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by Joshua Levitt
'Aaron's Best' Kosher pastrami. Photo: Aaron's Best.
Jewish Chronicle Editor Stephen Pollard on Thursday slammed John Blackwell, president-elect of the British Veterinary Association, for objecting to kosher slaughter, and even suggesting that it should be banned.
On Twitter, Pollard wrote: “Pure anti Muslim anti Jewish bigotry from John Blackwell dressed up as science. Shocking.”
On Wednesday, Blackwell said the UK should follow Denmark’s lead in banning Muslim and Jewish religious slaughter, on the same grounds claimed by Danish Minister for Food, Dan Jorgensen, who said “animal rights come before religion.”
Blackwell, in an interview on UK Radio 4’s Today program, said, “Our view has always been that animals should be stunned. They should be imperceptible to pain as death supervenes,” as reported in the Daily Mail.
“We are looking for a meeting of minds to review the evidence base which clearly shows that slaughtering animals without stunning compromises welfare,” Blackwell said. “If that can’t happen then I would like labeling at the point of sale that gives the consumer informed choice. If that is not possible we would be looking for a ban for killing without stunning.”
“There is no insensibility for these animals by cutting its throat and these remain conscious for seven seconds for sheep and two minutes for cattle and that is not acceptable. As a vet and scientist welfare is top of our list.”
Jonathan Arkush, vice president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, told the Daily Mail: “I really regret John Blackwell’s remarks, which are completely misleading. Animals that are killed for the Jewish or Muslim markets do not bleed to death. Animals that are killed for the general market or the Muslim and Jewish market are killed in exactly the same way.”
“A large animal has its throat cut and this renders it insensible to pain and unconscious,” Arkush said. “The Jewish method is designed to bring that about instantly, and using tendentious language is not helpful. The Jewish religion focuses on the most humane way (to) bring death. If you eat meat you have to accept that an animal that is (a)live is then killed and the most important thing to do is to do it humanely.”
