Posted by Paddy MacLachlan
Are you just about to eat? If so, you might want to leave this till later….
In the Editor’s Choice section of ucanews.com today, we’re reporting that French far-right groups are furious that most of the meat slaughtered in Paris is done so according to the Islamic halal method. A spokeswoman described herself as “disgusted.”
The story we quote, from Reuters, says that:
like kosher slaughter, the halal rite requires the butcher to kill the animal by swiftly slitting its throat. Stunning it first to lessen its pain, as recommended in a European Union directive, is not allowed.
But there is a large body of evidence to suggest that stunning the animal actually increases the pain. The University of Hannover in Germany used ECG and EEG recordings to monitor brain and heart impulses under both processes.
When the animal is killed the halal way, assuming the knife is sufficiently sharp, it does not even feel the cut and thus registers no pain. It dies very soon afterwards from rapid loss of blood. It does convulse violently in the final stages, which might make observers think that it is suffering agonies, but this is simply a reflex reaction of the spinal cord; by the time the convulsions begin, the brain is no longer sensate.
On the other hand when the animal is first stunned, as per the EU directive, the monitors show that it registers immense pain and shock. However, it doesn’t go into convulsions, which makes it much easier for the butcher to work on it.
There’s a further argument, not so well substantiated as far as we could discover, that claims that an animal that dies in shock and pain is more likely to transmit bacteria.
What do you think? Is halal the more humane way? Or has this whole thing made you decide to be a vegetarian?
