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From: DawnWatch - news [at] dawnwatch.com
Date: Oct 24, 2006 4:17 PM
Subject: DawnWatch: NY Times front page on humane meat labels — 10/24/06

The front page of the Tuesday, October 24, New York Times includes a story, by Andrew Martin, headed, “Meat Labels Hope to Lure the Sensitive Carnivore.”

It is a great article to see on the front page as it should provide readers with surprising information about standard meat production.

The article focuses on the new “animal compassionate” labels soon to appear at Whole Foods, and tells us, “The initiative was started by Whole Foods’ chief executive, John P. Mackey, a vegan who has been increasingly outspoken on animal-rights issues.”

While in the case of Whole Foods, the standards are driven by the CEO’s personal concern over the issues, labels are sometimes applied simply as a marketing tool to attract compassionate consumers. We read:

“For instance, the United Egg Producers provided an ‘animal care certified’ logo to its members that several state attorneys general said was misleading because it falsely suggested that the chickens were humanely raised. While denying the charges, the group recently changed the label to say ‘United Egg Producers certified.’”

We read about other concerns over humane labels:

“Others question the validity of the certification programs for animal-welfare labels because some allow farming practices like cutting the tails off pigs and allowing animals to be raised entirely indoors.”

And:

“The Animal Welfare Institute and ‘free farmed’ allow nose rings for pigs; the rings make rooting more difficult and prevent the pigs from tearing up the ground. The others do not allow rings.”

One problem with the article is that it quotes people who deliver misinformation. For example, we read of George Siemon, chief executive of Organic Valley: “He noted that the federal government’s organic standards include animal-welfare provisions, like prohibiting cages for laying hens and requiring outdoor access for livestock.”

A story on the front page of the Chicago Tribune, however, on August 20, made told us that the standards are not clear and that cows at the Horizon organic dairy farm are rarely allowed outdoors. (That article is on line at http://tinyurl.com/p68ue.)

The New York Times article includes a sidebar with some information about the different standards of different humane labels — whether they allow, for example, castration (without anesthesia) and tail docking.

You’ll find the article on line here.

The front page story provides a great opportunity for letters to the editor discussing the common treatment of animals used in the US food supply. Good sources of information, and photos, are http://www.FactoryFarming.com and the HSUS publication “Eating for the Animals.”

Or you might wish to write about the horror of under-regulated slaughterhouses, reminding readers how bad the end is for the animals no matter how they are raised. Even if slaughterhouses were better regulated it would make no difference to the hens who are exempt from the Federal Humane Slaughter Act.

The New York Times takes letters at letters [at] nytimes.com.

Always include your full name, address, and daytime phone number when sending a letter to the editor. Remember that shorter letters are more likely to be published. And please be sure to share you own thoughts and not to use any of my words or references in your letters.

Yours and the animals’,
Karen Dawn

(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at http://www.DawnWatch.com. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.dawnwatch.com/cgi-bin/dada/dawnwatch_unsubscribe.cgi. You are encouraged to forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts but please do so unedited — leave DawnWatch in the title and include this tag line.)

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Tagged: animals animal+rights action+alerts dawnwatch meat food+labeling certified+humane eggs animal+compassionate whole+foods animal+care+certified