Big poultry wants Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to accelerate slaughter lines. The change would come at the expense of both workers and animals.

Many chicken slaughterhouses nationwide can kill up to 140 birds per minute, more than two per second, which means workers moving too slowly might lose their job — or a hand. The injury rate for poultry slaughter workers is six times higher than the average for all U.S. industries; at Tyson Foods slaughterhouses alone, on average one employee a month is injured by equipment and loses a finger or limb.