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Farm animal welfare: a regulatory history

Farm animal welfare: a regulatory history. Dr Abigail Woods Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine Imperial College London.

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Farm animal welfare: a regulatory history

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  1. Farm animal welfare: a regulatory history Dr Abigail Woods Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine Imperial College London

  2. The governance of FAW • EU • Directives • Conventions of the council of europe • British government • 2006 Animal welfare act • Voluntary codes of practice • FAWC, Animal Health • Private • farm assurance schemes.

  3. The British government’s role Key questions: • How / why / when did it become involved in regulating farm animal welfare? • What did it think welfare was?

  4. Origin stories:The ancient contract (Rollin)

  5. Origin stories:The rise of welfare (Webster) • 1965 Brambell committee • 1968 Agriculture Act • Welfare standards • FAWAC • Welfare codes

  6. Origin stories • See welfare as a fundamentally new concept, that arose in the 1960s as a result of intensive farming practices, and required new government interventions. • But all disciplines have their (often historically unsupported) founding myths –– is there any truth in this one?

  7. A plea for historical continuity: • The 1968 act and the subsequent welfare codes simply extended to farms the type of measures laid down in earlier legislation for protection of animals in transit. • Major change did not take place until c1980 (at the earliest).

  8. i) The legislative picture • By 1960, farm animals protected by a patchwork of legislation: • In public spaces (1822, 1835 1849, 1911) • In transit (1869, 1894, 1927, 1950 Acts) • At slaughterhouses (1954, 1958)

  9. In public spaces: • Included in broader legislation (1911) to prevent animal cruelty and avoidable suffering • Responsibility of the Home Office & Local Authorities.

  10. In transit: • Provoked by growth in transport, associated disease spread and humanitarian concerns • Responsibility of state vets & Local authorities

  11. Drive to increase productivity and critique of practices date from at least the 19thC eg urban dairies ii) Intensification & the animal body

  12. Eg inter-war ‘progressive’ dairying

  13. ii) Intensification & the animal body Q: • So why did state-led welfare interventions not happen earlier? A: • Such practices were seen as ‘bad farming’ • State intervention not considered: nature would restore order, eg by disease.

  14. ii) Intensification & the animal body Post-WWII • New definitions of good and bad farming • Changing nature of intensification • Larger scale; indoor • Farm becomes a factory (or a cattle truck?)

  15. P Brassley, ‘Output and technical change in 20th century British Agriculture’, Ag Hist Rev 48 (2000), p62

  16. ii) Intensification & the animal body • Post-WWII: new critique • No longer expect redress from nature • Farmers are harming nature with aid of science (Carson, Silent Spring, 1962)

  17. ii) Intensification & the animal body 1964: Harrison’s Animal Machines • Not the first critique of factory farming; but the first to prompt MAFF action • unemotional tone • attacked MAFF defences. • huge publicity • political pressure. • Officials look to transit regulations for inspiration

  18. iii) The concept of welfare • Pre-1960s, key terms are animal protection, cruelty, suffering and humanity • Welfare used mainly in relation to ‘welfare societies’ • Use of welfare increases early 60s. • Enters mainstream following 1964/5 Brambell committee inquiry ‘into the welfare of animals’

  19. iii) The concept of welfare What did it mean? • For Brambell committee: • physical and mental wellbeing • For MAFF officials, farmers and many vets: • the converse of suffering • a new name for animal protection

  20. iii) The concept of welfare • Doesn’t the new legislation / codes implement a new concept of welfare? • Closely resemble transit regulations & drawn up by the same people (vets). • MAFF’s legal understanding is that welfare = ‘absence of unnecessary pain or distress’: FAWAC told to work within this definition.

  21. From animal protection to animal wellbeing • Driven by Harrison • institutionalised by FAWC (1979) • Aided by scientific research (Dawkins) • Re-iterated by 1980-1 agriculture select committee

  22. Conclude • The early history of FAW regulation in Britain amounted to a re-branding exercise: From the protection of animals in transit….to the promotion of animal welfare.

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