Worldlog week 3 - 2014 - Hoofdinhoud

I wish everyone a happy, healthy, and animal-friendly 2014!

Last week, I visited our sister party PAN in Portugal and on Madeira. It was a very educational and delightful meeting, during which our film The Pacer in the Marathon was shown in Lisbon and on Madeira! The Spanish party for the animals, PACMA, was there as well.

This year, we called on a ban on consumer fireworks again. In our view, fireworks may only be set off in professionally organised firework shows. For many people, the pain, fear and stress in animals, and the nuisance and damage to people and the environment are sufficient reasons to change the fireworks tradition. Unfortunately, despite the growing support for a ban on consumer fireworks, there is still no Parliamentary majority for our proposal. Nonetheless, we will work vigorously on this issue again in the year to come, so that everyone can enjoy beautiful fireworks without the major damage to people, animals or the environment.

In the Netherlands, hundreds of people suffer serious injuries around New Year’s Eve, including many children. Approximately half of the victims are bystanders, who do not even set off any fireworks themselves. In the last New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day period, 810 people were treated in hospital emergency rooms for fireworks-related injuries, including injuries to eyes. This should and can change!

Several satisfactory successes were still achieved at the end of 2013. For example, we are very happy with the decision of Government to partially reverse cutbacks on the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA). Finally, more money will be made available for supervision and enforcement, particularly in the areas of animal welfare, animal health and food safety. In addition, the State Secretary promised 100 structural additional jobs and 60 temporary jobs to allow for more inspections in the animal sector.

However, the situation where butchers literally inspect the very meat they sell, with the NVWA remaining at bay, should also end. It is essential that our food production system will change: the present food industry focuses on producing as much as possible in the cheapest way possible. This has led to opportunism, poor handling of animals and unsafe food. Animal welfare and the quality of food, safeguarded by Government, must come first again!

In addition, several amendments to the Testing on Animals Act were carried, so that stricter rules now apply to animal testing. For example, the use of monkeys in animal testing will be subjected to stricter rules and decisions of the committee that issues permissions for animal testing will become public, so that the decisions can be appealed.

We remain committed to ending all animal testing as soon as possible. Thanks to our commitment, the issue has become part and parcel of the political agenda and also other parties now come up with proposals to reduce the use of animals for testing!

Read the article In the Belly of the Beast in the Rolling Stone on the incredibly brave animal rights activists who are being sued by the meat industry for recording atrocities in the cattle industry.

This woman deserves a medal instead of a prison sentence!

This week, the meat atlas was issued, which shows how many problems the rapidly rising meat consumption entails. Food for thought!

See the most beautiful photos of 2013 here.

See you next week,

Marianne