The export of North American horses to Europe for the meat trade has found its way into the
headlines, for reasons other than animal welfare. And rightly so — the
industry poses a potentially serious risk to human health and safety.
Kathy Milani/The HSUSTens of thousands of American horses are slaughteredfor human consumption each year.
American horses, whether companion animals, show horses, pleasure horses, or race
horses, receive a myriad of veterinary drugs throughout their lifetimes. Race
horses, as reported by Joe Drape in the
New York Times, are often given drugs to enhance their
performance — including painkillers, phenylbutazone (anti-inflammatory drug a.k.a.
“bute”), clenbuterol (bronchodilator) and other legal and illegal
drugs. Although many of these drugs carry the warning “Not for use in
horses intended for human consumption” this warning is virtually meaningless
since American horses do not have lifetime medical records.
In
addition, almost all American horses receive common veterinary drugs, such as
bute, which have been deemed so dangerous that there is no acceptable
withdrawal period. That means that if a horse receives a drug such as bute even
once in his
or her life, that animal should never be slaughtered for human
consumption. In the absence of lifetime medical records, it is impossible
to guarantee, regardless of where they are slaughtered, whether a horse is free
of banned or potentially dangerous substances.
Each
year, more than 100,000 American horses are sucked into the
slaughter
pipeline by unscrupulous killer buyers, who then ship them to
slaughterhouses in Canada and Mexico. These horses are required by
law to be free of specified drugs for six months. It is widely acknowledged,
however, that there is a high level of fraud involved with the equine
identification documents. International government audits have confirmed
these findings. For instance, the
European Commission’s 2012 audit of EU-approved equine
slaughterhouses in Mexico noted that there are significant problems with the
identification of live horses and the sworn statements by the owners on medical
treatments.
There are many reasons to oppose horse slaughter,
including
inhumane
long-distance transport and cruel and clumsy
slaughter practices. If altruistic concerns won’t
get the job done, then perhaps naked self-interest will. No consumer, and no
regulatory agency, should sanction trade in any kind of meat potentially laden
with such contamination and obvious health risks. And with
polling
results from
Humane Society International, released last week,
that show overwhelming support in Belgium, France and Italy
for
a ban on horse meat imports from countries such as Mexico and
Canada that do not meet EU food safety regulations, this is not an
impossibly heavy lift on the political side.
The bottom line is that horses are not raised for food, but
they are used in a variety of industries and settings where substances
that are forbidden or potentially dangerous for human consumption are
injected or fed to them. To protect American horses, consumer health
and food safety, both here and abroad, we hope that U.S. and
European Union public health officials take rapid and serious measures to
protect human safety by deeming American horses unfit for human consumption.
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The ABP Foods plant in Leeming Bar, North Yorkshire, was at the centre of the original horse meat scandal.
