Tyson Foods dumped millions of pounds of toxic pollutants directly into American rivers and lakes over the last five years, threatening critical ecosystems, endangering wildlife and human health, a new investigation reveals.
Nitrogen, phosphorus, chloride, oil and cyanide were among the 371m lb of pollutants released into waterways by just 41 Tyson slaughterhouses and mega processing plants between 2018 and 2022.
According to research by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), the contaminants were dispersed in 87bn gallons of wastewater – which also contains blood, bacteria and animal feces – and released directly into streams, rivers, lakes and wetlands relied on for drinking water, fishing and recreation. The UCS analysis, shared exclusively with the Guardian, is based on the most recent publicly available water pollution data Tyson is required to report under current regulations.
Last year Governor Jim Pillen, whose family owns one of America’s largest pork companies, was widely criticized for calling a Chinese-born journalist at Flatwater Free Press a “communist” after she exposed serious water quality violations at his hog farms. Earlier this month, the Nebraska supreme court ruled that the state environmental agency could charge the same investigative news outlet tens of thousands of dollars for a public records request about nitrates.
Everywhere I look there’s a huge problem affecting all of us, and a republican doing everything in their power to make it worse.
calling a Chinese-born journalist at Flatwater Free Press a “communist” after she exposed serious water quality violations
This tactic works. “Chinese Disinformation! Don’t trust it!” Americans eat this kind of dismissal up with a spoon, because its easier to believe in a sinister outside force that’s trying (and failing) to threaten you than it is to realize the killer is in your own backyard and there’s nothing you can do to stop his cleaver from claiming another victim.
Earlier this month, the Nebraska supreme court ruled that the state environmental agency could charge the same investigative news outlet tens of thousands of dollars for a public records request about nitrates.
The only thing amazing about the TikTok ban is that it didn’t happen much sooner.
