Horse Slaughter now Legalized for Human Consumption

[sasha031]

Yes, you did read that correctly.
No, I am not making this up.Seventy percent of the population is against such a law, and despite a 2008 campaign promise to support the equine slaughter ban, it is now legal to slaughter horses for human consumption.


Both the House of Representatives and the Senate have now approved the Conference Committee report on H.R. 2112, the bill that, in part, determines agriculture appropriations for FY 2012. President Barack Obama immediately signed the measure, making commercial horse slaughter legal once again in the U.S.
Conference Committee Chair Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI), Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA), and Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) voted to reject de-funding of inspections for equines for slaughter for human consumption. Only Rep. Sam Farr (D-CA) voted to support continued de-funding of the inspections.

Without de-funding or prohibition of the inspections, commercial horse slaughter for human consumption is legal in the U.S.

Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) introduced the amendment to the House version of the bill that would have continued the de-funding of inspections for equines sent to slaughter for human consumption. Without the inspections which have been de-funded or prohibited since 2006, commercial horse slaughter has been illegal and would have remained so with the Moran amendment. But the Senate version did not include such an amendment, and the conference committee and, in particular, the chair persons, appointed to resolve differences between the House and Senate version, rejected de-funding.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/11/30/1041092/-Obama-Legalizes-Horse-Slaughter-for-Human-Consumption?via=recent

[Liberal_in_LA]

1. what's next? Cats, Dogs?

[Goblinmonger]

2. As a vegetarian, I don't get it.

What's the difference between horse and cow?

[sharp_stick]

4. As an omnivore I'm curious about the same thing n/t

[saras]

10. Try long pig. No difference, right? A stupid waste of resources, right?

Aside from that, one fairly significant difference is that cows have been bred for human food for many thousands of years. Horses haven't, and the quality difference is grossly obvious to a meat eater. In addition, horses are much less efficient producers of meat than cows, hence no one is going to specifically grow horses for meat. The horse meat is pretty much all going to be leftover horses from other purposes.

The RESULT of this difference is that horse meat becomes the default poor people's food, regardless of their preferences. And the quality will be what you would expect from something that isn't originally produced to be food, but is inspected into conformity afterwards.

yum.

[Goblinmonger]

13. So we should make horse illegal because they aren't as efficient

at producing meat? Then why not make cow meat illegal because fish are more efficient.

And poor people get to eat the good cut of cows, right?

[EOTE]

26. "and the quality difference is grossly obvious to a meat eater"

Yes, most meat eaters would greatly prefer the taste of horse if given a blind test. Just because cows are produced in obscene numbers for our consumption doesn't mean that they're bred for ultimate quality, they're bred for quantity. I truly see very little difference between eating a cow or eating a horse.

[csziggy]

37. It depends on the culture if horses have been bred and used for human food

Many places, once a horse has served its purpose as a work animal, it is butchered and used for food.

The biggest problem I can see in the US for horses being butchered for human consumption is that equine veterinarians have not worried about medications given to horses that could remain in the meat after it is turned into food. For instance, the dewormer we use for our horses is clearly labeled to not be given to animals intended for slaughter within a certain period of time, 30-90 days if I remember correctly. Since the product is also used on other large animals, this labeling is necessary.

Before the slaughter ban many horses that were sold at auction and ended up going to the butchers had been pleasure horses not intended for that purpose. The auction barns and the people who bought them would have no idea of what kinds of things those horses had been given - and would have no intention of keeping the horses long enough for anything to work out of their systems.

While I would never send my own horses to slaughter or use them for food (unless there was an apocalypse and that was the only way to provide food for needy people) I have no intellectual objection to horses being one of the various species used for human consumption. I see that use no more objectionable than using cattle, hogs, chickens or goats for food. Heck, guinea pigs were food animals in the cultures that bred them. Some cultures eat iguanas.

[snagglepuss]

6. I'm a vegetarian and I get it. Anyone not getting it is being obtuse.

[Goblinmonger]

14. Why do horses get special priviledge

in our society? Because they are largely pets?

This doesn't strike you as a double standard? And a silly one at that?

[EOTE]

27. You can merely say someone is being obtuse, but without providing a reason, it's just idle talk.

I'm guessing the reason you see is that cows are cute and horses are not? I'm not being obtuse, I generally don't understand what the difference is.

[Lance_Boyle]

7. sentimentality, and that's all

Don't like the thought of eating horse? Then don't buy or eat horse meat. In the end, what's good for the moose is good for the gelding.

[Xithras]

9. I suppose that it depends on your perspective.

It's like rabbits. To some, they're a food animal. To others, they're pets and companion animals. It's all a matter of perspective.

[JackintheGreen]

19. Reminds me of Roger and Me

Like #10, it comes down to sentimentality.

Like #7, it becomes de facto food for "the poors"

[ChairmanAgnostic]

16. two logs good, four legs food.

No, that's not it.

[CottonBear]

17. Please see post #15. n/t

[ProgressiveProfessor]

3. Prior similar thread(s)

[DJ13]

5. Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) introduced the amendment

[Juneboarder]

8. 1% 1% 1% ...

I said it yesterday and I'll say it again today. The 1% MUST have a lot of horses...

[Armin-A]

11. tastes like chicken

[Electric Monk]

12. dupe

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=2400655&mesg_id=2400655

[CottonBear]

15. I'm a horse owner. ALL of the meds, supplements, vaccines & anti-parasite meds are NOT for animals

intended for human consumption. Every horse owner knows this. Horses are not bred, fed, vaccinated, given anti-parasitic meds or fed for purposes of making the animal ready for human consumption.

EVERY equine medicine, vaccine, anti-bacterial ointment and de-wormer says NOT INTENDED FOR ANMIMALS FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION.

Why would any one want to eat meat not intended for human consumption?

There are no guidelines that I know of for breeding, raising and feeding horses for human consumption.

[Goblinmonger]

18. But doesn't the bill indicate

that they are going to have inspections to assure that it is safe?

[CottonBear]

21. No horses are raised without meds, vaccines, supplements, ointments, de-wormers or other meds

intended for human consumption.

Cattle, pigs, chickens, goats and sheep intended for human consumption are fed and medicated in a different way.

[Ignis]

35. +++ Thanks for raising this point.

[CottonBear]

36. You are welcome.

I have no idea how the USDA would test the meat from horses that were raised in unknown circumstances as domesticated companion animals.

[FarCenter]

20. HORSE MEAT: It's What's For Dinner

Now that inspections have been put back on the table, it's unclear how the government would pay to regulate slaughterhouses. In the meantime, there are no slaughterhouses currently slicing up horse meat for humans at the moment, according to the USDA, but horse meat is common in countries in Europe and Central Asia.

"If plants open up in Oklahoma or Nebraska, you'll see controversy, litigation, legislative action and basically a very inhospitable environment to operate," Wayne Pacelle, president and chief executive of The Humane Society of the United States, told the AP. "Local opposition will emerge and you'll have tremendous controversy over slaughtering Trigger and Mr. Ed."

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/horse-meat-its-whats-for-dinner-2011-11

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

22. Animals are animals. I don't see the big deal.

Humans are omnivores... we eat other animals.
I'm not sure why horses got exceptional treatment previosly.

[HockeyMom]

23. I would eat my lawn before I would eat my pets

Don't even try to tell me about starving. I went without eating for 3 days when we were down and out so I could feed my CHILDREN instead. I didn't eat my pets, or their food, either then. THEY have a right to LIVE too.

I am not crazy about eating meat as it is. Eat a horse? Eat a pet? No way, no how.

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

24. self delete... wrong spot

[sasha031]

25. did I ever post this in the wrong forum....what have GD turned into?

This wasn't posted to express the wonders of eating horse meat!!

I love animals, and no I don't eat meat.
I think this law is horrid and cruel and am deeply disturbed by it.

[EOTE]

28. I respect your activism and your love of animals.

What I don't understand is how eating a horse is any more wrong than eating a cow. If 10 cows are saved because 10 horses are killed, isn't it kind of a zero-sum game? I just don't see why eating cow is somehow more humane than eating a horse.

[Godhumor]

30. Well, according to my heavy research by reading "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe"

Cows want to be eaten.

[EOTE]

31. Better than dolphins, I suppose. NT

[Godhumor]

29. Horse meat really isn't all that bad.

Had it a few times living overseas. As far as I'm concern, I'm comfortable eating cow steak, I'm comfortable eating horse steak.

[dtexdem]

32. Good. Another loss for the PETAphiles.

And another blow to cultural arrogance that outlaws foods some subcultures like.

[Name removed]

34. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Ignis]

39. Why are you allowed to sling names at other DUers?

Several DUers have admitted (though "confessed" might be a better word, given the hostile environment promoted towards AR activists at DU) that they are members of PETA.*

What do you hope to accomplish with your ever-so-sly attempt to link animal rights activists with child molesters?


* To ward off the angry mob with pitchforks that will be tacitly encouraged by the lack of deletion of personal attacks towards members of said group, I should state that I am not currently a member of PETA.

[Tx4obama]

33. The bill will end the suffering the horses endure while being shipped to Canada and Mexico

Now they can be slaughtered BEFORE they are shipped out of the country.

The reason the rules needed to be changed was because of the suffering the horses were enduring during transit to Canada and Mexico.


Here's a link to the GAO report saying why the inspection ban needed to be lifted

http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d11228.pdf

Looks like the Dems in Congress and Obama probably did a good thing.

[HopeHoops]

38. What do you think you've been eating at McDonalds all these years?