Representatives of the Legislative Assembly of the Brazilian state of São Paulo approved a bill that institutes "Meatless Mondays" throughout the state.
What is a meatless day?
It is a campaign carried out by Humane Society International (HSI), the same organization that is pushing to get the laying hens out of cages. On their site, they explain what is this "Meatless Monday". Basically, they give options of how to achieve it (eating any food that is not an animal product), who do it (politicians and celebrities), and why.
The reasons they refer to are:
- The environment, saying large poultry farms as producers of greenhouse gases and putting meat consumption on the level of pollution produced by automobiles
- Saving millions of industrially produced animals
- Health, claiming meat leads to cancer and heart attacks, among other diseases.
The São Paulo bill
The proposed law in São Paulo establishes that public schools and establishments (bars, restaurants and food service cafeterias) that provide meals to public bodies, such as prisons or restaurants for low-income people (except hospitals), would be prohibited of providing meals with meat and its derivatives every Monday. In addition, the proposal determines that these establishments must have the option of a vegetarian menu for the rest of the week and visible notices with alternatives to meat consumption.
The author of the project
In the Legislative Assembly, the author of this project is Rep. Feliciano Filho, whose motto is that "man cannot and should not deliberate on the life of an animal, because that is a divine prerogative." He is vegetarian (first quality in his curriculum), founder of the Animal Protection Association and author of several laws of protection and animal welfare, ranging from dogs and cats, to fur-producing animals, culled birds, castration, among other things.
He represents the National Ecological Party (PEN), a conservative political organization with fundamentalist Christian ideology, whose political spectrum is reported to go from the right to the far right.
According to Filho, the idea is to give "one more instrument of reflection" and "call the attention of society on the consequences of meat consumption and its derivatives", in addition to affirming that the meat production contaminates the environment, consumes natural resources and energy, generates millions of tons of solid, liquid and gaseous toxic waste, as well as the issue related to the rights of animals, the loss of biodiversity and the diseases that afflict the human population, among other things.
Final fate of the bill
Geraldo Alckmin, the governor of the state, can veto the bill, but has not declared anything yet. It is worth mentioning that, according to information published in the media, during his 2014 campaign, Alckmin received funds from JBS, the Brazilian meat and poultry giant. In this way, in the middle of the electoral year in Brazil, if the governor sanctions the law, it is said that he would face one of the most powerful groups in the state (and the country), but if not, he will have to face two other groups: vegetarian activists and animal advocates.
Position of poultry and swine producers
The Brazilian Association of Animal Protein (ABPA) vehemently repudiates the bill, approved by the Legislative Assembly of the State of São Paulo, which imposes "Meatless Mondays".
According to the ABPA, by assuming the ideology of a specific group, the approval of the project runs over the Constitution and the rights of more than 40 million citizens who now reside in the state of São Paulo.
In addition to generating 4.1 million direct and indirect jobs, the animal protein production chain is a fundamental part of ensuring the population's food security, with the supply of high quality and low-cost food, accessible to the various social classes.
As an entity representative of poultry and pig producers, ABPA relies on the correct understanding of Gov. Geraldo Alckmin on the economic and social role of the animal protein sector for the state. Vetoing this bill is also, according to ABPA, defending the freedom of choice of the citizen.
