The German Animal Welfare Federation appeals to the members of the Bundestag Agriculture Committee not to approve the draft bill on the introduction of animal husbandry labeling, but to renegotiate it and improve it significantly. The draft will be discussed on April 19.
"We appeal to the committee members to refuse to approve the bill and to renegotiate it instead. Anyone who really wants more animal welfare must vote 'no'. Better no labeling than this labeling, which brings zero improvements in animal welfare," says Thomas Schröder, President of the German Animal Welfare Federation, who even sees a danger for animal welfare: "The labeling only reflects the status quo and does not create any incentives for more animal welfare. We fear that the "stall" and "stall+place" forms of husbandry, which by no means comply with animal welfare, will be cemented for a long time to come. If meat products are given a kind of state quality mark through these euphemistic designations, this may even prevent greater animal welfare. The industry will align itself with the lowest level." Schröder also criticizes the fact that the draft law was even worsened in the parliamentary process by the traffic light faction leaders: Instead of an inadequate 20 percent more space, they now want to grant pigs in the "stall+place" stage just 12.5 percent more space.
Draft law does not live up to the coalition agreement
In the coalition agreement, the SPD, FDP and Alliance 90/The Greens promised to introduce animal husbandry labeling that also covers transport and slaughter. However, criteria for transport and slaughter were left out - on the grounds that they wanted to implement ambitious legal requirements for all animals instead. The German Animal Welfare Federation criticizes that this commitment has not even been approached. According to the coalition agreement, the traffic light coalition has also promised to support farmers in restructuring livestock farming in a species-appropriate manner. However, there is still no reliable strategy for this: it is not clear how incentives are to be created for farmers to switch to better forms of husbandry, nor is there any momentum towards greater animal welfare, such as would have been provided by an expiration date for the "barn" and "barn+place" stages of animal husbandry labeling.
If the Animal Husbandry Labeling Act is passed by the Agriculture Committee with the votes of the coalition, it will be referred to the Bundestag plenary for a 2nd and 3rd reading. The vote in the Bundestag is expected to take place in June.
Note to editors: With its current campaign "Now more animal welfare!", the German Animal Welfare Federation provides information on which announcements from the coalition agreement the coalition government has already tackled and where there are only empty promises so far: www.jetzt-mehr-tierschutz.de
