Inside D.C.
HSUS, UEP: Strange bedfellows
When I first got wind of the July 7 United Egg Producers (UEP)-Humane Society of the U.S. (HSUS) agreement on “enriched cages,” egg carton labeling, euthanasia, molting, ammonia levels and so on, I was surprised, but not completely. UEP has been fighting a long, expensive and sometimes (often?) lonely battle to stop HSUS state-by-state, and it was expecting to do battle again in 2012 in Oregon.
I understand the industry’s frustrated desire to end the seemingly unending attack on how it does business, the crazy quilt of state laws that have evolved over the last few years governing how it raises birds, and I know the retailer pressure UEP has been under as company by company – albeit only a few of the truly unenlightened within the retailer community — announce plans to “go cage-free” at some undefined time in the future, honestly believing they’re doing the consumer some kind of favor.
What truly struck me dumb – and this is not generally an easy thing to do – was that part of the announcement where UEP and HSUS announced they would jointly seek federal legislation to enshrine their agreement. At this point my only reaction was: UEP has gone a step too far.
There are currently no federal laws governing how a U.S. farmer husbands animals for food. There are unending laws and regulations on how to make feed, how to practice animal health, how food safety is maintained, how animals are killed, but no federal regulation on husbandry practices per se. Why? Because there’s no reason to regulate how farmers farm or how ranchers ranch. There is no problem that must be solved by federal intervention. Animal ag has battled for 30 years to keep it this way. For 30 years, HSUS has tried to put Uncle Sam in the middle of every farm and ranch in America. For 30 years, Congress has sided with farmers and ranchers.
It’s clear had UEP been able to craft this “partnership” its way, it would have been an industry voluntary program of transition from conventional cages to enriched environment cages. But my guess is UEP couldn’t keep HSUS at the table if it only agreed to a voluntary transition.
Wayne Pacelle, the face of HSUS, must be salivating at his prospects. He must be fantasizing about leveraging the economics of state referenda as the first step on the road to a federal Animal Welfare Act. In his blog following the announcement – an event that featured Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D, OR) for whatever reason given the man talks more about bicycle commuting that on-farm production of food – Pacelle writes: “There’s currently no federal protection for chickens used for food at all, and no protection for any farm animals during production (there’s a federal humane slaughter law only, and even it applies only to mammals, not birds). With this agreement, I have great hope that may soon change.”
I’m sure he does. Even with public pronouncements that neither UEP or HSUS will support expanding to other species whatever legislative package they come up with – and none is available right now – must we be faced with a surprise do-or-die amendment on of the floor of the House or Senate at 2 a.m. to find out if that commitment holds? I judge folks by actions not words; I respect groups for at least sticking to their philosophical guns. For 30 years, HSUS railed against caged layers as Dante’s fourth level of Hell, yet now accepts “enriched” cages, and will accept conventional cages for well into the next 20 years if I read the agreement correctly.
The group’s depiction of animal agriculture is all about exaggeration and hyperbole. It conducts so-called undercover videos of alleged on-farm cruelty, and then sits on the video tapes for weeks waiting for that magic media moment. Its alliances with PETA and other equally radical groups is not a trust builder in my book. And what about its campaign to end horse slaughter, only to suggest euthanasia as the solution when 110,000 horses are abandoned and neglected? From an animal ag perspective, the trust factor ain’t all that high when it comes to the animal rights movement. Once burned, twice learned, as they say.
The devil will be in the details and so far all we have is broad strokes. I’m eager to see the draft legislation. But ultimately, the ball is in the court of the other farm and ranch groups – both state and national, and in and out of the egg industry. In other words, fasten your seatbelts; it’s going to be a bumpy ride.
a little like chinese water torture– if you are subjected to a constant whine of HSUS drivel it would seem that one is likely to cave just to make it stop