Tuesday 18 November 2008

Conference - Trade Opportunities from Animal Welfare

Several prominent welfarist organizations, including Compassion in World Farming and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, are organizing a conference the aim of which is to promote the benefits of animal welfare -- not to animals, but, on the contrary, to animal industry; in the words of Adolfo Sansolini, trade policy advisor for RSPCA, Compassion in World Farming, Eurogroup for Animals and WSPA: "Farmers, retailers and governments have got a lot to gain by working together on animal welfare...Animal welfare is no longer only a just cause [sic], but also a trade opportunity that should not be missed." Indeed, according to the welfarist organizers of this conference, the link between animal welfare, on the one hand, and increased exploiter profits and increased consumption (of animal products), on the other, "is increasingly being recognised by institutions such as the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation and the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation."

This begs the question: why is the official animal rights movement still clinging with corrupt fidelity to welfarism?