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1.
World Organization for Animal Health to Decide on Welfare Standards
World Organization for Animal Health (OIE by its French initials) delegates are meeting this week in Paris to consider adopting global standards for the welfare of farmed animals during transport. The standards are based on the OIE's premise that it is "desirable to minimize both the frequency and length of animal journeys... ideally, animals should always be transported for as short a distance as possible." The proposed standards are supported by UK-based animal advocacy group Compassion in World Farming (CIWF), which will unveil a new video for delegates that shows examples of animal cruelty during transport. The video includes footage of pigs transported from Canada to Hawaii who spent 28 hours without food or water and sheep who died during transport from Australia to the Middle East. CIWF is also coordinating a global network of other organizations to broaden support for the standards that will be voted on by delegates on Thursday, May 26.
This week the OIE delegates are also considering standards for the slaughter of animals for human consumption. The proposal covers the housing, handling, restraint, stunning, and slaughtering animals raised for food, providing detailed but minimal standards in each of these areas. Despite providing only basic standards for animal welfare during slaughter, their approval along with the above transport guidelines could improve conditions for farmed animals where no regulations currently exist. According to CIWF, if OIE adopts the standards, "they will be taken up in the OIE's 167 member countries, many of which currently have absolutely no animal welfare legislation in these areas." Note that the full text of all of the proposed standards considered this week are available online (refer to the first link below).
1. "Report of the Third Meeting of the OIE Working Group on Animal Welfare," OIE, December 2004
PDF File (2.7 MB): http://www.oie.int/eng/bien_etre/AW_WG_december2004_eng.pdf
2. "Campaigners' Film Shows 'Cruelty' of Animal Transport Methods," Scotsman News, 5/19/05
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=4577339
3. "Live Animal Transport: Vote for Animal Welfare at the OIE," CIWF, May 2005
http://ciwf.org/home/news_oie3.shtml
2.
Australian Live Exports: Government Investigation and Support of Veterinarians
As Australia prepares to resume the
export of sheep to Saudi Arabia (see FAW
5-18), the government of Western Australia (WA)
is investigating the entire industry based on charges
of cruelty to sheep. The complaint was filed nearly
two years ago by advocacy group Animals Australia
based on the failed delivery of thousands of sheep
held aboard the Cormo Express. In January 2005, the
WA Supreme Court ruled that Animals Australia has
an "arguable case" that the government failed in its
duty by not fully investigating the original complaint.
On May 23, according to Animals Australia, the government
has now launched an investigation into the cruelty
of live exports as originally requested. In separate
news, however, animal activists failed to convince
the Australian Veterinary Association to oppose the
live export trade. On May 18 the Association rejected
a motion for the group of veterinarians to oppose
the trade, but the measure was dismissed by a hand
count before coming to an official vote.
1.
"Export Cruelty Investigation Welcomed," News.com.au / AAP, 5/23/05
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,15377346-421,00.html
2. "Vets Maintain Stance on Livestock Exports," ABC
News, 5/19/05
http://www.abc.net.au/rural/content/2005/s1372294.htm
3.
Deforestation in Brazil Increases to Clear Land for Soybean Farming
In the year ending August 2004, more than 10,000 square miles of Brazil's rainforest was cleared for farming, up 6% from the year before, according to the country's Environment Ministry. Most of the deforestation is attributable to soybean farming that is used primarily to feed farmed animals. The news comes as a surprise to environmentalists and the Brazilian government, which spent US$140 million last year on a plan to curb the loss of rainforest. Brazil's land area is about 60% covered by rainforest, but up to 20% of the forest has been destroyed. Much of soybean farming is used to support Brazil's growing agribusiness industry, in particular exports of pig and chicken flesh. Brazil is quickly becoming a global leader in farming and is listed by the US Department of Agriculture as an emerging threat to US agricultural dominance (along with Argentina, Canada, and the Ukraine). In an apparent conflict of interest, nearly half of the deforestation in Brazil last year occurred in one region governed by one of the world's largest soybean farmers. The increase in soybean farming is also having other deleterious effects on Brazil's natural environment, including the clearing and paving of roads and pollution from the process of deforestation itself.
1. "Amazon Deforestation Up 6 Percent in 2004," ABC News / Associated Press, 5/19/05
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=773770
2. "Greenpeace: Brazil Rainforest Destruction 'a National Shame,'" CNN, 5/19/05
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/americas/05/19/amazon.ap/
3. "Globalization: It's a Small World After All," Food Systems Insider, 5/1/05
http://www.foodsystemsinsider.com/articles/0505/0505globalization.htm
4. China Faces Outbreaks of Foot and Mouth Disease, Avian Influenza
According to Reuters News Service, China has slaughtered thousands of cows in a new outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) near Beijing. The news has been reported by a Hong Kong paper, but no confirmation has come from the Chinese government. A villager living in the area stated, "Two thousand cows have been buried already... The disease is spreading quickly and so many cows have died. The entire area has been sealed off for two weeks already and nobody from outside can get inside." Although Chinese officials have a history of denying FMD outbreaks as they occur, on May 13 the government acknowledged recent spikes of the disease in other provinces. However the outbreaks were smaller and occurred in less populated areas with significantly fewer dairy farms. According to some in the country's animal feed industry, FMD has spread in pigs "to about 10 provinces since February," and some experts are saying that the disease may have spread to dairy farms in as many as 15 provinces.
China is also facing a potential outbreak of the highly pathogenic H5N1 form of avian influenza recently found among wild migratory geese in the country's western region. According to one local report, 178 geese were found dead on May 4 at a government operated migratory bird research center. Some disease experts believe that migratory birds may be responsible for the spread of avian influenza throughout Asia. The fear of such an outbreak has prompted China to slaughter millions of domestic birds in recent years and quarantine a large number of suspected farms. However, China has not had a confirmed case of avian influenza since July of last year.
1. "China Rocked by Food Health Scare," CNN / Reuters, 5/23/05
http://edition.cnn.com/2005/BUSINESS/05/22/china.disease.reut/
2. "China Said to Have Slaughtered Thousands of Cattle in Foot-and-Mouth Outbreak," Meatingplace.com, 5/24/05
http://www.meatingplace.com/MembersOnly/webNews/details.aspx?item=14277
(Registration)
3. "Emergency Measures in China to Prevent Avian Flu Outbreak," International Herald Tribune / Associated Press, 5/22/05
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/05/22/asia/web.0522china.php
5. US Supreme Court Overturns Lower Court, Upholds "Beef Checkoff"
The "Beef Checkoff" program - funded by farmers who raise cows for slaughter and managed by the US Department of Agriculture - was upheld by the Supreme Court on May 23. The checkoff program is a compulsory tax on cow farmers who pay $1 per cow to a general fund for research and advertising on behalf of the entire industry. The program is responsible for the "Beef. It's What's For Dinner" tagline and for conducting research that, according to a spokesperson, "pointed out the necessity of beef in a healthy diet." Voting 6-3, the US Supreme Court found that the checkoff program does not violate the free speech rights of smaller cow farmers who feel the benefits from generic advertising are skewed in favor of larger operations. The decision overturns a Court of Appeals ruling that the checkoff program violated the first amendment rights of some cow farmers.
1. "Cattlemen's Beef Board Pledges to
Improve Checkoff in Wake of Supreme Court Win," Meatingplace.com
5/24/05
http://www.meatingplace.com/MembersOnly/webNews/details.aspx?item=14276
(Registration)
2. "Cattle Alert: Supreme Court Rules Beef Checkoff
Constitutional," Cattle Network, 5/23/05
http://www.cattlenetwork.com/content.asp?contentid=5005
3. "Justices Say All Ranchers Must Help Pay for Federal
Ads," New York Times, 5/24/05
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/24/politics/24scotus.html
6. Other Items of Interest
Public Broadcasting Service
Airs Farmed Animal Programming, May 2005
The documentary, "The Emotional World of Farm Animals,"
narrated by author Jeffrey Masson, is being aired
on PBS stations throughout the US and will appear
in the Los Angeles market on Thursday, June 2. PBS
is also airing a program called "Holy Cow" that includes
in-depth coverage of the breeding and captivity of
cows as well as the close relationship between humans
and cows in certain parts of the world.
http://www.animalplace.org/apvideo.html
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/holycow/
"Bio-Tech Cows to Milk Protein," Farmers Weekly
Interactive, 5/23/05
The same scientists who produced the first cloned animal, a sheep named Dolly, now claim that they will begin production of a prescription drug by processing it through cows' milk. A group of 55 bioengineered cows will be used by the Dutch company "Pharming" to produce a drug for sufferers of Hereditary Angioedema, a human disease characterized by swelling and caused by a protein deficiency.
http://www.fwi.co.uk/article.asp?con=27141&sec=18&hier=2
"Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City to Stop Raising
Poultry," AlertNet / Reuters, 5/20/05
Farmers in Vietnam's largest city have ordered citizens to stop breeding and raising poultry between November and next February, the period most likely to see outbreaks of avian influenza. Vietnam has been hardest hit by the disease (as measured by impact on humans), including 76 human cases of avian influenza resulting in 37 deaths. The Vietnamese government says it hopes to contain the virus by 2007 and eradicate it by the year 2010.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/HAN257808.htm
"Canadian Officials Fear E. Coli Contamination
of St. John River," Meatingplace.com, 5/19/05
City officials in New Brunswick Canada are blaming a "chicken manure composting facility" for contaminating a local waterway, the St. John River, with high levels of E. coli. According to the environmental investigator, water runoff from a diversion ditch outside the facility contains an "unacceptable" 300 parts E. coli per 100 milliliters of liquid.
http://www.meatingplace.com/MembersOnly/webNews/details.aspx?item=14256
(Registration)
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