ASI Diary
Mythbusters
One of my 15-year-old son's favorite TV shows is the Discovery Channel's "Mythbusters," where two guys with a twisted mix of bravura and brains seek to dispel dubious scientific claims that often relate to things that explode. It's both funny and fascinating, and you end up learning about things you never thought about before. And perhaps never needed to.
Along those lines comes a new Web site called HumaneMyth.org, an education campaign led by James LaVeck and Jenny Stein, the filmmakers of Tribe of Heart who produced the award-winning and life-changing documentaries "The Witness" and "Peaceable Kingdom." Their mission has the far more serious goal of exploding the myths behind so-called "humanely produced" animal products, such as cage-free and free-range eggs or meat that is "certified humane." They have joined with others in the animal rights movement to counter the marketing of food products that supposedly cause less harm to the animals used to produce them – foods that are meant to assauge the guilt of people who are concerned about animals but stop short of not eating them.
LaVeck, Stein and their colleagues are not just targeting the companies that harm animals while claiming not to; they are also going after animal protection organizations that in any way support or promote such products as being lesser evils. And that's where things get sticky.
Some animal protection groups, including many whose focus does not include farmed animals, don't take a position on the ethics of eating animal products. Other groups seek to modify the way cows, pigs and chickens are raised and slaughtered, believing that despite efforts to promote vegetarianism and veganism, millions of people are going to continue eating animals no matter what, and so those animals should be spared the worst abuses that factory farming dishes out, such as veal crates, battery cages and gestation crates. (A statewide initiative in California is seeking to do just that by outlawing certain practices, as Colorado did last month.) The Animals' Platform, produced by the ASI with input from many other individuals and organizations, addresses these measures in its Animals in Agriculture section. And then there are groups who take the no excuses stance: animals raised to produce food can never have happy lives or humane deaths because bodily harm and the taking of life is inherent in the farming industry – making small changes does little or nothing to change the big picture. Promoting veganism is the only way to stop the abuse.
HumaneMyth.org wants to bust the myth of the happy cow and the free-range chicken by exposing the abuses found on "humane" farms and teaching consumers to (to quote "The X-Files") trust no one when it comes to how animals go from the farm to the fridge. But where does that leave the animals? If standard factory farming practices are left unchanged, the extreme suffering of downed cows, battery hens and veal calves continues. If crates and cages are banned, as the United Kingdom is currently doing, then the suffering is reduced but by no means eliminated. The debate, it seems, is whether reducing animal suffering also reduces the urgency of becoming vegan.
It is heartening to know that at least in the U.S. and Europe, vegetarianism and veganism are riding a wave of popularity that includes celebrities, athletes and young people in droves. But it is depressing to hear that nations such as China and other countries with traditionally modest meat consumption are now using their newfound economic prosperity to increase the demand for animal products, which could well cancel out the positive trends elsewhere. The demand will increase the supply, which will in turn demand as much effort as ever to help the animals at the center of it all. What is the responsibility of the humane community? To facilitate incremental reforms that can only go so far, or to hold the line and hope that the nonvegan public catches on before the next millennium? Is there a way to do both?
It's a debate the animal rights community has already begun. I hope that decent answers can be found before the heat of the questions causes our movement to explode, too.
Posted on June 20, 2008 at 10:22 pm -- Author's Site
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