Consultation Documents

Originally from: Farmtalking
                        
DEFRA have recently issued a flurry of consultation Docs inviting stakeholders and others to comment.

I have posted links to them on Farmtalking (News/Science pages) and they have also been listed on the message board by Mona and others – thank you!

If we really want to influence DEFRA and their future strategies/actions I guess it's time to put pen to paper once again and let them know what we would like them to do!
                        

Originally from: Farmtalking
                        
I have now carefully studied the Animal Health and Welfare consultation document issued by DEFRA

Many of us remain extremely angry and frustrated by the manner in which the FMD crisis was handled and annoyed by Government's refusal to hold an Open Public Inquiry.

The introduction of the 20 day standstill rule has further frustrated the industry while acceptance of the SI843 and ammendments to the Animal Health Act – (especially the legal right to ‘slaughter on suspicion’ removing from livestock owners the right to defend healthy stock in a Court of Law prior to slaughter) – have angered and frustrated us all.

We have reached the stage where nothing DEFRA can do or say, including the way in which it is said, is taken seriously any more! I blame no one for that, it is more than understandable in the circumstances but it isn’t very constructive!

The consultation document gives us questions to answer and invites us to put forward our own ideas for a future Animal Health and Welfare strategy so surely we should take advantage of it.

You may say, ‘but we’ve done it all before, we wrote to the Inquiries giving our evidence and it seemed to be completely ignored, so what’s the point?’

On consideration, I think perhaps it’s our own perception that’s at fault. It may seem much of our evidence was ignored but in fact it wasn’t. The Inquiries may not have come up with the answers we wanted to hear but the evidence they received was published.

Although it’s a certainty Government won’t admit their mistakes of the past they certainly know they ‘got it wrong’ and in many instances exactly how their mistakes were made!

I think this consultation document is at least an attempt on their part to put things right for the future. If we really care about animal health and welfare, our farming industry and the well being and prosperity of all those who live, work or have an interest in the countryside, we need to answer their questions and contribute our ideas.

There is nothing to stop us calling for changes to, or abolition of, existing legislation, which IMO is quite unecessary if some sensible disease control measures that take account of animal welfare, are in place

If we fail to respond to the consultation doc, surely we can only blame ourselves if we don’t like the strategy Govt/DEFRA produces!

The consultation document is on Farmtalking at – http://www.farmtalking.org/download-general-interest.htm

Or on the DEFRA website at – http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/ahws/strategy.htm

Jane