Congress Calls on USDA to Enforce the
Humane Slaughter Act

On May 13, 2002 President Bush signed the Farm Bill (Public Law 107-171) into law.  This law includes a Resolution expressing the sense of Congress that the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act of 1958 should be fully enforced so as to prevent needless suffering of animals.  It further calls on the Secretary of Agriculture to track violations of the humane slaughter act “and report the results and relevant trends annually to Congress.”

On June 5, 2001, Senator Peter Fitzgerald (R-IL) along with Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Senator Daniel Akaka (D-HI) introduced S.CON.RES.45 a concurrent resolution calling for the full enforcement of the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act of 1958. On June 27, 2001, Congresswoman Connie Morella (R-MD) introduced an identical Resolution, H.CON.RES.175, along with Congressman Elton Gallegly (R-CA) and Congressman Christopher Shays (R-CT).

In 1978, the Federal Humane Slaughter Act was improved significantly by empowering USDA inspectors to stop the slaughtering line on the spot if any cruelty is observed. Slaughtering may not recommence until deficiencies, whether of equipment or of abuses by personnel, are corrected. 

Although Congress has never repealed the humane slaughter laws of 1958 and 1978, the laws are blatantly disregarded. The barbaric packing industry is moving animals so rapidly through the slaughter lines that it is impossible to stun and kill them humanely. Animals may be dismembered or scalded while still alive and conscious, their cries and shrieks echoing through the plants. The US Department of Agriculture has succumbed to industry pressure and has stopped authorizing the USDA inspectors to stop the line if cruelty to an animal occurs. Stopping the line incurs large costs for the slaughterhouse. The Agricultural Appropriations Bill was amended on the Senate floor to authorize use of funds for research on animal birth control, but the US Department of Agriculture failed to make use of the funds.

When introducing the concurrent Resolution on the Senate floor, Senator Fitzgerald said:

"On April 10, 2001, the Washington Post printed a front page story entitled `They Die Piece by Piece.' This graphic article asserted that the United States Department of Agriculture was not appropriately enforcing the Humane Slaughter Act. In response, I am introducing this resolution that encourages the Secretary of Agriculture to fully enforce current law including the Humane Slaughter Act of 1958, as amended by the Federal Meat Inspection Act in 1978.

The Humane Slaughter Act simply requires that animals be rendered insensible to pain before they are harvested. However, apparently this law is not being enforced in some instances. For example, the Washington Post article reported that `enforcement records, interviews, videos and worker affidavits describe repeated violations of the Humane Slaughter Act' and `the government took no action against a Texas beef company that was cited 22 times in 1998 for violations that include chopping hooves off live cattle.'"