Why don't you just focus on passing laws requiring better treatment for farm animals?


In the United States, many organizations have been trying to do that for decades, but they have not been very successful. For example, there have been ballot initiatives in some states requiring that the cages for the animals have to be made slightly larger. However, even with these laws in place, most of what is shown in the factory farming videos is still legal and standard practice, and even the farms labeled "free range" and "organic" are typically not much better than what is shown there. The problem is that if more significant changes are demanded, the law is unlikely to pass, due to the fact that the industry will correctly point out that this will significantly increase the price of animal products. Also, the few laws that already do exist are rarely enforced.

There is considerable debate among animal advocates about how to best approach this problem. Many organizations are trying to pass additional legislation. Others are concerned that these laws aren't really accomplishing anything other than to create the illusion that the animals are being well treated, when nothing could be further from the truth. But, we do know that getting the public to reduce its consumption of animal products will result in fewer animals having to suffer. The number of animals which the industry breeds is directly proportional to how much meat and other animal products the public buys. So, even if we don't get "everyone" to go vegan, the more vegans there are, the fewer animals will have to go through what is shown in the videos.

 

Follow up questions:


Why are "Free Range" farms not much better?


What if humans treat and slaughter the animals humanely?


 

Back to the title page


Back to the list of the most commonly asked questions