable that he touched a contaminated surface, a likely scenario is that he ate tainted meat, said Dr. Brad Spellberg, an infectious-diseases specialist and the author of “Rising Plague,” a book about antibiotic resistance.
Vegetarians are also vulnerable to antibiotic resistance nurtured in hog barns. Microbes swap genes, so antibiotic resistance developed in pigs can jump to microbes that infect humans in hospitals, locker
Yeah to the farmers for keeping farming a family business
Read the Michael Pollan's "Omnivore's Dilemma" and remember the ecoli outbreaks caused by
CAFO's (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation) like Premium Supreme Corporation. A CAFO is not a farm it's a factory and 200,000 hogs a year creates concentrated excrement. Think about about the hormones and antibiotics in the hogs, excrement ruining the land, and altering the effective use of antibiotics on people. Think about the farmers' right to live to have a pleasant smelling home environment and animal rights to be treated humanely.
Think about losing your job to a large corporation and the diseases people get from unhealthy corporate food - you know like the obesity and diabetes in Supersize Me, or a neighbor who moves next to you and leaves rotting garbage on your property line. Walk a mile in the farmers' shoes and be grateful they're trying to keep the tradition of food that people have eaten since creation. I am thankful for being able to continue what nature provides instead of what creates profit for a few at the expense of the many.
There goes more jobs
Well, there goes a couple hundred more jobs.
sew your seeds to the wind
and reap the whirlwind.