EDM 97 'Animal Protection Policy'

EDM 97 calls on the Government to establish an Animal Protection Commission or similar government body responsible for reviewing and implementing all policies regarding animal welfare and rights.

Existing government bodies that affect the interests and welfare of millions of animals have become dominated by industries and institutions that use animals and cause them suffering. Animal protection has been sacrificed in the drive for corporate profit, and dissenting voices have been excluded from the decision-making process. An Animal Protection Commission would give a voice to the millions of animals affected by government policy, and would finally bring big business to account.

In each department of government, secretive and exclusive policy communities, comprised of civil servants and powerful business and professional interest groups, take important decisions that further the interests of the animal research industry and animal farming. Animal protection advocates are excluded from policy formation, at best being drafted in to create a false sense of legitimacy when decisions have already been made.

Nowhere is the collusion between government and those involved in the abuse of animals more obvious than in the case of vivisection. Over the past year the Home Office has worked exclusively with companies involved in animal testing to strip away regulations and make vivisectors’ jobs easier.

Elsewhere, in farming, the government has refused to outlaw the keeping of chickens in battery cages, despite overwhelming support for such a ban from the public and animal protection groups, and despite the positive reforms undertaken abroad.

Existing structures of governance have become subservient to corporate lobby groups, and reform is needed. The formation of an Animal Protection Committee would demonstrate a renewed commitment to animal protection, backed up by real legislative power.

This is the text of EDM 97:

"That this House notes the growing body of scientific evidence demonstrating that many animals have complex mental and emotional lives; considers many animals to be conscious, feeling beings with an interest in living, avoiding suffering and experiencing pleasure; acknowledges that each such animal has inherent value and is worthy of serious moral consideration; further considers respect for animals to be indicative of the level of civilisation; is concerned that policy-making tends to be dominated by industries that inevitably compromise animals' welfare and interests, and that the most essential interests of animals and the public's concern for their protection are given insufficient consideration; further notes that there is no Government body whose primary purpose is to protect the interests of animals in policy-making; and calls upon the Government to establish an animal protection commission or similar body, answerable to Parliament via a Minister, with a remit which includes the ongoing examination of the ethical status and rights of animals and how they are affected by policy-making, the facilitation of genuine public participation throughout policy processes which affect animals, and the development of a cross-government agenda for animal protection."

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