To the Editor:

Will 2008 mark the beginning of the end for the U.S. meat industry?

The escalating costs of corn and soybeans caused by harvest shortfalls, rising global demand, and government-mandated ethanol production are forcing widespread cutbacks in the number of animals raised for food. So does the current credit crunch.

A recent report by the prestigious Pew Charitable Trusts recommends a phase-out of intensive confinement, which would force additional cutbacks.

For the animals and caring consumers, such cuts are long overdue.

The $10 billion animals killed for food in the U.S. each year, have no life before death. From birth, they are caged and crowded, deprived and drugged, manhandled and mutilated. At the slaughterhouse, they may be scalded, bled, skinned, and dismembered, while still conscious. Although 93 percent of consumers condemn such abuses, no state or federal law prevents them.

Recent undercover investigations by humane organizations have documented egregious animal cruelty at California and Iowa slaughterhouses. The resulting media coverage has led consumers to examine their own role in subsidizing extreme animal cruelty with their shrinking food dollar.

This is why, on or about October 2nd (Gandhi's birthday), 400 communities in all 50 states and two dozen other countries observe World Farm Animals Day with public education events (see The purpose is to expose and memorialize the cruel treatment of animals raised for food and to promote an animal-free diet.

It's a great opportunity for each of us to reject cruelty and to embrace a healthful, cost-saving plant-based diet.

John Ornest