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Sticks and stones

Words are powerful, friends. They might not cause physical damage in the near term, but over time, words can indeed bring you, your family, your community and your industry great pain.

Not so very many years ago, people knew that a ‘puppy mill’ was a substandard kennel where diseased, mistreated, over-bred dogs were kept in filthy cages without the benefit of veterinary care. Today, owners of legitimate dog kennels across this country are being demonized because activist groups have successfully broadened the definition of ‘puppy mill’ to include just about any kennel.

Some radical anti-animal agriculture group dubbed any modern farm that produces meat, milk or eggs a ‘factory farm.’

What impact did the inaccurate ‘swine flu’ label for H1N1 flu have on the pork industry? Russia, China and other countries banned imports of pork from the U.S.

And how about bovine spongiform encephalopathy, BSE dubbed Mad Cow Disease by those all-knowing scientific intellectuals who write for British tabloids:

Unfortunately, many in the ag industry have accepted that the tabloid term and use it today.

It was good advice my parents offered all those years ago when they told us we should think before we speak.

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