The General Assembly,
Noting that the factory farming of animals is a method often used in agricultural settings to increase efficiency and lower the cost of production,
Resolved that factory farming:
- is almost universally considered cruel and inhumane, as it holds no regard for the welfare of animals, and also profits off of their abuse,
- has significant, demonstrably negative environmental effects on wildlife and flora,
- has been shown to increase the risk of infection and other health dangers to consumers,
- fosters anti-competitive practices and the cartelization of the farming industry, and
- often results in particularly egregious exploitation of laborers and the destruction of small-scale farming livelihoods,
Believing that any monetary cost savings that may be associated with factory farming do not outweigh the costs incurred by wildlife and flora, consumer health, the economy, and the inherent rights of farm animals as sentient beings,
Hereby:
- Defines for the purposes of this resolution:
- "farm animal" as a sentient animal raised in an agricultural environment to produce commodities where said commodity is produced directly by or from said animals, and
- "factory farming" as an industrialized system of producing commodities from farm animals characterized by one or more of the following aspects:
- keeping farm animals in unhygienic or crowded spaces where they are unable to exercise their full range of motion, including but not limited to all use of battery cages, except when strictly necessary for the health and/or welfare of said farm animals, or
- the routine use of antibiotics or growth hormones on farm animals in attempts to alter their physical characteristics and/or mitigate the consequences of keeping farm animals in unhygienic conditions; where such use is not intended to cure an illness,
- Bans all forms of factory farming, and
- Gives member-states a period of no more than two years to become fully compliant with this resolution.
Co-authored by
Greater Cesnica.
