Animal welfare issues have long been in the news, thanks in part to the pressure advocacy groups put on lawmakers, courts, and citizens to address the issues and stabilize policy. The debate on animal welfare issues typical pits producer groups and the agricultural industry against organizations like the Humane Society for the United States (HSUS).Recently the HSUS has been pushing initiatives dealing with the amount of room livestock is given to move around. In 2009 HSUS successfully campaigned for a ballot initiative in California called Proposition 2. Proposition 2, according to Charlene M. Schupp Espenshade’s article for Lancaster Farming, “essentially eliminate[s] gestation crates for swine, battery cages for chickens and crates for veal calves.” The question on the ballot initiative was worded, ‘“Should farm animals have the ability to stand up, sit down, turn around, and extend their limbs without touching anything.”’ The opposition to the initiative claims voters did not actually know what they were voting for. Regardless, the HSUS and their opposition spent millions on the ballot initiative, and at the end of the day the initiative passed 63-37 percent.
Chad Gregory of the United Egg Producers believes that when sound science is used, and animal welfare issues actually go through state legislatures, the producers tend to be successful. However, when the HSUS has gotten a ballot initiative they have been successful. Gregory is concerned that without concentrated feeding operations producers would not be able to produce enough food to feed the populous. This is why Gregory believes consumers should be allowed to make the choice of how they want their farm animals raised when they make purchasing decisions at the market.
Currently, most states do not have animal welfare laws for livestock. At an Animal Welfare Forum in Pennsylvania both Gregory (representing United Egg Producers) and Paul Shapiro of HSUS got to lay out the arguments for their positions in a two hour discussion. The event was put together by the Pennsylvania Veterinary Medical Association and the PennAg Industries Association. According to the Lancaster Farming article, all the two sides could agree on was that they did not agree.
To read previous US Agricultural and Food Law and Policy Blog posts on animal welfare, including a ballot initiative effort in Ohio, click here.
To read the Lancaster Farming article click here.
Posted: 08/24/09
