Animal Welfare and Theories of Justice

Dr Justin Greaves

University of Warwick

This presentation• The origins of the

workshop • Links between

public policy and political theory

GoLD project

• £1million + – funded by RELU

• Studied the epidemiological, political and legal aspects of endemic infectious disease control of cattle in the UK

• Allows stakeholders to be better informed of the potential impact of different policy and regulatory changes

Welfare concerns• It is of welfare concern that livestock

health is sub-optimal• Livestock diseases can potentially affect

the health of humans and wildlife• Animal welfare is a factor in a decision to

control endemic animal disease• Initiatives to improve disease control need

to be developed within the broader context of animal welfare

• As part of the

project Wyn Grant gained interesting insights from a secondment to the Animal Welfare team at Defra

Future research • GoLD also threw up a number of

interesting questions about animal welfare which fell outside the scope of the project

• Workshop has two aims:(1) To discuss the substantive issues concerning justice, animal welfare and animal health(2) Discussion of possibilities to take the inquiry further (Leverhulme bid?)

A gap in the market? • Very few political ‘scientists’ work in this

area• Two exceptions are Rob Garner at

Leicester and Alasdair Cochrane at LSE• Therefore, an important gap in the

market to tap into• Some aspects of the debate have been

underplayed or ignored

Relevant and topical debate• New books (& articles) by Garner and

Cochrane• Animal Welfare Bill, draft Animal Health

Bill (dropped by Coalition government)• EU Animal Health Strategy (EU also

drafting legislation on animal health)• New report by the RSPCA – the Welfare

State: Five Years Measuring Animal Welfare in the UK 2005-2009

Issues to consider (1)• The challenge of ensuring animal

welfare whilst food supplies continue at a time when there are food security concerns and rising or volatile prices

• The need to balance the interests of animals, farmers and consumers

• Ideal and non ideal theories of justice – a need for ‘practical’ solutions?

Issues to consider (2)• Conflicts between the

interests of different animalsEG: bTB – [the extent of] transmission from diseased badgers to cattle. How do we balance the interests of badgers against cattle?

Issues to consider (3)

• How should we understand the nature of, and relationship between, disease, health and welfare for animals?

• What are the implications in terms of public policy?

Public policy/political theory• We hope such

research activity will provide a mechanism for more effectively integrating public policy and political theory

Centre for Ethics, Law and Public Affairs • We intend our activity to feed into

CELPA • New centre established to address

issues of public concern from the perspective of philosophy

• The analysis of ethical and political ideals and their application to different aspects of public policy

Another issue to consider

• Public policy should rest on a sound normative basis and the best ‘scientific’ evidence available

• For example, a badger cull may be scientifically sound, but that does not necessarily make it normatively justified

• See Weale (2010) and Sanderson (2009) articles in Political Studies

Some concluding thoughts

• Could such issues help inform a new ‘theory of justice’ for animals?

• A need to bring together:

(1) The normative issues discussed by moral, political and legal theorists

(2) The debates about policy and farming

Thank you for listening

• Some helpful links

• My webpage (and research interests) http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/pais/staff/greaves

• CELPA http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/pais/research/celpa