Conference 2023 Panel Recap - "Animals in the Food System"
Panel: Animals in the Food System
The panel on “Animals in the Food System” wove a common thread through the industrial livestock industry, highlighting the interconnection between animal welfare and zoonotic diseases. The focus on the treatment of farm animals and the costs of pandemics revealed the need for greater transparency in the agricultural industry and the need for consumers to re-evaluate their consumption of meat products.
Riana Topan, the Senior Campaign Manager at Humane Society International/Canada, surveyed current and proposed “Ag-Gag” anti-whistleblower laws that make it illegal to document the living conditions of farm animals. These laws are an example of “agricultural exceptionalism”, where industry preferences are prioritized over transparency and animal health. Several provinces have passed their own versions of these laws, and at the federal level, Bill C-275 has made it to the third reading at the House of Commons.
Several of these laws are justified by a reliance on “biosecurity” concerns, namely, to prevent humans from exposing farm animals to disease. However, in effect, these laws criminalize going undercover to produce exposés on the treatment of farm animals, or to otherwise “interfere” with the areas where these animals are kept. Riana emphasized that undercover operations are essential for increasing transparency and creating public demand for change, given that these facilities are often not publicly accessible and are governed by codes of practice that are not legally enforceable. Riana concluded by addressing the chilling effect these laws have on reporting, though she left the door open for potential solutions.
Amy Hétu, a lawyer and Senior Policy Analyst with Health Canada, began by noting that 60% of known diseases are zoonotic, and make the jump from animals to humans either through direct contact with the bodily fluids of animals, or indirect contact with vectors like ticks or mosquitoes. Different modes of animal hunting and farming, ranging from traditional hunting methods to intensive farming, pose different risks for the transfer of zoonotic disease. Interestingly, intensive farming, where farm animals are unfortunately kept completely indoors, reduces their risk of disease from interaction with wildlife. However, their immune systems are so fragile that diseases spread rapidly among the herd. Future pandemics caused by new zoonotic diseases could have broad effects, ranging from negative mental health impacts to greater single-use product waste, to impacts on the global supply chain.
Solutions to both the Ag-Gag issue and the future of zoonotic diseases are potentially interrelated. Amy suggested reducing our reliance on animal protein as a means of reducing the risk of the spread of zoonotic disease. Taxing meat products or “nudging” consumers towards alternative products may be effective. As for the Ag-Gag laws, there is still time to oppose Bill C-275, and a challenge to the Ontario iteration of the law is making its way through the courts. Genuine biosecurity standards, which currently do not exist despite undergirding the Ag-Gag laws, would be helpful for preventing the outbreak of zoonotic disease. Both panelists also emphasized the need for transparency in this industry, for the sake of both human and animal health.