By
Philip Brasher
Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society of the United States,
recently took a break from his long-running battles with livestock
producers to set up a new branch of the Humane Society in India, an
occasion that included the presence of the Dalai Lama.
But having Pacelle on the other side of the world — about as
far away from Capitol Hill as possible — still gives the U.S. farm lobby
reason for heartburn. Beyond India, Pacelle has his eyes on
establishing similar organizations in other countries that are major
agricultural producers and markets for U.S. exports, including Brazil
and Russia.
That puts the beef, pork and poultry industries squarely in the
cross hairs of consumers around the world concerned about the treatment
of animals bred and raised for food.
“They are going to these other countries to also add that
international pressure on producers in the U.S.,” said Kay Johnson
Smith, president and CEO of the Animal Agriculture Alliance, a livestock
industry group.
“It’s the same tactic, just a difference audience that they’re trying to approach,” she said.
Under Pacelle’s leadership, the Humane Society has used a
powerful combination of ballot initiatives, social media, undercover
videotaping and corporate arm-twisting to force some of the biggest
players in the meat industry to end farming practices the producers
maintain are sound and ethical.
The pork industry was essentially forced to phase out the use of
tight-fitting stalls to confine sows after McDonald’s and Safeway
announced plans to phase out purchases of pork produced in those stalls.
Meanwhile, the egg industry is asking Congress to do what would
be unthinkable for many industries: impose the very regulations sought
by its critics.
The United Egg Producers, stung by the Humane Society’s ability
to pass state laws regulating livestock housing — including a 2008
ballot measure in California — reached a deal with the society to set
national standards for cages that will force farms to end the use of the
small “battery cages” that have long been the industry standard. Animal
rights supporters say larger “enriched” cages, which would be mandatory
under the proposed national standards, give hens space to perch, nest
and move around.
Pacelle has been able to convince the egg industry that things could get worse if it doesn’t get behind the new regulations.
Issues of concern to people who live in the west: property rights, water rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, energy production, wilderness and western agriculture. Plus a few items on western history, western literature and the sport of rodeo... Frank DuBois served as the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003. DuBois is a former legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, and is the founder of the DuBois Rodeo Scholarship.
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