Farming or Food Production: Related Articles

McDonald's sued two defendants in England in 1991 for defamation and lost major portions of the case, including the issue of animal cruelty. Mr. Wolfson discusses the "McLibel" case in relation to cruel common farming practices, and explores the contradiction that common farming practices can be found to be cruel.

The debate over horse slaughter is a composite of agricultural industry, animal welfare, constitutional, environmental, health, and regulatory concerns. Part II of this paper addresses the history of and cultural taboo ascribed to horsemeat consumption. Part III presents federal and state laws, administrative regulations and guidelines, major court cases, and proposed and pending legislation related to horse slaughter. Part IV describes associated issues, policy, and advocacy resulting from and effecting horse slaughter in the United States.

This brief summary describes the history of horsemeat consumption, focusing specifically on the U.S. It analyzes the federal "ban" on horse slaughter that occurred in 2007 as a result of changes in federal appropriations. Recently, a change in appropriations brought the slaughter measure to the forefront. The legislative state of horse slaughter for human consumption remains uncertain.

This table presents an overview of state humane slaughter acts. It includes an examination of the legal methods of slaughter, religious/ritual exemptions, the animals covered, and the penalties for violation.

This is a short case study about the issue of using caged bears to extract bile in China.

This article considers the present attitude of many Chinese toward animals and how it will pose difficulties for the adoption of new Animal Welfare laws.

Overview of cattle laws. Overview touches upon beef cattle, dairy cattle, veal cattle, labeling standards for cattle, cattle used in rodeos, and other commercial uses of cattle.

Detailed discussion of cattle laws. Discussion touches upon husbandry practices, dairy industry, veal industry, inspection of meat products, product labeling and marketing, grazing, and rodeos.

Brief summary of the practice of bear farming in Asian nations, as well as the problem of international trade in bear bile.

Discussion of the issue of bear farming and the international trade in bear bile. Analysis of the laws regulating farming and trade. Discusses how the issue presents a problem and proposes solutions.

Overview of the comparison between US animal cruelty laws and those in Europe. Specifically, laws of the US, EU, Germany, Norway and Switzerland are addressed. The comparison is based around companion animal and confinement farming laws, transportation and slaughter.

This paper focuses on the practice of confinement farming of hogs, specifically examining those practices from the state of Iowa. In doing so, the paper outlines the problems associated with confinement farming of hogs, including manure storage, cruel practices, and zoning issues among others. It then concludes with a look at sustainable agriculture practices from the U.S. and Europe.

The article contains general biological information about hogs, farming production phases and commonly used terminology.

European Union (EU) law contains a range of helpful provisions designed to protect farm animals on-farm, during transport and at slaughter. The Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union recognises animals as “sentient beings” and requires the EU and its Member States, when formulating and implementing their policies in certain key areas to pay “full regard to the welfare requirements of animals”. EU law has prohibited some of the worst aspects of industrial livestock production: veal crates have been prohibited from 2007, barren battery cages for egg-laying hens from 2012 and sow stalls (gestation crates) are prohibited (except during the first four weeks of pregnancy) from 2013. This article describes and evaluates the above legislation and indicates the scientific research on which it is based. Nonetheless, EU law has to date only gone part way; substantial and far-reaching fresh legislation is needed before the EU can claim to have a body of law which properly ends the suffering inherent in industrial farming and legislates for a positive state of well-being for farm animals.

Part I of this Note discusses the current conditions on factory farms, including the suffering endured by the animals, the unsanitary and crowded conditions, the unwholesome contents of animal feed, and the drugs regularly administered to the animals. Part II describes how those conditions pose significant health risks for humans who consume factory-farmed meat and dairy products, including threats of antibiotic resistance, bacterial infections, cancer, heart disease, animal-origin influenza, and mad cow disease. Finally, Part III proposes six specific on-farm regulations that could drastically reduce such risks and explores whether the proposed regulations could be enacted by the FDA under the existing regulatory scheme.

This detailed discussion provides an overview of horse related legal issues, focusing primarily on horse slaughter, wild horses, and horse cruelty.

This article maps the current legal and logistical circumstances of animals in transportation, with a focus on commercial airlines and meat industry trucking practices, and proposes novel ways of utilizing the existing common law of contract adjudication to win stronger protections for such animals, even absent the fulfilled dream of statutory reform. In particular, it argues that courts should utilize two well-established doctrines of contractual interpretation--unconscionability and unenforceability as against public policy--to arrive at more humane results for animals.

Parts I and II track the history and development of the NAIS. Part III introduces the opposition of small and organic farmers to the NAIS, and Part IV explores that opposition. Part V explores legal challenges to the NAIS, and Part VI explores the policy challenges. Part VII examines the USDA's response to small and organic farmers' concerns with the NAIS. Finally, Part VIII suggests possible solutions to small and organic farmers' issues raised by the NAIS.

This overview discusses laws concerning fur farming and the trapping of fur animals. It details the historical use of fur as well as an examination of the current international fur trade.

After much legislative activity in the 1990s, EU animal welfare initiatives have slowed in recent years. This article briefly discusses the reasons why by pointing to factors such as changing EU membership, costs, and fallout from extremist attacks. It then explores the possible future of the EU animal welfare movement.

For many consumers, farm animal welfare matters. To ensure the well-being of farm animals, consumers often pay premium prices for animal products with humane labels. Because “organic” is an example of a label presumed to convey information about animal husbandry practices, animal products with this label may offer an alternative to products from animals that were raised “conventionally” on large, industrialized farms with minimal welfare protections. The Organic Foods Production Act of 1990 and enacting regulations require that organic animals be able to engage in natural behaviors. However, many of the requirements are general and thus result in significant variations in livestock living conditions, confounding consumer expectations of uniform organic production and high standards for organic farm animal welfare. This Comment discusses the background of organic regulations, including issues with their application in the areas of organic dairy and egg production. Next, this Comment analyzes aspects of organic regulations as applied to organic laying hens and organic pigs. Finally, this Comment suggests ways to make organic regulations more quantifiable and thus more enforceable so organic animals are able to engage in natural behaviors.