TTIP and Animal Welfare

The EU and US have very different rules on the treatment of farm animals. The EU recognizes animals as sentient beings and requires Member states to respect their welfare, banning some of the worst forms of cruelty, many of which are common in the United States. Progress has been more limited in the U.S., but animal welfare activists won a major victory with California’s passage of a new law banning eggs produced in battery cages.

The EU has proposed non-binding language on animal welfare in the draft text in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), but animal welfare advocates worry that this weak language will only make things worse. In fact, other language in TTIP intended to harmonize standards could jeopardize laws like the California ban and make it more difficult to raise animal welfare or food safety standards.

Please join us for a webinar on animal welfare rules in the U.S. and EU, and the potential impacts of TTIP at 7:00 PT/9:00 CT/16:00 CET on Thursday, February 26. Presenters include:

• Joyce Tischler, co-founder, general counsel, Animal Legal Defense Fund
• Olga Kikou, European Affairs Manager, Compassion in World Farming
• Moderated by Robert Pederson, ARC2020

This is the fifth in a series of webinars in partnership with ARC2020 on TTIP, agriculture and food systems. Recordings of the previous webinars:

• Trade rules for poultry and pork: safe for whom?
• TTIP and GMOs
• TTIP and Antibiotic Resistance
• TTIP: Trading Away our Bees

are available at http://www.iatp.org/video or on IATP's youtube channel.