Animals Legal Defense Fund: Food Inc.

For many years there has been an ongoing debate on whether or not animals should be given rights, even there own bill of rights. Some who are against the animal bill of rights argue that testing products on animals is important to the safety of humans. Others who want the new bill of rights claim that animals have feelings and that science is treating them inhumanely. Animal activists also add that animals are intelligent beings and are aware of how they are treated. Based on science proving animal activists correct on many of their points, this calls for a new bill of rights, in the United States, especially written for the protection and care of wild and domestic animals.

Do animals have the right to a certain quality of life? How would your views change if our cooks got treated the same way cattle and poultry do? How would you feel about them being beaten and brought to their knees just to be detained to know how to cook todays specials? You might think that the food industry has no issues and no faults behind their tasty food, but when you open up the meat curtain, there is a different kind of world out there that is cruel and inhumane. In Robert Kenner’s 2008 film, Food, Inc., He shows the conditions that cows, chickens, and pigs have to live in. The dark and closeted homes in which the animals are closely compacted together and eating, sleeping, and walking in their own manure. As a person who would consider themselves an animal rights activist, most people would agree that the food industry treats their animals like products instead of living things.

“For most humans, especially for those in modern urban and suburban communities, the most direct form or contact with non-human animals is at meal time: we eat them. This simple fact is the key to what each one of us can do about changing these attitudes. The use and abuse of animals raised for food far exceeds, in sheer numbers of animals affected, any other kind of mistreatment” (Coats). The most effective method to stop this cruelty is to learn about where the meat comes from, by supporting the organic and family farms which will ultimately lead to the reducing the amount of animals that have to suffer (PETA). More than 95 percent of animal abuse in America occurs in the meat packing industry (Harper & Low). Animals suffer an unimaginable amount, they are raised to be killed, then bought and then consumed. In order to help fight back against the abuse, there needs to be a cut back on the amount of meat or poultry that is consumed. Seriously consider the option of becoming a vegetarian; by not eating meat, you completely stop supporting animal

Throughout history, humans have utilized nonhuman animals for the benefit of mankind. This tendency increased as civilization developed, and presently, necessitated by staggering population growth and technological progress, human use of animals has skyrocketed. We eat them, we breed them, we use them as test subjects. Some people have begun to question the ethics of it all, sparking a debate on animal treatment and whether or not they have rights. In a paper on the subject, Carl Cohen lays out his definition of rights, explains their relationship with obligations, and uses these ideas to present the argument that manifests clearly in his piece’s title, “Why Animals Have No Rights”. THESIS

The statement by Paul McCartney rings true, “If slaughterhouses had glass walls everyone would be a vegetarian.” Animal rights is a concept which people hardly ever consider in a serious light. Being born as a human being, having a superior mental capacity and sense of times makes people think that they can rule this world and use other living beings as they see fit. This mentality leads to people say things like “animals are born to eaten” or how Aristotle claimed “all of the nature exist specifically for the sake of men” and “that animal are merely instruments for humankind.” (Pg. 495). This way of thinking often leads to overconsumption of animals, cruelty to animals and loss of species.

Murder and abuse cases never fail to startle society. Moral codes are flouted with unmatched rigorousness by these indubitable egregious crimes. Sufferers in these cases are often people. Nonetheless, these callous obscenities should not be seen as less important when animals are the victims. Animals undergo horrendous abuse due to barbaric individuals, greed, and unnecessary lab testing.

The unfortunate part of Food Inc., is that its historical viewpoint of how we got our food vs. Food Inc.’s version of the “modern” way we get our food ─ is lacking on both ends. As far as historical (in Food Inc.’s viewpoint – better) food production ─ the slaughter of cattle, pigs, chickens, lambs, etc. in “historical times” was far more drastic, dangerous, and unsanitary than what it is today. In those days, the animals where either shot, or had their necks hacked/cut by individuals working the slaughter houses. Additionally, many children as young as 8 were used in these slaughterhouse procedures. You may wish to read The Jungle,

The idea of animal rights has been around for centuries. Even decades ago, people were taking action for the welfare of animals. Marc Bekoff and Ned Hettinger share this idea all the way back in 1994 when they said that there is evidence that scientist are concerned with animal welfare by acknowledge that they use the guidelines in place to protect animals during research, in order to have their work published (Bekoff 219). Guidelines are the basis for the moral and ethical treatment of animals. Each person may have his or her own standard, but having a standard among the entire population ensures the welfare of the animals. Unfortunately, these standards are not at a level to where the animals are being protected. Many animals in captivity are treated in ways that would shock the average person. Orcas for example, are starved until they do the desired task (Cowperthwaite). This form of operant condition can lead to success, but often leads to resentment and hostility towards the trainers.

For many years humans have always used animals for anything. Billions of animals are being used in harmful ways every year, such as in foods, experiments and being held captive. Over the years, there have been many cases of animal abuse in the world. Some people do not pay any interest to what is going on in these animal attractions. In 2004, Sunstein suggested that animals must have their rights; therefore many people with factory farms were afraid that the administrations were going to embrace an animal protection. In the past years “many have come to view the struggle foranimal liberation as being on a par with other liberation struggles,” (Marcia Clemmitt). Scientists have noticed that animals do need freedom. For example farm animals are the ones who produce for our food. Cows, chickens, pigs, are the ones who humans kill for our appetite. Therefore farm animals are at risk, and people who eat them such as myself, do not realize the type of harm farmers put the animals through.

For many years, the idea of an animal bill of rights has caused a lot of controversy. The big question is, is it necessary? With over 200,000 supporters the Animal Legal Defense Fund or (ALDF) has made a bill of rights that all sentient beings should be entitled to. Meaning, if an animal is able to feel or perceive things, such as pain and emotions, they will be protected under this bill. Composed of 6 basic legal rights, the bill includes the halt of all unnecessary experiments, and will allow animals to be free of abuse, cruelty and neglect. As well as providing farm and companion animals with a better environment, that will suit their basic physical and psychological needs.

Throughout the world, right under the human nose, millions of innocent and helpless, animals are being tortured and murdered. They are used for product testing as well as to put into products without consumer knowledge. These defenseless animals are deprived of respect and are victimized to an extent where it becomes unbearable to watch. There are many organizations that are trying to fight for animal rights. However, these organizations struggle with is because there is no legislation in the United States to combat animal testing. Even though it is not against United States regulations, animal testing should be outlawed because of its harmful and cruel effects.

For centuries the welfare of our world’s animals has been an ongoing issue. Even in our modern, civil, and advanced society animals are still treated unfairly living horrible lives for our own “benefit”. When the term animal abuse comes to mind, it often brings up images of puppies or kittens being hit or left out on the streets to die, although this is abuse that presents a massive ethical issue there are many others as well. Many fail to realize that at the root of their juicy burgers, or tasty ice cream cones lays the deep dark secret life of cows. The welfare and lives of cows on industrial factory farms that produce meat and dairy for our society present a big contemporary ethical issue. Countless cows die every day due to the conditions, and ongoing torment that goes on in the industrial factory farms. Although the United States has created laws to try to help these animals, many of the laws are either vague or poorly regulated or enforced; this is proved by the typical life of a cow used for food. From the time a cow is born to the time it dies, its life is full of countless trials and tribulations of poor welfare and lack of rights, which is unethical in more ways than one.

Many of the products we use everyday are being tested on animals. Many don’t give a second thought to what is being done to these animals to produce these products. The animals that are being used for research are treated inhumanly and aren't given the proper care that they are suppose to be given by law. Many of the animal handlers take advantage of the fact that these animals can’t express how much pain that they are causing them when being used as test subjects or being kept in small cages. There are those that believe animals don’t have rights but little do they know that any living thing has as many rights as humans do. The Animal Welfare Act needs to be better implemented to combat animal cruelty because the current law is not being

Gandhi once stated, “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” The argument is not based on whether animals have rights or not but rather if they have certain rights or complete human rights. The American society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals aim to promote kindness and prevent torture among animals (James, 17). Animals deserve rights that allow them to live for their purpose. The Animal Welfare Act was signed into law in 1966 to guide research, experiments, and the treatment of animals (Animal Welfare Act Regulation Research). Activist believe animals deserve full human rights, although they do deserve rights, animals should be given certain benefits such as, healthy lifestyle, safe environments, and a cruelty free life.

The model of rights as stated by animal-rights advocates, says that rights are based on interest and that “all sentient animals, including humans, have an interest in doing that which brings them pleasure, as well as an interest in avoiding harm and suffering” (Boss 647). If animals are interested in avoiding suffering in the same way as humans, why are they not granted this right and protected by law as humans are? Instead, nearly 7 billion animals are killed year in the United States alone to feed our demand for food, clothing, or mere entertainment and in factory farms throughout the country, there can be “several thousand chickens or pigs…housed in one building” (Boss 642). A journalist writes, “factory farmers [believe] animals are no more than machines… Two hundred and fifty thousand laying hens are confined within a single building…[This] is economically acceptable; nothing is more worthless than an individual chicken” (Boss 642). The lack of empathy for a living creature shown by these factory farmers extends to the consumer, whether they are aware of the extent of the abuse or not. Because of these processes and the attention they have received in recent years, there are more vegetarians today than there have been in the past forty years, but only a mere 2.3% (Boss 642).