Animal Welfare and Theories of Justice
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Animal Welfare and Theories of Justice
Dr Justin Greaves
University of Warwick
This presentation• The origins of the
workshop • Links between
public policy and political theory
GoLD project
• £1million + – funded by RELU
• Studied the epidemiological, political and legal aspects of endemic infectious disease control of cattle in the UK
• Allows stakeholders to be better informed of the potential impact of different policy and regulatory changes
Welfare concerns• It is of welfare concern that livestock
health is sub-optimal• Livestock diseases can potentially affect
the health of humans and wildlife• Animal welfare is a factor in a decision to
control endemic animal disease• Initiatives to improve disease control need
to be developed within the broader context of animal welfare
• As part of the
project Wyn Grant gained interesting insights from a secondment to the Animal Welfare team at Defra
Future research • GoLD also threw up a number of
interesting questions about animal welfare which fell outside the scope of the project
• Workshop has two aims:(1) To discuss the substantive issues concerning justice, animal welfare and animal health(2) Discussion of possibilities to take the inquiry further (Leverhulme bid?)
A gap in the market? • Very few political ‘scientists’ work in this
area• Two exceptions are Rob Garner at
Leicester and Alasdair Cochrane at LSE• Therefore, an important gap in the
market to tap into• Some aspects of the debate have been
underplayed or ignored
Relevant and topical debate• New books (& articles) by Garner and
Cochrane• Animal Welfare Bill, draft Animal Health
Bill (dropped by Coalition government)• EU Animal Health Strategy (EU also
drafting legislation on animal health)• New report by the RSPCA – the Welfare
State: Five Years Measuring Animal Welfare in the UK 2005-2009
Issues to consider (1)• The challenge of ensuring animal
welfare whilst food supplies continue at a time when there are food security concerns and rising or volatile prices
• The need to balance the interests of animals, farmers and consumers
• Ideal and non ideal theories of justice – a need for ‘practical’ solutions?
Issues to consider (2)• Conflicts between the
interests of different animalsEG: bTB – [the extent of] transmission from diseased badgers to cattle. How do we balance the interests of badgers against cattle?
Issues to consider (3)
• How should we understand the nature of, and relationship between, disease, health and welfare for animals?
• What are the implications in terms of public policy?
Public policy/political theory• We hope such
research activity will provide a mechanism for more effectively integrating public policy and political theory
Centre for Ethics, Law and Public Affairs • We intend our activity to feed into
CELPA • New centre established to address
issues of public concern from the perspective of philosophy
• The analysis of ethical and political ideals and their application to different aspects of public policy
Another issue to consider
• Public policy should rest on a sound normative basis and the best ‘scientific’ evidence available
• For example, a badger cull may be scientifically sound, but that does not necessarily make it normatively justified
• See Weale (2010) and Sanderson (2009) articles in Political Studies
Some concluding thoughts
• Could such issues help inform a new ‘theory of justice’ for animals?
• A need to bring together:
(1) The normative issues discussed by moral, political and legal theorists
(2) The debates about policy and farming
Thank you for listening
• Some helpful links
• My webpage (and research interests) http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/pais/staff/greaves
• CELPA http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/pais/research/celpa
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