Fur and Hooves Fly at Animal Welfare Hearings

Mad Cows, Mad Pigs and the Horse Slaughter Lobby Fur and Hooves Fly at
Animal Welfare Hearings
By MARTHA ROSENBERG

Animal protectionists are winning the agriculture public relations
battle said former Congressman Charlie Stenholm at House Agriculture
Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy and Poultry hearings in May.

The recently defeated Texan and former Ranking Democrat on the Ag
Committee should know. He was testifying as a paid lobbyist for the
horse slaughter industry.

Other public relations challenged industries represented were United Egg
Producers, the National Pork Producers Council, Sonoma Foie Gras and the
National Association for Biomedical Research.

Also represented were the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, the
National Milk Producers Federation, the American Quarter Horse
Association, the American Veterinary Medical Association, Farm
Sanctuary, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and public
relations firm, Center for Consumer Freedom.

The hearing on animal welfare and agriculture was scheduled by Rep.
Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), the new House Ag Committee Chairman, at the
urging of the seven million member Humane Society of the United States.
Except for a meeting last year about horse slaughter, the Subcommittee
hasn’t met over a farm animal issue since 1989 when it looked at veal
calf treatment.

In a May 28 editorial, the New York Times accused House and Senate
Agriculture committees of “cozy ties to big agriculture. ”

On the plate, pun intended, were discussions of gestation
crates–outlawed in Florida and Arizona and dropped by pork giant
Smithfield foods–veal crates, battery cages and other confinement
systems and a provision to include poultry under the Humane Methods of
Slaughter Act instead of the Poultry Products Inspection Act which only
requires the “good commercial practices in the slaughter of poultry”
that KFC has popularized.

But exchanges soon devolved into veracity bowls.

Not only did pork industry representatives dispute HSUS President Wayne
Pacelle’s claim that a mad cow like disease could afflict pigs, Rep. Bob
Goodlatte (R-Va.), ranking Republican on the Ag Committee and its former
Chairman bluntly labeled Pacelle’s charge that mad cow disease has
already gotten into the US beef supply, “Wrong.”

But former Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman confirmed to CNN on Dec.
23, 2003 that meat from a US cow found to have mad cow disease had “gone
into other processing plants from the initial slaughter plant.” And on
January 3 the San Francisco Chronicle reported that 11 restaurants in
nine California counties had served the meat to unwitting diners.
Identities of the food outlets were protected thanks to a state law.

Both horse slaughter lobbyist Charlie Stenholm and Rep. Goodlatte had
blocked a ban on processing downers for human consumption earlier in
2003, assuring the public there was no health risk.

Mad cow is an animal protection issue because its spread is facilitated
by processing sick and crippled downer cattle for human food, often
dragged to slaughter say activists.

While some lawmakers said they saw no need for the Ag Committee
hearings–“producer s are vigorously addressing animal welfare issues,”
Subcommittee Chairman Leonard Boswell (D-Ia) assured the group; “Farmers
and ranchers, not activists, should be dictating animal husbandry
practices,” agreed Ranking Member Robin Hayes (R-NC)–others impugned
animal protectionists.

Rep. Steve King (R-Ia), known for taking pro-cockfighting and dog
fighting positions, felt compelled to declare his favorite meal “a steak
and a beer” and blame former NBA player Bill Walton’s knee problems on
lack of meat.

And then there was David Martosko of the Center for Consumer Freedom.

“Congress could require U.S. farmers to supply every pig, chicken, duck,
and cow with private rooms, daily rubdowns, video iPods, and organic
meals catered by Wolfgang Puck,” said the Director of Research for the
controversial group which defends alcohol, junk food and even cigarettes
against legislative restrictions in a kind of
the-enemy-of- my-enemy- is-my-friend arrangement. “But even this wouldn’t
satisfy activists who actually believe farm animals have the ‘right’ not
to be eaten.”

[Another the-enemy-of- my-enemy- is-my-friend group is the Animal
Agriculture Alliance whose Executive Vice President, Kay Johnson, told
North American Agricultural Journalists in April, “improvements in
animal welfare should be based on reason, science and experience, not on
the opinions of activists who have absolutely no vested interest in farm
animals.” (“Your honor, the witness has no vested interest in the
property!!”) ]

But Dan Murphy of meatingplace hopes Martosko’s discrediting of
activists doesn’t “represent the industry’s primary strategy.”

“When an industry, or a company, is forced to be reactive and
continually defend its business model, the chance of successfully moving
the needle on public acceptance or understanding is minimal,” he writes
on the cattlenetwork website. Especially because food consumers “expect
the companies who ask for their business to make reasonable changes.”

And public sentiment, unlike the Ag Committee hearings, won’t likely die
in committee.

Martha Rosenberg is a Staff Cartoonist at the Evanston Roundtable. Her
work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, LA Times, San Francisco
Chronicle, Boston Globe, Providence Journal. Arizona Republic, New
Orleans Times-Picayune and other newspapers. She can be reached at:
mrosenberg@evmark. org