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For immediate release:
April 13, 2021
Contact:
But back 202-483-7382
Washington – Many of President Biden’s orders were aimed at overturning the actions of his predecessor – and this afternoon PETA sent POTUS a letter urging him to overturn waivers issued during the administration of former President Trump, which allow poultry houses to work in slaughterhouses at breakneck speed with birds sweeping by like this quickly that no one on the slaughter line can properly check for disease or guarantee stunning.
PETA notes that higher line speeds result in worker error, putting the bird at risk of being killed while awake or scalded to death in skinning tanks, and also poses a hazard to workers who must own saws, knives and other sharp with the tools above, surfaces are often covered in grease, blood, and debris.
“These exemptions allow meat corporations to increase cruelty to birds and put their employees at risk,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA asks POTUS to slow down this totally reckless policy.”
PETA, whose motto is in part that “the animals are not ours to eat,” opposes specisism, which is a worldview focused on human excellence. For more information please visit PETA.org…
This is followed by PETA’s letter to Biden.
April 13, 2021
The Honorable Joseph Biden
President of the U.S.A
Dear Mr. President,
I am writing on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and our more than 6.5 million members and supporters, requesting an executive order to remove temporary line speed limits issued or reissued to 54 poultry slaughterhouses. during the Trump administration. These exceptions affect worker safety and animal welfare.
In the United States, chickens are slaughtered and processed in poultry slaughterhouses, which are regulated by the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) of the USDA. In these slaughterhouses, chickens are shackled upside down on a high-speed line to be stunned, killed and then destroyed by immersion in boiling water. Due to the high processing speed of chickens, many are inadequately stunned and remain fully conscious when their throats are cut. Others miss the blade cutting the throat and suffer fatal burns while removing the feather. Faster slaughter lines increase worker error, resulting in increased incidences of improper stunning and / or killing, exposing birds to additional avoidable suffering.
Poultry processing also poses a serious risk to workers who have to perform repetitive movements quickly and for long periods of time using hazardous tools such as saws, knives, scissors and other tools to butcher and deboned poultry prior to indoor packing. which are often covered in fat and blood. Many workers need to stand shoulder to shoulder to keep up with the high speed at which birds move along the lines. All of these conditions combined cause workers to suffer from the musculoskeletal system (carpal tunnel syndrome, tendonitis, and trigger finger) and take on acute physical injuries (dislocations, lacerations, bruises, and amputations), and also contributes to the spread of contagious diseases and infections. Increasing line speed only exacerbates these problems, as research shows that higher growth rates increase the risk of injury for workers, and businesses that do not use line speed are 10 times more likely to contract COVID-19 than businesses without line speed restrictions.
In 2014, FSIS installed an additional inspection system called the New Poultry Inspection System (NPIS), which determines the speed of the poultry slaughter line, limiting slaughter to 140 young chicks per minute. Upon reaching this regulatory maximum, FSIS under the Obama administration unequivocally rejected a proposal to allow poultry farms to operate at a maximum speed of 175 heads per minute (beats per minute). However, despite evidence in the protocol demonstrating that higher line speeds lead to increased harm to poultry farmers, the agency has created a waiver system allowing up to 20 slaughterhouses to increase slaughter rates to 175 bpm if they meet certain documentation, safety and security requirements. sanitation. … Refusals are not specifically provided for in the law, and FSIS has established a refusal system without going through notification and comment procedures, instead claiming that it has powers under a regulation that allows the agency “in certain … cases to opt out for a limited period of any provisions for rules allowing … to experiment so that new procedures, equipment and treatment methods can be tested … “.
In response to a petition from the National Chicken Council, FSIS later expanded the waiver system to 20 people who were rejected. The agency then published criteria for new and existing line speed limits. Despite the increased health and safety risks to workers associated with increased line speed, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, FSIS issued 15 line speed failures for large poultry farms with documented histories of severe worker injuries (including amputations), OSHA violations, etc. . and the outbreak of COVID-19. Government records also show animal suffering in violation of federal regulations at facilities that have been granted permission. At Wayne Farms’ slaughterhouse in Danville, Arkansas, FSIS observed “birds piling up on a harness,” in some places “3 layers deep” that “seemed concerned, breathing fast, and struggling to get out from under each other.” friend. … The agency also documented:
Behind the living hangers, on the floor and against the wall, there was a pile of DOA, stretching over the entire wall. In some areas, this pile was three-layer. While examining this pile of DOAs, I noticed three live birds underneath several DOAs. During my observations, the staff of the institution picked up DOA, but none of them noticed how live birds fight under the pile. In an attempt to draw attention to the live birds, I removed them myself so that they would not suffocate.
At the Wayne Farms slaughterhouse in Dobson, North Carolina, FSIS “observed three live birds in a DOA vat at the livestock unit.” By visual inspection [one] the bird was still breathing…. If the live birds had remained in the DOA vat, they would probably have died of asphyxiation due to being strangled by the dead birds placed on them. “
Poultry workers and animal welfare organizations have filed lawsuits challenging the legality of these denials. Although FSIS stopped issuing line speed permits and the administration refused to formally accept the increased line speeds, 54 previously issued refusals by FSIS (including the 15 mentioned above) are still in effect, putting millions of birds at risk of aggravated suffering and thousands of birds. workers at risk of injury and infection.
You called for stronger safety regulations for meat processing workers affected by COVID-19 during your 2020 campaign, noting that poultry workers are “getting sick” as production rises. Your administration has demonstrated its commitment to protecting food workers and its concern about the dangers of increasing line speeds by not formalizing a maximum line speed of 175 bpm. We urge you to fulfill this commitment by issuing a waiver order that allows dozens of businesses, many of which have documented histories of serious worker injuries and regulatory violations, to operate at unsafe production speeds to protect countless birds and workers from significant harm. …
Yours sincerely,
Ingrid Newkirk
The president
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