THERE WILL BE BLOOD: Switzerland votes against ban on factory farming; UK drops fur and foie gras import ban
Swiss interior minister said that the public had judged that animals are respected in the country and that their well-being is sufficiently protected by current legislation.
POLLY FOREMAN: Switzerland voted against a ban on factory farming in a referendum held yesterday (Sunday, September 25). The country made history by asking the public to decide on whether farms should have tighter restrictions on things like housing, care, and slaughter practices.
The notion, however, was rejected by 62.86 percent of voters… The number of people who voted against was considerably more than what surveys had predicted. Canton Basel City was the only one of 26 regions to vote in favor of the notion.
The notion was originally started by the Swiss anti-speciesist organization Sentience Politics… co-founder Philipp Ryf told Plant Based News (PBN): “With the initiative, we have managed to initiate a long overdue dialogue about what we eat, and we were able to highlight the dire conditions in Swiss farms that continue to being massively downplayed. That is an important success”…
Pro Veg International, a vegan NGO, has said that it’s “disappointed” by the result. It added, however, that it believes the referendum will “raise awareness about the urgent need to rein in intensive animal farming”…
Speaking after the vote, Swiss interior minister Alain Berset said that the public had “judged that the dignity of animals is respected in our country and that their well-being is sufficiently protected by current legislation”. Switzerland has several Animal welfare laws. SOURCE…
EMILIO CASALICCHIO: The U.K. government will scrap proposed bans on the import of fur and foie gras — prompting outrage from Conservative animal welfare campaigners.
The plans were shelved earlier in 2022, leading to fears the promises would be ditched. But now the bans will not go ahead at all after Liz Truss became the new U.K. prime minister and reshuffled her top team.
Pledges to ban the export of live animals for slaughter and the import of hunting trophies are also at risk of ending up on the scrap heap. The ideas have been touted as post-Brexit opportunities, now that the U.K. can control its own trade border.
Last week, environment minister Zac Goldsmith was sacked from his post in the farming department. Goldsmith had been an outspoken animal rights campaigner and was pushing for the changes in government…
A senior Conservative stated that… rather than banning imports of fur and foie gras, the government could bring in labeling to explain to consumers the processes used to produce such controversial products. “Banning things seems very socialist. Informing people is the way to go,” the same person said.
Lorraine Platt, co-founder of the Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation, said the U.K. should match up its import rules with its domestic production rules — meaning no more imports of fur and foie gras.
“It’s illegal to produce fur in the U.K. and it’s illegal to produce foie gras,” she said. “We have to address the contradiction that if it’s too cruel to be produced here in the U.K. it’s too cruel to import it”. SOURCE…
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