Animal Death Bill

Originally from: Sue Mason
                        
The Animal Health Bill _ which last night had an unopposed Second Reading in the House of Lords _ is set for a rough ride during the Committee stage debate as Conservative, Liberal Democrat and cross-bench peers have pledged to try and change its key clauses.
Conservative Agriculture front bench spokesman Baroness Byford said it should be called the "Animal Death Bill" because it gave the Government sweeping powers to enter farms and kill animals if it thought the situation justified it.
"The Bill is considered by many to take all rights of appeal from farmers. "While the Government maintain the Bill does not contravene human rights, we have been informed differently," she said.
 Liberal Democrat Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer said her party was "unhappy" that MPs had passed the Bill before the results of the Royal Society inquiry which the Government commissioned to report by the summer. And the Bishop of Hereford, the Rt Rev John Oliver, described the Bill as "harsh, unjust and untimely."
Junior Environment Minister Lord Whitty said the powers were necessary as the disease showed that refusal by farmers to allow the slaughter of their stock in the contiguous cull, caused delay and worsened its spread. Delays had to be avoided in case of any future outbreak, he warned.
                        

Originally from: frances fish
                        
Surely,surely, surely in light of recent reports on FMD handling by HMG, the iniquitous Animal Health Bill must be re-thought,or are these people, as I suspect, incapable of reasoned, rational thought ? Hey, perhaps that's why they need an army of "advisors" so they needn't even try ? There is a pertinent old joke about a brain for sale,second-hand but unused and still wrapped in cellophane(shows how old this is !), one previous owner... a politician.