[OKC] Oklahoma Premiere of "Shall We Gather at the River"

[Susie Shields]

"Shall We Gather at the River"
 

OKLAHOMA PREMIERE SCREENING
Sponsored by  
Sierra Club Cimarron Group

Special Guest: 
Sen. Paul Muegge, Oklahoma CAFO Laws Hero

Wednesday, August 27, 2008 
7:00 p.m. 

Mayflower Congregational Church
3901 NW 63rd-OKC

Free Admission - Bring friends and family

Contact: mondypahlka at yahoo.com


Film Summary
Scientists and health officials have raised grave concerns about so-called
"factory farms". They have been called "mini Chernobyls" causing vast
environmental damage and risk to human health. The film starts in the U.S.
with a brief look at our history and how we got from a country of family
farms to one dominated by multinational corporations with gigantic factory
farms--literally cities of animals. The film examines the impact of
urbanizing animal populations without a way to handle the vast amounts of
sewage generated.

A report card comparing lax environmental and health standards in the U.S.
to the strict ones in Europe is presented. The impact of permitting arsenic
in feed in the U.S. is dramatically exposed in a segment on Prairie Grove,
Arkansas, which may earn the reputation as the "Love Canal" of factory
farming because of the deaths of young children in the area from cancer. The
overuse of antibiotics in the U.S. (prohibited in Europe) is examined
critically with an explanation of how that use is dramatically reducing the
effectiveness of antibiotics for human use. The vast difference between the
U.S. and other developed nations in the regulation of food borne illness is
exposed (for instance salmonella has been virtually eliminated in
Scandinavia and is present in a high percentage of poultry sold in the U.S.
In Japan 100 percent of beef is inspected for Mad Cow disease. In the U.S.
less than 1 per cent is inspected.  

The vast amount of waste generated by these facilities is destroying rivers,
lakes, and even parts of oceans. "Shall We Gather at the River" exposes the
political influence, intimidation, threats, corruption, false advertising,
and delaying tactics that have made the U.S. the dumping ground of this
industry. The film also presents solutions that could be effective.
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