We often talk about the environmental impact of the energy industry, but fossil fuel companies are not the only ones polluting our communities and harming people.
Meat and poultry giant Tyson Foods is responsible for mountains of livestock manure and fertilizer runoff from millions of acres of industrial corn and soybean fields, all of which flow freely into the Mississippi River, poisoning drinking water and compromising the health and well-being of communities downstream. Once this pollution makes its way into the Gulf of Mexico, it creates a massive "dead zone" that kills fish and other marine life and harms people who rely on fishing for a living.
Tyson executives have said they'll start using more sustainable farming practices, but so far they haven't followed through. Meanwhile, Tyson spent over $1 million dollars in 2020 alone lobbying to protect themselves from pro-environment and other regulations.
We're taking on Tyson and the pollution they bring to our communities and vital ecosystems. We need 1,000 members to make a gift by midnight on May 28—to help fuel our corporate accountability and other science—driven advocacy campaigns.
Not only is Tysons outsized carbon footprint having a devastating impact on the environment, but work at Tyson meatpacking plants is dangerous, with workers—mostly immigrants and people of color—required to work too fast, in too-tight quarters. Before the pandemic, the company ranked near the top among employers for rates of severe worker injuries. Over the last year, Tyson has been responsible for more than 12,500 COVID-19 cases and 39 deaths among its US workers, by far the largest numbers of any meat processing company.1
It will take regulatory changes on a large scale to break the hold Tyson and other giant agribusinesses have on agricultural policy and stop them from threatening people's health and safety. We need strong antitrust policies that will level the playing field for more socially and environmentally responsible producers and processors. And we need the USDA to enforce policies and regulations to protect our environment and the workers and communities who face the greatest risks from Tyson's business practices.
UCS members like you power the savvy, grassroots advocacy that can hold Tyson Foods and corporations like them accountable.
As the nation's largest meat and poultry producer, Tyson Foods has a lot of power, as do other companies that are part of Big Meat. But we can't be cowed by their lobbying budgets and million dollar megaphones. We have to use science and grassroots power to stop their negligent practices, which put their workers, neighboring communities, and our environment at risk.
Thank you,
John Mace
Membership Director
Union of Concerned Scientists
[1] https://blog.ucsusa.org/karen-perry-stillerman/4-ways-tyson-foods-made-2020-worse
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