ofprogressforfarmanimalsistheprohibitionofindividual
stallsforvealcalves.ItisSwedenthatisnowshowingthe
wayforwardinanimalwelfare,asithasoftendoneinrespect
ofothersocialreforms;theSwedishlawspassedin 1988 will
transform conditions for the entire range of farm animals.
Throughout this chapter I have been concentrating on
conditionsintheUnitedStatesandBritain.Readersinother
countriesmaybeinclinedtobelievethatconditionsintheir
owncountryarenotsobad;but iftheylivein one ofthe
industrialized nations (other than Sweden) they have no
groundsforcomplacency.Inmost countries,conditionsare
much closer to those in the United States than to those
recommended above.
Finally, it is important to remember that although the
implementationoftheBrambellcommittee’s“fivefreedoms,”
oroftheresolutionsoftheEuropeanParliament,orevenof
thenewSwedishlegislation, wouldbe amajor advancein
Britain,theUnitedStates,and almostanywhereelsewhere
factory farming exists, none of these reforms give equal
considerationtothesimilarinterestsofanimalsandhumans.
Theyrepresent,tovaryingdegrees,anenlightenedandmore
humaneformofspeciesism,butspeciesismnonetheless.Inno
country yet has a government
bodyquestionedtheideathattheinterestsofanimalscount
lessthansimilarhumaninterests.Theissueisalwayswhether
thereis“avoidable”suffering,andthismeanssufferingthat
canbeavoidedwhilethesameanimalproductsareproduced,
at a cost that is not significantly higherthan before. The
unchallengedassumptionisthathumansmayuseanimalsfor
their own purposes, and they may raise and kill them to
satisfy their preference for a diet containing animal flesh.