Disruption in hog processing as a result of COVID-19 created the need to euthanize hogs in Iowa and Minnesota. The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) in cooperation with Earthjustice and the Center for Biological Diversity have filed a petition with the Department of Agriculture urging a ban on incineration and mass burial of culled hogs.
The petition notes that the environmental justice, public health and conservation organizations, all opposed to intensive livestock production, are concerned that unrestricted, mass-carcass disposal may create imminent and substantial threats to citizens and the environment. The petitioners also played the race card by stating in an irrelevant way "there is a growing body of evidence establishing that communities of color are suffering disproportionally as a result of COVID-19".
An attorney at the NRDC maintained that mass burials and incineration of hog carcasses "are among the most dangerous for human health and present a threat to drinking water". The petitioners also managed to invoke the problems encountered in North Carolina following hurricane Bertha that resulted in overflow from manure lagoons. This event had nothing whatsoever to do with the problem of carcass disposal as a result of euthanasia of hogs.