Guidelines for the Welfare of Farmed Animals

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FARMED ANIMAL WATCH EXTRA

 

Sponsored by Animal Place, the Association of Veterinarians for

Animal Rights,the Fund for Animals, and People for the Ethical

Treatment of Animals

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58330-2002Jun27.html

 

By Marc Kaufman

Washington Post Staff Writer

Friday, June 28, 2002; Page A03

 

The supermarket and fast-food industries unveiled their first

comprehensive guidelines for the humane treatment of farm animals

yesterday, recommending that farmers curtail such practices as

starving hens to make them lay more eggs, housing pregnant pigs in

crates so small they cannot fully lie down and slaughtering some

animals before they are fully unconscious.

 

The guidelines are voluntary and in some areas remain vague and

contested by farm groups. But they mark a new recognition that farm

animal welfare is a growing concern to many American consumers -- as

it is in Europe -- and an issue that food retailers are eager to

address before it gets more contentious.

 

" This is the first time that the retail industry has clearly said the

issue of farm animal welfare is important to it, and to that it wants

to make sure these issues get serious attention, " said Karen Brown,

senior vice president of the Food Marketing Institute, which

represents most of the nation's supermarket owners.

 

" This is a front-burner issue for the industry now, " she said. " We

want to be proactive, and not wait for the time people are knocking

down our doors about it. "

 

Brown said that her association, along with the National Council of

Chain Restaurants, spent nearly two years working on the guidelines

in response to member companies. Some of them were already being

pressured by animal rights activists about conditions on the farms

that provide hamburger meat, ham, eggs, milk and chicken.

 

The recommendations were endorsed by seven leading animal welfare

specialists who had been brought in by the trade associations to

review the guidelines used by the pork, egg, chicken, dairy and beef

industries for the treatment of farm animals.

 

" I think the guidelines are a huge accomplishment, and will have a

lot of positive results for animals, " said Adele Douglas of the

American Humane Association, one of the seven consultants.

 

Reflecting that development, the president of the United Egg

Producers, Al Pope, said of the guidelines' effect on his

industry, " Eggs will never be produced in the same way again. " In

addition to phasing out some practices, the guidelines call on

producers to give hens more space in their cages.

 

But Douglas acknowledged there is resistance to the guidelines from

some meat producers and said it is unclear how they would be followed

and enforced. Additional guidelines will be presented in October.

 

As American farms have grown dramatically in size -- pig farms house

thousands of animals and a henhouse can have 50,000 birds -- the

systems used to house the animals and slaughter them have become

increasingly industrial. But pressure has begun to mount in recent

years to improve conditions.

 

In particular, critics have focused on conditions for many egg-laying

hens, which are routinely housed in small cages, have their beaks cut

off and are denied food and water to induce molting, which increases

egg production.

 

The metal crates that house most sows for entire pregnancies have

also been criticized, because they are often too narrow for the

animals to turn or lie down fully. Some slaughterhouses have been

reported to begin slaughtering animals before they are fully

unconscious.

 

The activist group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)

has led a campaign against major restaurant chains and supermarkets,

which it has accused of supporting cruel treatment of farm animals.

After protest campaigns aimed at companies such as McDonald's, Burger

King, Krogerand Safeway, those companies agreed individually to focus

more closelyand critically on whether food animals were being treated

properly on their farms. They and others asked the national

restaurant and supermarket associations to develop industry-wide

guidelines.

 

PETA officials called the new guidelines " revolutionary " in their

reach, but in many cases less stringent than those already accepted

by such companies as McDonald's, which was the first major company to

require suppliers to meet animal welfare standards and to " audit " the

suppliers' performance.

 

" It is historic that the entire grocery and chain restaurant

industries have agreed that there are practices that are standard in

the meat industry, yet clearly abusive of animals, " said Bruce

Friedrich, PETA's director of vegan outreach. He said that the

country needs animal welfare legislation, like some of the stringent

laws enacted in Europe, but that the food industry is resisting

strenuously.

 

Peter Singer, a professor at Princeton University and a leader in

animal welfare and rights, called the guidelines a " major step "

because they address conditions in " factory farms " throughout the

industry. But he said he was disappointed that the guidelines didn't

go further. " McDonald's has been a much criticized company in this

regard, " he said. " But when they moved, they took a far stronger

stand and committed to more specific improvements than the industry

guidelines. "

 

© 2002 The Washington Post Company