Vegans And Meat-Eaters Unite To Support California's Proposition 2

Proposition 2, a sweeping California ballot initiative designed to improve the treatment that farm animals receive, will be decided by voters on November 4th. The proposition, co-sponsored by the Humane Society and Farm Sanctuary, the biggest farm-animal-rights group in the United States, requires that by 2015 farm animals be able to stand up, lie down, turn around and fully extend their limbs. If passed, the measure would ban the two-foot-wide crates that regularly confine pregnant pigs and calves raised for veal, as well as "battery cages," in which several hens are crammed into a small wire-mesh cage.

Philip Brasher of the Des Moines Register asserts that although the bill will primarily affect egg-laying operations, as the state has little pork or beef industry, "the measure could have ramifications well beyond California if it passes."

If nothing else, it would send a message to the next Congress, which is likely to be one of the most liberal in history. "One of the major effects will be on the retail sector," said Wayne Pacelle, chief executive of the Humane Society of the United States, which has spent more than $4 million so far on the campaign to pass Proposition 2. "It will be another indicator that the public finds these intensive confinement practices are out of bounds and unacceptable."

Passing the measure also would provide "additional momentum to our efforts at the federal level," Pacelle said.

Maggie Jones of the New York Times Magazine describes how Pacelle, who recently succeeded in shuttering $100 million strikingly inhumane Westland/Hallmark Meat Company slaughter house with the help of an undercover investigator wearing a hidden video camera with a lens the size of the tip of a pen, resulting in the largest beef recall in U.S. history, has been working feverishly to garner support for Proposition 2.

The question, as Pacelle sees it, is how to create change when Big Agriculture, with its big money, has made it nearly impossible to get meaningful farm-animal-welfare legislation passed. Here the ballot-initiative process is crucial, since it offers an end run around legislators by taking issues directly to voters. Another key element in Pacelle's strategy has been to create ballot measures that offer only modest reforms on which both vegans and hamburger lovers (at least many of them) can agree. That tactic, however, has earned Pacelle his share of critics, including some who claim that while the ballot initiatives may seem moderate, they are just a first step in a vegan agenda to dictate what Americans eat. On the other side, extreme vegan groups say Pacelle has sold out, giving carnivores a reason to feel virtuous about eating "happy meat." Pacelle counters that he can't please everybody: "Part of my job is to challenge certain orthodoxies. For people who want a vegan revolution -- that's too passive for me."

Tom Hennessy wrote a column in the Press Telegram in support of Proposition 2. In it he recalls Pacelle's recent appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show. Pacelle began the program by saying this:

"This is just about basic decency. It's not a debate of vegetarianism versus meat eating. It's about if animals are going to be raised for food - and that's certainly the case in this country - then the least we can do for them is allow them to move. What's more basic than allowing animals with legs and wings to move around?"

Winfrey intervened to say, "I'm sure there are a lot of people watching who say, `Well, what do I care? It's just a chicken."'

That, said Pacelle, plays to the industry's "view that animals are commodities, they're units of production, they're objects." Each chicken, he notes, has 67 square inches of living space, or two-thirds the size of a sheet of paper.

Washington Post reporter Ashley Surdin recently pointed out that critics of the bill insist the regulations would harm farmers, as non-cage systems would increase their production costs at least 20 percent. Proponents of the bill, however, refer to the 2 1/2 -year independent analysis "Putting Meat on the Table: Industrial Farm Production in America."

The study found that factory farming takes a hidden toll on human health and the environment, is undermining rural America's economic stability and fails to provide the humane treatment of livestock increasingly demanded by American consumers. In particular, the report found that keeping thousands of animals in close quarters spreads disease quickly, spurring factory farms to treat animals with antibiotics that in some cases render medications less effective in people.

Among other things, the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production called for a 10-year phaseout of cages and gestation crates. A similar plan was passed by the European Union, which ordered its farmers to phase out the cages by 2012.

Comments

[VeganInManhattan]

Farm animals do not benefit from efforts that lead consumers to think they can be bred, raised, and killed with "compassion" -- but that's exactly what Proposition 2 and similar measures are doing -- though they make no meaningful difference to animals. In turn, industry uses animal advocacy to claim products adhere to "compassionate standards", or they come from "happy" animals. And consumers feel good about eating them.

Vegans won't unite with meat-eaters on this issue because we aren't willing to accept the myth of humane farming. We know farming is inherently cruel because animals have interests beyond how much space they occupy, that farming inevitably denies them. Animals care about their lives, their babies, and their groups, just as we do. Instead of cooperating with industry and supporting measures that won't make meaningful change, we support the well being of animals by choosing the vegan ethic.

[MissElaineous]

Since you are in Manhattan and not California, you don't have a horse (so to speak) in this race. But if New York State came up with such a proposition, would you vote for it?

[VeganInManhattan]

I would not vote for such a proposition in New York for the same reasons.

[mlaiuppa]

There is no reason for abuse. I'm sure the factory farms had ample opportunity to improve conditions voluntarily. If they don't like this law, then they should have done something before it was necessary to put it on the ballot and make in mandatory.

That goes for a lot of other businesses and a lot of other laws. Do the right thing voluntarily or you'll eventually be required to do it by law.

[MissElaineous]

While I appreciate veganism and vegetarianism, I fear that the messengers of the lifestyle do not do the message much good. Attempts to force veganism works as well as abstinence-based sex education. My "carnivorous" friends have told me they hate the scolding and lack of pleasure around veganism. Yet, there are places that serve amazing vegan food. Why not present the cuisine positively instead of typing in all caps on the internet?

I am an omnivore and have to live with that. I eat far less animal products than many people, but I am at least not one of those fake vegetarians who insist they are vegetarian except for fish, chicken, etc... I also live in California and intend to vote for this proposition. The inhumane squalor causes not only suffering, but death and waste of animals. Think about it. If a battery hen facility loses 20% of their chickens due to overcrowding already, why not just have 80% of the birds in the first place? Instead of 10,000 birds in a warehouse, have 8,000 and have fewer die. You might get the same number of eggs with fewer birds and less suffering.

[sculptor]

Sorry, I'm just too cynical about legislating via sweeping proposition to ever vote for something like this. If this had been some small incremental change, then maybe or prehaps if it was a reorganization of the regulation of agriculture in the state, then maybe.

I say to the special interests that put these on the ballot: Stop trying to run California!

[DouginCT]

Sculptor,

I agree that special interests are often self-serving at the expense of the greater public, and legislating from referendum is not the ideal way to create law. In this case, though, you and everyone but agribusiness would benefit.

Try to imagine being locked in a 2' by 2' cell for a day (probably just an hour). If you were, you would vote for this bill with gusto. I guarantee it.

But since that's not likely to happen, instead, do research into the impact confined animal feed operations have on the environment in local communities. Are you hopeful that someday your siblings, children, or parents will be lucky enough to work on a slaughterhouse kill floor. No? Look at the health and alcoholism and phsycological suffering that consumes those people.

Consider the issue of antibiotic overuse, and it's runoff into the environment and our food system, and into us. It's wreaking havoc.

Many people exposed to the horrors of factory feedlots and farming lose their spirit, and value for life, much like some war veterans.

Consider the impact on factory feeding and farms on REAL farms and farmers? They can't compete with industrial farming. Why allow these unecessary operations to continue? To save a buck on a burger at the expense of so, so much?

[sculptor]

OK, for the sake of argument assume all the bad things you claim are 100% true. Does that still justify the ham-fisted approach of a proposition? I call propositions ham-fisted because once enacted they can in essence only be overturned by the state supreme court or modified by another proposition. Now this is fundamentally different than legislation which is much more amenable to being tweaked if wrong the first time. Any mistakes made in a proposition are permanent so I can't justify voting for something this nontrivial.

[DustinG1973]

Owlsocks: You make the claim that there are farmers "practicing real and healthy husbandry"---but who is this healthy for? Surely not the animals who are bred into existence only to be slaughtered? It couldn't possibly be humans, since we do not require animal products in our diets in order to be healthy (practically every study suggests that an overabundance of animal products, in fact, is detrimental to human health)? Last but not least: I hope no one is suggesting that animal agribusiness of any kind is good for the planet? The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization's 2006 report Livestock's Long Shadow link the milk and meat industries to 18% of the world's excess greenhouse gas emissions—more than the entire transportation sector.

Proposition 2, if enacted, will require more land for farm animals, too. Effectively, this will displace more free-living animals who are already suffering from loss of habitat. Proposition 2 will encourage an already vicious cycle.

Veganism is a simple and effective way to confront the myriad issues at hand. Veganism is a radical solution---a means of confronting the root problems that result from human domination. Proposition 2 is not only an ineffective, practically meaningless solution, it's part of the problem.

Dustin Rhodes,
Friends of Animals

[MAMoore]

Dustin,

The only people who are "displacing free living animals habitats" are developers. When I first moved to Calabasa/Agoura CA the hills were teaming with cattle, sheeps and horses. In fact Calabasas was known as the last of the wild west. Now the developers are encroaching on the land. The hills have an erie silennce to them. When I think of America the beautiful, I think of free range herds roaming the hills, not steel stuco homes.

I certainly hope our cattle that once roamed free in Agoura were not those captured on the Westland/Hallmark Cruelty Video. I am furious at the way factory farms are caging animals. NO ANIMAL SHOULD LIVE ITS LIFE IN A CAGE. IT IS NOT NORMAL. When did farming go from Animal Husbandry to Animal Science? Those factory farms look like something out of a mid-evil torture movie. We as a society are far more intelligent than that.

Yes, it is true that a Vegitarian diet is far more healthy than a meat diet as evidenced by Biological and Physiological studies . In fact, 4000 years ago in the Old Testiment, God condems those that eat animals with hoofs. A YES VOTE ON PROP 2 will FREE our four legged friends from their tormented caged life and bring National awarness to the grim reality of factory farming.

NOTE: if people had to kill what they eat themselves, there would be alot more Vegitarians.

God Bless,
MA

[sandiegoconservative]

Like it or not, some animals are meant to be consumed. Some are not. I don't agree with mass production and slaughter of any animal, but that does not escape the fact that some animals were designed to be consumed.

Eating a reasonable quantity and quality of meat products can be good for any diet, as long as it is supplemented with other food sources properly and it is prepared properly.

[blastit]

veganism is great, and the more people who convert to being Vegans or vegetarians is wonderful but the simple reality is that alot of people eat me and like it, and are not going to stop eating meat, thats just the way it is and we has human beings need to find a way to farm these animals in a human and dignified way.

[owlsocks]

I think that this measure is highly important.­..not to regulate real farmers practicing real and healthy husbandry, but to reign in the despicable behaviors of gigantic corporate conglomerate farms that care ONLY about the bottom line.

These degrading practices are effecting our environment, our children's health and our integrity as a people.

I support Prop 2 and think it should be enacted nationally as well, in fact I think that it doesn't go far enough.

We can never trust our food supply so long as the F.D.A is staffed by corporate lackeys and the food industry is allowed to regulate itself!

[MAMoore]

First of all, we (humans) are at the Top of the Food Chain. Wheather we choose to eat meat or not is an individual choice. I have friends who run cattle ranches in Colorado and Montana (the last states practicing true Animal Husbandry) and when they see life for animals on factory farms, they are disgusted. NO ANIMAL SHOULD SPEND ITS LIFE IN A CAGE. IT IS NOT NORMAL. Europe is way ahead of America with phasing out confinement practicies on factory farms. Furthermore, the manuer is supposed to be used to fertilize the crops, not dumped into lakes! Sustainable Organic Farming is actually less expensive than gross and inhumane factory farming. I hope the US takes Europe's lead and goes back to free range farming.

NOTE: the hills of Agoura and Calabasas, CA used to be teaming with cattle and sheep.....­where did they go? It is like the mountain got "Silent"..­.it is an erie sight. Our mountains and hills went from a flourishing bed of wildlife and flora to a barren desert. We need to bring the cattle and sheep back! Praises to Wayne for bringing the gross abuse of factory farming to light. I sincerely hope we can follow Europes lead and rule out confinement practices on American farms for good.

God Bless you all.......­...Note: I am a Vegitarian.

[mlaiuppa]

Do you mean...veg­etarian?

[ccpostman]

I think omnivore

[joeyfoto]

I grew up on a cattle ranch, so it would not be surprising to hear me say that the arrogance and absolutism of Fundamentalist Vegetarians bothers me. It does For any member of a group that come to a mid-life conversion to expect the world to follow them to their new found faith is a mark of weak-mindedness that leads of obsession with unrealistic and probably undesirable goals. Gandhi said that in his circle there meat-eaters who were more non-violent than the vegetarians. The attempt to impose vegan standards on food producers would result in massive economic dislocation in California, while doing nothing to change the fact that we kill to eat, without needing to do so.

I especially dislike it when groups that I am nominally a part of use fascistic tactics to impose their values on people who don't understand their point of view. There is a powerful way to reduce the amount of animal food produced. Stop eating meat. I did that in 1970, when it was considered very strange indeed, especially by my family. Although now it is much more common, even fashionable, it is absurd to expect people to come to the same conclusions that we have without going through the same, or parallel, life-experience. I believe in educating people; I don't believe that giving them orders under force of law makes the big changes. In fact they build resistance that makes major change more difficult.

[mlaiuppa]

If corporate factory farms operated like the cattle ranch you grew up on, this law wouldn't be needed.

With your background, I think you'd be disgusted with the conditions of factory farming now.

This law isn't mandating free range. But it is providing less abusive and healthier living conditions.

I love beef, chicken, pork, fish, eggs, cheese, milk. Oh and fruits and vegetables too. But I see no need to torture my food before I eat it.

Factory farms better start doing something about the pollution and contamination they are causing with unprocessed run-off from excrement or that law will be on the ballot next. They can do it voluntarily or it can be mandated. Just like this ballot proposition.

[blastit]

I just wanted you all to know that these factory farms take the excrement and turn it into feed and feed it back to the amimals its called litter and its gross and thats why we have things like mad cow disease..i­t horrendous what these factory farms are doing, feeding the animals their excrement and the meat of dead animals

[ThinkFL]

Unfreakingly believable that legislation such as this even has to be passed. Even worse that it has to be a fight to get it through.

The most despicable creatures to ever exist on Earth? Yea, us........­.......... As a whole we're a plague. A disease. A virus. It's harsh, but it's the truth. Everyone needs to do what they can to benefit this world and other living creatures because there are too many people that couldn't care less and never will.

[ccpostman]

Soylent Green Baby!

[DaveShishkoff]

Sadly, when making a case for ‘more space’ for farm animals, nary a word is uttered for the countless free-living animals who will be displaced (likely to die) as farms expand further into their dwindling habitat.

It’s this short-sightedness, compounded by the commonly misunderstood fact that veganism is against animal exploitation that makes me wonder why this is considered a ‘pro-vegan’ deal.

It’s not a vegan issue. Vegans don’t participate in exploitation. We don’t manage or oversee it. Our role is to oppose it. (Strange concept, huh?)

This proposition does *nothing* to oppose the exploitation of animals, but actually prolongs it (through participation, rather than opposition­.) People in California will doubtless walk away from polling stations feeling yet *more* comfortable consuming animal products, pregnant with the notion that ‘animal rights people’ approve of what they just did.

That does not lead to change, and does not lead to less animals being exploited and killed. Prop 2 is a sham, and has nothing to do with veganism – with the exception that it’ll be even harder to convince the satiated masses who now believe they’re eating ‘happy animals’.

In fact, it’ll be even more difficult to compel people to give up animal products because of this. And at the end of the day, with so many free-living animals killed off to make more space, this is very much a lose-lose situation, from the perspective of a vegan..

Dave Shishkoff
Canadian Correspondent, Friends of Animals

[NRice]

I think it would have been most productive had HSUS and Farm Sanctuary put the money dumped into Prop 2 into vegan education. Imagine if those who worked so hard at gathering signatures spent the same amount of time speaking about a way to truly end animal exploitation - going vegan. Now that would be something to rally around! This legislation will only give meat-eaters a way out of their guilt. I know because I've met them, I've worked with them. People who truly believe they are helping animals by buying cage-free, free-range etc. are shocked to hear the truth. And the truth is what needs to be told. If you want to help animals, stop participating in their exploitation and stop eating them and their by-products.

[brooklynvegan]

You want to make sure that farm animals are treated "humanely"? Stop eating them.

[mlaiuppa]

Humanely? I think we have to treat each other humanely first. The only thing we *don't* do is eat each other.

[nyccegan]

A "vegan revolution" is precisely what's needed at this moment in time--yet the idea is mocked and dismissed in the article by Wayne Pacelle.

Proposition 2 is essentially a puffed-up meaningless piece of legislation, and one that if passed will likely lead consumers to be misled into believing that animals slaughtered for human consumption are treated "humanely.­" Nothing could be further from the truth, and it's contemptible that an organization that claims to be an advocate for animals would peddle such lies. There is simply no way to eat animal flesh, or animal byproducts that is devoid of suffering, pain and death. The easy answer is to switch to a healthier, more environmen­t-friendly vegan diet. The benefits are numerous and well-documented, and in doing so each individual opts out of the industry that contributes the most to greenhouse gases-animal agribusiness. I've been a vegan for nearly 10 years, and it's one of the best decisions I've made.

Eating vegan is simple and easy--there are countless fabulous plant-based cookbooks, and numerous vegan and vegetarian restaurants in most cities and towns.
Here's a favorite all-vegan cookbook from Friends of Animals:
http://friendsofanimals.org/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=FOA&Product_Code=ckbk&Category_Code=nwckbk

[DustinG1973]

Not all animal advocates encourage measures like this, but not because all of us aren't interested in the suffering behind every animal product (although animal rights is not simply about suffering). Many believe that measures like this encourage animal agribusine­ss---leadi­ng consumers to believe that there exists a laudable way to breed, kill and consume animals. If animals are to be taken seriously, getting them off of our plates (and encouraging others to make this easy choice) should be our first priority---not working alongside animal agribusiness. Regardless of the conditions in which an animal is raised, farm animals are bred into existence to be killed; their deaths are about profits (which will soar as a result of measures like this). No type of animal agribusiness is interested in animals living the happy, idyllic life that is portrayed by the media machine that pushes efforts like this.

This measure champions animal husbandry modifications, and as a person interested in animal rights I believe the best way to help animals is to become vegan. Lee Hall (legal director for Friends of Animals) has written extensively on this issue http://www.friendsofanimals.org/actionline/winter-2007_08//Humane_Farms.php]. Hall refers to this type of measure as "the fantasy of sustainable and humane animal farming." I couldn't agree more. Boycotting animal agribusiness is the only path to meaningful change.

www.VeganMeans.com

www.humanemyth.org

Dustin Rhodes,
www.friendsofanimals.org

[Natalie4Obama]

I am a vegan and I see your point but the problem is many people simply don't understand that we don't need to eat meat as it is so socialized to do so in our society.

I have shown many people my vegan videos and some changed over, some did not. Others decided to keep dairy and fish. We can't win over everyone. So the best we can do is reduce suffering until people realize that eating meat is about as necassary as smoking ciggarettes.

As John Robbins reports in his excellent books, politicians (mostly Republicans) have been changing the laws to make it easier and easier for people to mistreat animals and make gfreater profits by stacking them on top of each other and feeding them garbage.

If you're a meat eater reading this and wondering what you care about animals being mistreated think again - bad conditions mean the animals are unwashed, diseased and bloated with chemicals to keep them alive. the cramped conditions mean any disease such as salmonella is spread to the entire warehouse. You are what you eat. The great American meal, the hamburger, is made out of ground up cow organs, including the intestines and the faeces they carry. Add in diseases that the animals contract before slaughter and you'd probably be safer licking your toilet seat.

[Natalie4Obama]

Cont...

I am 25 and I only switched this past summer after watching www.meat.org and then reading Skinny Bitch, The Food Revolution, Eat To Live, The China Study and Diet For A New America.

At first I was sad that I was making such a big change as cheese was one of my favorites and I would drink milk every day.

However, I'm happy to say that 5 months on I haven't gotten sick half as much as I used to, I lost 15 pounds and have built up some impressive muscle working out. I have a tonne of energy and everyone is telling me how great I look. Veggie Burgers and Soy Pizzas suit me just fine and the best part is I can eat as much as I want without getting fat or giving myself a heart attack.

On the subject of heart attacks, Dr Dean Ornish is a leading heart doctor who can cure heart disease. The cure? You guessed it... a whole foods, vegetarian diet.

In the time of Plato, athletes adopted a vegetarian diet as they knew they would perform better. 6 time ironman winner Carl Lewis would probably tell you the same thing.

I urge anyone feeling guilty about what happens to animals to consider going vegan... it may be the best thing you ever do for yourself, the environment and the planet.

Please watch the following video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMyJNR2DrfY

[veggiequeenmo]

as a vegan for over 20 years, the time has come for us to stop using and abusing animals. i have vegan children - happy, healthy, athletic, smart and appalled by the way human animals treat the other inhabitants of the earth. they are not embarassed by the food they eat. it is so much easier to be vegan or vegetarian these days. you can even find vegan foods at just about any supermarket chain or restaurants. i wish i could vote. i hope this passes and we'll be on our way to a more humane country.