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Please support NDP Alex Atamanenko, MP in getting these Canadian slaughter plants shut down.
Canada’s Hands are Bloodied Enough with the Continued Seal Hunt!!
JUST IN:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 05, 2011
NDP CALLS ON GOVERNMENT TO SHUT DOWN HORSE SLAUGHTER INDUSTRY
Regulators and operators cannot be trusted to operate honestly or humanely
Ottawa – NDP MP Alex Atamanenko (BC Southern Interior) reacted today to a shocking investigation by the Canadian Horse Defence Coalition (CHDC) which revealed inhumane horse slaughter and other abuses at yet another Canadian slaughterhouse.
“I join with so many Canadians who are sickened and disappointed that our government continues to allow this industry to abuse these animals and the regulatory system with obvious impunity,” stated Atamanenko. “This is the fourth plant to be exposed by undercover investigations indicating that an ingrained culture of abuse is still firmly in place.”
Despite reassurances from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) that horse slaughter plant conditions would be improved, the disturbing footage captured on July 13th and 14th of 2011 at Les Viandes de la Petite-Nation, Inc. in St. Andre-Avellin, Quebec shows serious violations of humane slaughter regulations. “There is no reason that it should take eleven shots to the head to kill a horse,” said Atamanenko. “Why is this plant being allowed to operate in such an inefficient and inhumane way?”
Atamanenko was also concerned by the discrepancies revealed by the report concerning in the new Equine Identity Document (EID) system which is meant to record medical histories and keep horses that have been administered banned drugs from entering the slaughter pipeline. “The EID system is fraught with loopholes that are obviously being taken advantage by predatory kill-buyers looking for product,” said the BC MP. “Clearly the horse meat we are selling for human consumption is not a fit food for humans, especially children.”
According to Atamanenko, the commonly administered drug “phenylbutazone”, more commonly known as ‘horse’s aspirin’, can cause anaplastic anemia in children if consumed in even the tiniest amounts. It was this fact that led the EU to stamp new passports on horses over the age of six months as ineligible for the food supply. “It is reprehensible that we have an industry without such a segregation system,” declared Atamanenko.”
The NDP MP says the overwhelming majority of horses are not raised as food and are commonly administered drugs that are dangerous to people. “It is criminal to sell this meat to humans and the government must shut this industry down immediately,” concluded Atamanenko.
For more information contact:
Alex Atamanenko, MP 613 996 8036
Castlegar Office:
337 Columbia Avenue, Castlegar BC V1N 1G6
1-800-667-2393
250-365-2792
Fax: 1-250-365-2793
atamaa1@parl.gc.ca
Oliver Office:
9964-350 Avenue
Box 1701,
Oliver, BC V0H 1T0
250-498-5353
Open Tuesday 9 – 12:30 Wednesday 12 – 3:30
atamaa1@parl.gc.ca
Ottawa Office:
525 Confederation Building
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6
1-613-996-8036
Fax: 1-613-943-0922
atamaa@parl.gc.ca
One can also express their concerns and comments to:
Vital Moreira,MEP
Chair, Committee on International Trade
European Parliament
Rue Wiertz
ASP 13G242
B-1047 Brussels
Equine Welfare Alliance: http://www.equinewelfarealliance.org/
Press Release from Italian Horse Protection Association
Sito Horse Protection
15 dicembre 2011 12.23
Oggetto: Carne di cavallo in Italia: un’indagine rivela la presenza di sostanze pericolosissime per la salute. / Horse meat in Italy: an investigation reveals that it contains substances dangerous to health
Excerpt:
” Drawing together results of research carried out by one French and two American universities, and an inquiry by the Equine Welfare Alliance (USA), IHP can assert that at least part of the horsemeat sold in the European markets has been subjected to no checks whatsoever for drugs present in the slaughtered animals. IHP asserts moreover that since autumn 2010 the European health authorities have been fully aware of this fact yet have done nothing to protect the health interests of the European consumer.”
Sonny Richichi, IHP Organizational Manager, and also head of the ‘Horse Slaughtering’ section, affirms, “With the myth that horse meat contains more iron and is good for the blood those countries where horsemeat is widely consumed are administering to the most vulnerable members of society a cocktail of anti-inflammatory drugs, antibiotics, hormones that control estrous cycle and who knows what other substances“.
Antonio Nardi-Dei da Filicaja, President of IHP adds, “The European health authorities make big news of the checks on meat and how they track and trace it all from source, but then they sweep under the carpet the results of their own inquiries which reveal that not only does a significant percentage of the horse meat on the market NOT have any credible certification regarding the use of drugs prior to slaughter, but moreover comes from countries where pretty well any drug is legally permitted and used, only at the discretion of the owner of the animal. Thus while fully cognisant of the risks that eating horse meat holds for consumers, the authorities have turned a blind eye and tried to conceal the incriminating evidence. According to the FAO, in 2009 approximately 16,000 tonnes of horse meat entered the EU from Canada and Mexico. In general, around 50% of horse meat consumed in Italy comes from abroad.”
http://www.horseprotection.it/docs/phenylbutazone.pdf
http://www.horseprotection.it/dett_articolo.asp?id_a=379
This article describes the risks/deaths occurred from consuming tainted horse meat.
http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/17/7/10-1642_article.htm
Italians Complain to EU that Drug Tainted American Meat Reaching European Consumers
http://horsebackmagazine.com/hb/archives/13173
Investigation on horse meat entering Europe from America
Excerpt:
“In the USA there is no differentiation between FPA (Food Producing Animal) and non-FPA equidae; horses are simply not considered as part of the food chain. US’ horses are slaughtered in Canada and Mexico (and perhaps in the USA re-starting in 2012). Horse meat is exported primarily to Europe (France, Belgium, Italy and Germany are the main horse-meat eating countries). The significant point here is therefore that any horse, not being considered part of the food chain, can be treated with any and all drugs which the vet – or indeed simply the owner – considers necessary, with no formal requirements to observe or fulfil.”
http://www.horseprotection.it/docs/eid/album/index.html
Given the situation, some university researchers (Nicholas Dodman, Tufts University, Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, Massachussets; Nicolas Blondeau University of NIce “Sophia Antipolis”, Institute of Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology , France, and Ann M. Marini, University of Bethesda, Department of Neurology, Maryland) put to the test a theory, cross checking the data of some of the animals sent for slaughter with the data banks from racecourses where the horses had run. Those data bases contain the records, required by anti-doping laws, of treatments with phenylbutazone (commercial name: Bute), a non-steroid anti-inflammatory drug commonly used on horses but which is prohibited in Europe for horses destined for human consumption.
By means of a complex procedure, the researchers uncovered information about the data of races of 16 horses out of 50 of those under study. The result of the study is that all the horses whose data was located had been treated with Bute, some of them only one week before slaughter. However the data uncovered was relative to race dates, while not all treatments administered are logged if they are not close to the date of a race. Horse meat exported to Europe, therefore, is very likely indeed to contain traces of prohibited substances, and not only of fenilbutazone.
http://www.horseprotection.it/docs/phenylbutazone.pdf
Read the Canadian inspection report. http://www.horseprotection.it/docs/fvo_canada.pdf
Read the Mexican inspection report. http://www.horseprotection.it/docs/fvo_mexico.pdf
American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign
http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/6931/t/0/blastContent.jsp?email_blast_KEY=1188351
AWHPC Marks the 40th Anniversary of the Wild Horses Act With Lawsuit Against BLM Wild Horse Extermination and Castration Plan
Excerpt:
“On December 15, 1971 – 40 years ago today – President Richard Nixon signed into law the Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act, stating, “Wild horses and burros merit man’s protection historically for they are a living link with the days of the conquistadors, through the heroic times of the western Indians and pioneers, to our own day when the tonic of wilderness seems all too scarce. More than that, they merit it as a matter of ecological right – as anyone knows who has ever stood awed at the indomitable spirit and sheer energy of a mustang running free.” “
Equine Welfare Alliance
The shame of the BLM
http://www.lasvegascitylife.com/articles/2011/12/15/opinion/knappster/iq_49594018.txt
“”Forty years ago this week, the American people spoke with one voice on an issue that clearly touched the heart of the nation. The Wild Horse and Burro Act was signed into law, over the objections of the powerful cattle industry. Congress was flooded with more letters and telegrams about wild mustangs than for any other issue save the Vietnam War. They insisted that wild horses must be preserved on public lands. That demand became law.”
Will of the People
http://cs.thehorse.com/blogs/horses-and-the-law/default.aspx?mid=554
Horse Slaughterhouse Investigation Sounds Food Safety and Cruelty Alarms
The Canadian Horse Defence Coalition
http://www.defendhorsescanada.org/
Pasture to Plate
The True Cost of Canada’s Horsemeat Industry
http://www.defendhorsescanada.org/lpn.html
Alberta horse slaughterhouse probed by RCMP
Humane Society International Canada
http://www.hsicanada.ca/horses/horse_slaughter/
Excerpt:
Horse Slaughter
“With more than 93,000 horses slaughtered in 2009 alone, Canada’s horse slaughter industry is among the largest in the world, and a shameful betrayal against our loyal companions.”
Local Farm Works To Keep Horses From Starvation and Slaughterhouse
http://kingspark.patch.com/articles/horse-rescuer-22-runs-facility-in-fort-salonga
the world to a horse can be
a pretty place
vibrant colors, so much space
but to those being chased. terrorized
and killed
the world is a chasm
by suffering, filled
e-quine
i want to run as far as i can
where it is safe
away from man
i want the grass, the field, the trees
away from civilization’s disease…
i want to run i will always try
i will run until i die
Thank you, your poetic message speaks volumes
slaughter is not the answer to the problem of over population and expensive feed because everything is being sent to China… lets have respect for our animals first so we can respect ourselves.
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