Millions of animals are suffering unnecessarily by being slaughtered without stunning to meet religious demands.
That's why we campaign to end religious exemptions to animal welfare laws.
Animal welfare law requires animals to be stunned before slaughter to minimise their pain, suffering and distress. The only exemption is for Jewish and Muslim communities to meet kosher and halal religious dietary preferences.
The scientific consensus is clear that it is more humane to stun an animal prior to slaughter. The slaughter of animals without pre-stunning is permitted in the UK despite a recommendation by the government's own advisory body, the Farm Animal Welfare Council (FAWC), that the practice should be banned. FAWC concluded that animals slaughtered without pre-stunning are likely to experience "very significant pain and distress".
RSPCA, Compassion in World Farming and the British Veterinary Association all support an end to non-stun slaughter to improve animal welfare at the time of death.
- 70% of Brits think stunning animals before slaughtering them is more ethical.
- 72% of the population think food produced from religious non-stun slaughter methods should be clearly labelled.
We support the right to religious freedom. But this is not an absolute right. Religious exemptions shouldn't be made to laws meant to prevent unnecessary animal cruelty.
Take action!
1. Write to your MP
Ask your MP to end the religious exemption that allows animals to be slaughtered without pre-stunning.
2. Share your story
Tell us why you support this campaign, and how you are personally affected by the issue. You can also let us know if you would like assistance with a particular issue.
3. Join the National Secular Society
Become a member of the National Secular Society today! Together, we can separate religion and state for greater freedom and fairness.
Latest updates
Animal welfare group to address NSS conference on religious freedom
Posted: Fri, 29 Mar 2019 12:26
The National Secular Society is delighted that Joyce D'Silva, the ambassador emeritus of the group Compassion in World Farming (CiWF), will address non-stun slaughter at the NSS's Secularism 2019 conference.
Joyce was chief executive of CiWF from 1991 to 2005, when she played a key role in advancing major animal welfare reforms at UK and EU level. She now works for the group on a consultancy basis.
She speaks and publishes widely on the welfare of farm animals, including by co-editing books. She acts in a supporting or advisory role to several other animal welfare groups and is a patron of the Animal Interfaith Alliance.
In 2004 she received the RSPCA's Lord Erskine Award, in recognition of a "very important contribution in the field of animal welfare".
Secularism 2019, which will have the tagline 'reclaiming religious freedom', takes place at The Tower Hotel in central London on Saturday 18 May.
Current religious exemptions to the UK's animal welfare laws allow animals to be slaughtered without pre-stunning if they are intended for consumption by Jews or Muslims.
Official figures indicate that there has been a significant rise in non-stun slaughter in recent years. The government has also recently signed a deal which will allow non-stun meat to be sold to Saudi Arabia.
Recent NSS research has shown that non-stun meat is widespread in UK supermarkets and at least 17 councils are supplying non-stun meat to schools.
The NSS campaigns to end the religious exemption to animal welfare laws, and to introduce labelling requirements while the exemption exists.
The society's chief executive Stephen Evans said "animal welfare organisations provide an important voice in the debate around where the limits of religious freedom should lie".
"Joyce D'Silva's decades of experience in this area will make her a highly worthwhile and authoritative voice on the issue of non-stun slaughter. Too often this debate is skewed by deference to religious lobbyists, who seek to silence debate by unfairly branding opposition as an attack on religious freedom.
"Compassion in World Farming recognises that religion need not be a reason to allow farm animals to suffer. The normalisation of non-stun slaughter is a significant threat to animal welfare and social cohesion in the UK.
"We are confident that Joyce's speech will make a strong case for legislative and social change so that religious interests don't trump the welfare of animals."
Other speakers at Secularism 2019 will include journalist and author Nick Cohen, counter-extremism commissioner Sara Khan and Dr Ahmed Shaheed, the UN's special rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief. Tickets are currently on sale.
ECJ: non-stun slaughter breaches ‘highest welfare standards’
Posted: Tue, 26 Feb 2019 15:59
Meat from animals slaughtered without pre-stunning does not meet sufficiently high animal welfare standards to be labelled organic, the European Court of Justice has found.
The EU's top court today said non-stun slaughter "fails to observe the highest animal welfare standards" and breaks regulations on organic food which require suffering to be minimised.
The court said scientific studies had shown that pre-stunning "compromises animal welfare the least at the time of killing".
It said slaughtering animals without stunning is "insufficient to remove all of the animal's pain, distress and suffering as effectively as slaughter with pre-stunning".
It also said religious non-stun slaughter methods were "not tantamount, in terms of serving a high level of animal welfare at the time of killing, to slaughter with pre-stunning".
It said slaughter without pre-stunning requires an accurate cut of the throat with a sharp knife to minimise the animal's suffering. But it added that this technique does not "allow any suffering to be kept to a minimum".
The National Secular Society said the UK government should "take note" of the ruling. In the UK, all animals must be stunned before slaughter but exemptions are given to animals slaughtered to meet Jewish or Muslim dietary preferences.
The case was brought by a French animal welfare group concerned by non-stun halal beef being labelled organic. The ruling means the EU's organic production logo cannot be placed on meat derived from non-stun slaughter.
European Council regulations require "the application of high animal welfare standards" for products to be labelled organic. They also say "any suffering, including mutilation, shall be kept to a minimum during the entire life of the animal, including at the time of slaughter".
The court said it was "important to ensure that consumers are reassured" that products bearing the organic logo "have actually been obtained in observance of the highest standards, in particular in the area of animal welfare".
The case was brought by the French animal welfare group Oeuvre d'Assistance aux Betes d'Abattoirs (OABA). OABA had lobbied France's minister for agriculture to drop an 'organic farming' label from beef products from cattle slaughtered without pre-stunning.
The ruling contradicts the opinion given by EU advocate general Nils Wahl in September that the 'organic farming' certification "cannot be refused to products from the slaughter of animals without stunning".
Stephen Evans, chief executive of the NSS, welcomed today's ruling.
"By withholding the organic label from meat derived from non-stun slaughter, the Court of Justice is ensuring animal welfare standards are kept at the heart of this accreditation.
"Consumers can continue to trust that meat bearing this logo is from animals that have been given the highest standard of care, including at the point of slaughter.
"The UK government needs to take note of this ruling and acknowledge the importance of consumer choice. Meat from unstunned animals is still being supplied to the general public without any information about the method of slaughter. As a minimum, meat from animals slaughtered without stunning must be labelled as such to give consumers a genuine choice.
"The government should also note the EU's acknowledgement that non-stun slaughter objectively causes unnecessary suffering. For this reason, the UK should follow the example of other countries around the world that have banned non-stun slaughter."
Non-stun slaughter is banned in a number of EU countries, including Austria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, and Sweden. In January a ban on non-stun slaughter came into effect in the Flanders region of Belgium.
