Should WV Beef be Advertised as Marcellus Fed?

“WV Host Farms” Concerns Include Fracking Impacts

Commentary from Diane Pitcock, West Virginia Host Farms, May 10, 2013

In rural communities in WV, we have many small farms that rely on Farmers Markets to sell their produce for supplemental income. And we also have “Mountain State Naturals” – which is a “WV Beef Farmers’ Cooperative” that markets their beef as raised without using growth hormones.

On their website: “Our cattle are raised in open fields with continual access to pasture. They are never fed growth hormones of any kind and have never been given antibiotics. Our young West Virginia beef are raised to about 1100 pounds and receive corn supplements as they reach finished weight. Because our West Virginia beef are primarily fed grass, they are higher in Omega-3 fatty acids, which are shown to reduce or prevent cardiac disease.”

But what now raises a concern is the fact that these pasture fed cattle are being raised for the entry into the food market in areas of WV where there is significant Marcellus shale gas drilling in these counties and on properties having oil and gas wells on or very near them.

What kind of risk will this have if the cattle are grazing in meadows and drinking from streams right next to drilling sites? They may be at risk of contamination from the hundreds of thousands of gallons of toxic chemicals that are being injected down into gas wells to frack in meadows where these cattle live? Spills and leakage are of great concern. Migration from cracks and faults can occur. Is anyone studying this? They should be!