Worldlog Week 10 - 2013 - Main contents

We’re right back at it after a week’s recess. This week, I asked parliamentary questions about donkeys on Sint Eustatius, a Dutch municipality in the Caribbean. They are keeping dozens of donkeys that used to roam free in a fenced-off area, under wretched conditions. I also asked the Dutch government to take measures to stop further animal victimisation.

Last Thursday, I presented “My Idea for the Netherlands”. I am one of a few lucky Dutch citizens who were picked to present their idea of what future the Netherlands faces in a series of debates. One of the evening’s themes was ‘If we all started eating meat substitutes, they would become cheaper than meat is now’. Creating meat substitutes requires five times less soy than meat. This means we could feed the world without depleting the earth. That sounds like a good idea to me!

This clip is another horrifying example of how animals are mistreated in intensive cattle farming practices. Perhaps after viewing the film, you might like to contemplate turning vegetarian?

This week we also asked questions about a steakhouse in Amsterdam that has been selling horse meat as beef steak for 63 years. The Dutch Commodities Act means that no one can sell meat as ‘steak’ if it doesn’t come from a cow. How strange that the controlling body (the nVWA) hasn’t done anything about it. I want the nVWA to issue them a ticket for deception and for violating the Commodities act..

I also asked parliamentary questions about other food source scandals. I raised such issues as German consumers being defrauded on a large scale when it comes to eggs. Consumers believe they are buying organic eggs whereas they are really buying ordinary eggs. The British Lion Egg Processors, the organisation behind the British egg quality mark, has also established that since the start of last year, more than 12.5 billion battery hen eggs have been sold, despite them being banned as 1 January 2012. I want the State Secretary of Economic Affairs to tell me what she’s going to do to put Dutch consumers’ minds at rest when it comes to the origin of their animal products. We also need to drastically expand our investigative and enforcement capacities - especially now that we’re having one food scandal after the other.

The Dutch and European consumer is very badly informed on where there food comes from and the negative effects this can have on both people and animals. We believe that the government needs to use a proper sticker system to create clarity in this regard. This sticker system needs to clearly show which country an animal product comes from and how it was produced: it should also include under which animal welfare and environmental standards it was produced and under which social circumstances!

Coming Sunday is our second Tree Planting Day. We started our Green Resistance campaign at the end of 2011. We suggested that people buy a tree and plant it as a protest against nature cut-backs in the Netherlands. The inaugural Tree Planting Day was at the end of 2011 and it was a raging success - we planted 5,000 new trees! This Sunday we hope to plant another 5,000!

A neat little newsflash: Our documentary Meat the Truth will be released in France as a film and a book at the start of April.

Have a great week! Marianne