- [Narrator] On a daily basis slaughterhouse workers
around the world,
handle frightened and often dangerous livestock
while operating industrial grinders, blades, hooks,
guns, and saws.
In as little as five minutes,
a pig can be bled,
have their organs removed,
their hair, skin and fat stripped away,
and their bodies placed in a freezer.
And because of the pace slaughterhouse workers
are required to work,
there are a staggering two amputations per week.
Statistically speaking,
if you work in a meat packing factory for five years,
there's a 50% chance you'll suffer injury.
And in the U.S.,
regulations have been recently proposed
under the Trump Administration
to eliminate caps on the speed of slaughter.
Meaning that slaughterhouses
could become even more dangerous.
Because what are known as line speeds,
are likely to get much quicker.
As of 2019, Human Rights Watch report stated,
"This is a violation
of international human rights standards."
but this is before
taking into account the immeasurable emotional toll.
Workers normalize their actions
through repetition and routine,
becoming desensitized to the acts of violence
causing psychological distress.
That trauma often spills
out as violence and addictive behaviors
such as dependency on alcohol and drugs.
Meat packing facilities are associated
with higher rates of violent crimes
in the local area
including rape, child abuse, and sexual assault.
The reality is animals are slaughtered
by some of societies most vulnerable humans.
- There's no choice.
And they'll tell you straight up,
"You are the most expendable human beings on earth.
"We can fire you any time we want,
and there's 10 people standing in line
down in front of the unemployment office to take your place.
"And if they don't do it,
we'll go get us a bus load of illegals."
- [Narrator] In the U.S.
72% of slaughterhouse workers were born outside the country.
With as many as 48% being undocumented immigrants.
And, this is a pattern seen across the world.
These are workers that are less likely to unionize
or report injury due to language difficulties
or even fear of deportation.
We turn a blind eye to their dirty work
but it gets even worse
because slaughterhouse workers
are not the only human victims.
Countless studies show that living close to factory farms
causes serious health conditions.
For instance,
animal excrement stored in untreated
open-pit manure lagoons,
omit a cocktail of dangerous gases.
- I saw how close some neighborhoods are to hog operations,
like this one in the upper right.
People told me about contaminated wells.
The stench from hog operations that woke them at night.
And, children who are mocked at school
for smelling like hog waste.
- They're blowing animal waste on us.
So you really can't stay out there long enough to
do anything but,
you're eyes start running water.
You start coughing and gagging.
Feel like you want to throw up.
You know and trying to hold your breath to
at the same time trying to get to and from your destination.
They've just taken every freedom that we have away from us.
And, we're just supposed to become complacent
and say, "Oh, this is okay.
"This is just the way a normal way of living."
- The smell and odor is so bad you can't breath.
Your eyes water.
Your throat burns.
I've got depression now, I didn't have before.
I also have to use an inhaler at times
because I can't breath.
I mean it's just miserable.
You're prisoners in your own house.
- [Narrator] And if you're wondering why people
in these communities don't just leave,
the reality is that many don't have the financial luxury
to do so.
Article 25 of the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights states that,
"Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate
for the health and well-being of himself
and his family."
The pollution of water and air by factory farming,
coupled with the environmental degradation of land,
undermined our human rights.
This is because they pose a risk
to our health and well-being.
But the thing is,
these effects are not localized.
Because it's now widely acknowledged
that the animal agricultural industry
is a leading cause of many forms
of environmental degradation.
Which disproportionately affects low income families
in developing countries.
What is more, the inefficiencies
of the animal agricultural industry
mean that it is also a leading cause of world hunger.
It is estimated that 821 million people
or more than 1/9th of the world's population
do not get enough to eat.
That's because the food that we produce
which is enough to feed the entire planet
and 4.5 billion more people
is tragically fed to animals instead.
Based on the most comprehensive analysis to date,
more than 80% of agricultural land is used for livestock,
which produces just 18% of global calories.
The point is a diet rich in animal products
is inefficient, unsustainable, and unfair.
- Now see if you live here and saw the way they do,
you wouldn't eat no pork.
Well I don't eat bacon because I know where it come from.
- [Narrator] The conversation about this topic
doesn't end here though.
To demonstrate this, I want to leave you
with a recent speech
at the USDA Dietary Guidelines Committee hearing.
- I wanna talk about the health profiles
of communities of color which as we know
are generally much worse in the general population
and why is that?
It has to do with the guidelines coming out
of this committee.
The vast majority of people of color in this country
are intolerant of lactose that's in milk.
Yet, because they think they have to eat this stuff,
they go out, eat it, get sick
and think that they have some sort of intestinal problem,
but in fact when I encourage them to stop eating dairy,
their problems cleared up.
And so, it's really outrageous to encourage people
to eat foods we know will make them sick,
particularly when the number one reason
a vast of dairy foods is it's calcium content
but African American woman are genetically protected
against getting osteoporosis.
So we're making them sick for no good reason.
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