MKUNGA
JF-Expert Member
- Dec 10, 2009
- 441
- 71
The Islamic (halal) method of slaughter can be described as follows: The animal has to be lawful to eat, alive, healthy, to be slaughtered only for the reason of food, in the name of The Creator, ALLAH (s.w.t) and not for any other reasons (it has to be well-fed, not thirsty handled and moved gently and individually).
The slaughter-man must be in possession of a clear mind and not under the influence of alcohol or drugs, trained in the job, with an awareness of what he is doing.
The act of slaughter (Al-Dhabh) starts by pronouncing the name of ALLAH (s.w.t), The Creator (BISMILLAH ALLAHU AKBAR ), to take His permission and in order to make the Slaughter-man accountable and responsible and to give compassion and mercy to the animal during this act.
The animal, at this stage after the cut, is in a stable and quiet state with no movement or any distressed behavior. One would assume, if there was any pain or suffering, it would kick, move or show signs. After this short resting phase, and because the brain is deprived of oxygen and blood due to the huge amount of bleeding, the heartbeats increase in order to increase the flow of blood to the brain and other deprived areas. Tonic and clonic involuntary contractions and convulsions start and occur as automatic physiological reflexes in order to send and push blood up, especially to the brain. These contractions and convulsions are painless (not, as the layman would imagine, that the kicking is due to the pain) especially when the animal is already unconscious and still has an intact spinal cord with safe nerve centers to the limbs, muscles and organs. So, we have a huge amount of bleeding from the initial cut then blood loss is continuing with the squeezing pressure of these contractions and convulsions, leading to maximum bleeding-out and less retention of blood in the carcass, giving a better quality of meat [both safer and healthier (this is like direct method of slaughter, but without stunning)].
I would like to end this section of my talk with at least one testimony from, for example, Lord Horder GCVO, MD, FRCP, who explained this type of slaughtering scientifically (and without the use of stunning):
The animal loses consciousness immediately. It is difficult to conceive a more painless and rapid mode of death; for a few seconds after the cut is made, the animal makes no movement its body is then convulsed, the convulsive movements continue for about a minute and then cease. The interpretation of this fact is clear: the cut is made by a knife so sharp and so skillfully handled that a state of syncope with its associated unconsciousness follows instantaneously upon the severing of the blood pressure. The movement of the animal which begins at about 90 seconds are epileptiform in nature and are due to the blood-less state of the brain (cerebral ischemia with complete anoxaemia). Sensation has been abolished at the moment of the initial syncope.
Methods of slaughter used today
1.The captive bolt pistol
used commonly for cattle, calves and goats. It is the shooting, by a gun or pistol in the forehead (mechanical method) by a blank cartridge or compressed air. It could be penetrating or non-penetrating (percussion stunning). It breaks the skull, shatters and destroys the brain. A rod of steel is introduced in the skull hole to smash, cut and destroy the brain [pithing:now to be prohibited in UK and Europe by January 2001]. All this occurs before the real slaughtering cut is made. Recently, a new method by which a steel needle to penetrate the skull and brain and in which air is injected to cause intercranial pressure has been developed.
Problems, harm and results of this method have been reported in different scientific and Government reports, as follows:
2. Carbon Dioxide (CO2)
it is done by moving the animal through a room which contains a mixture of CO2 and air (about 65/70% CO2 by volume). It is used only for pigs. It is a form of chemical strangulation. CO2 is a harmful gas to be inside the body.
Problems and harm reported include;
could be to head and brain only or to head and back or to the legs, and there are three varieties:
a. Low Voltage Electrical Stunning by a pair of scissors-like tongs with circular or rectangular electrodes which are usually immersed in a saline solution then applied to the side of the head. Voltage is not less than 75 volts (50 Hz mains frequency) for not less than seven seconds.
Problem and harm with this method include:
Some scientists and physiologists have expressed serious misgivings; some are of the opinion that the animal is merely paralyzed by the electric current and so prevented from making a sound or a movement while fully conscious and experiences great pain as the current passes through its body. Such views are shared by the following Professors and Scientists:
a) Prof. A.C. Ivey (North Western University of America)
b) Prof. M.J. Hertz, of France
c) Prof. Roos & Koopmans, Holland.
Stunning does not first involve passing an electric current through the animals body. The magnitude of the current passed must be adequate; voltage of higher rating could lead to bone fractures. Voltage of lower rating produces electric convulsions without inducing unconsciousness. A lower voltage rating needs longer application and this being a matter of judgment, the human element could lead to failure. The variations in the sizes of animals and their individual resistance to the current are also important considerations.
Let me quote the following petition of Meat Packers in Denmark to the Danish Government:-
Stunning with electricity causes extravasation in the meat, sanguinary intestines and fractures in the spinal column, pelvis, shoulder blades, through the shock. The blood in the meat makes it more susceptible to putrefaction and has detrimental effect on taste.
b. High Voltage Electric Stunning by using an electric shock of 300-400 volts, commonly used for pigs and sheep.
Problems and harm with this method:
Electric stunning of calves by the head only method is inhumane in all circumstances. (Blackmore 1982);
I also quote Baldwin 1971 (quoted by Biala 1983): The question whether the animal is suffering pain during the period of consciousness in not so readily appropriate to objective experimental investigation.
c. Electrified Water Bath for Poultry Stunning The birds are suspended on the shackle (upside down) then the head is intended to come into contact with the water and the passage of an electric shock through the brain. (FAWC 1982)
Problems and harm with this method:
SOURCE: http://www.azhar.jp/info/halal-eng/halal5.html
The slaughter-man must be in possession of a clear mind and not under the influence of alcohol or drugs, trained in the job, with an awareness of what he is doing.
The act of slaughter (Al-Dhabh) starts by pronouncing the name of ALLAH (s.w.t), The Creator (BISMILLAH ALLAHU AKBAR ), to take His permission and in order to make the Slaughter-man accountable and responsible and to give compassion and mercy to the animal during this act.
Then, by a very, very sharp knife (which should be kept like a surgeons knife in sharpness and cleanliness, as previously stated by DR Ghulam Khan (UFAW, 1971), a Deep swift cut done instantaneously and quickly to the blood vessels of the neck (the two caroid arteries which carry blood to the brain and head, the two jugular veins which bring blood from the brain back to the heart), the trachea (windpipe) and the oesophagus (gullet), but the central nervous system (the spinal cord) should be kept safe and intact (not cut).
The animal, at this stage after the cut, is in a stable and quiet state with no movement or any distressed behavior. One would assume, if there was any pain or suffering, it would kick, move or show signs. After this short resting phase, and because the brain is deprived of oxygen and blood due to the huge amount of bleeding, the heartbeats increase in order to increase the flow of blood to the brain and other deprived areas. Tonic and clonic involuntary contractions and convulsions start and occur as automatic physiological reflexes in order to send and push blood up, especially to the brain. These contractions and convulsions are painless (not, as the layman would imagine, that the kicking is due to the pain) especially when the animal is already unconscious and still has an intact spinal cord with safe nerve centers to the limbs, muscles and organs. So, we have a huge amount of bleeding from the initial cut then blood loss is continuing with the squeezing pressure of these contractions and convulsions, leading to maximum bleeding-out and less retention of blood in the carcass, giving a better quality of meat [both safer and healthier (this is like direct method of slaughter, but without stunning)].
I would like to end this section of my talk with at least one testimony from, for example, Lord Horder GCVO, MD, FRCP, who explained this type of slaughtering scientifically (and without the use of stunning):
The animal loses consciousness immediately. It is difficult to conceive a more painless and rapid mode of death; for a few seconds after the cut is made, the animal makes no movement its body is then convulsed, the convulsive movements continue for about a minute and then cease. The interpretation of this fact is clear: the cut is made by a knife so sharp and so skillfully handled that a state of syncope with its associated unconsciousness follows instantaneously upon the severing of the blood pressure. The movement of the animal which begins at about 90 seconds are epileptiform in nature and are due to the blood-less state of the brain (cerebral ischemia with complete anoxaemia). Sensation has been abolished at the moment of the initial syncope.
Methods of slaughter used today
1.The captive bolt pistol
used commonly for cattle, calves and goats. It is the shooting, by a gun or pistol in the forehead (mechanical method) by a blank cartridge or compressed air. It could be penetrating or non-penetrating (percussion stunning). It breaks the skull, shatters and destroys the brain. A rod of steel is introduced in the skull hole to smash, cut and destroy the brain [pithing:now to be prohibited in UK and Europe by January 2001]. All this occurs before the real slaughtering cut is made. Recently, a new method by which a steel needle to penetrate the skull and brain and in which air is injected to cause intercranial pressure has been developed.
Problems, harm and results of this method have been reported in different scientific and Government reports, as follows:
- Improper stunning (failure of stunning leading to re-stunning and double shots (FAWC 1982 and 1984);
- Paralysis of the animal while still conscious (FAWC 1982 and 1984);
- Depressed skull fracture and considerable damage to the brain (FAWC 1984);
- Brain contamination (Blackmore 1979);
- Blood splash (extranvasation of blood from vessels Into muscle and meat with some clotting of the blood) (Blackmore 1979);
- Brain hemorrhage (Blackmore 1979);
- Bruising and injuries from the heavy fall of the animal after the shot;
- Death reported by Lawton (1971); Temple Grandin (1980) stated that tests on sheep and calves indicated that penetrating captive bolt stunning actually kills the animal;
- Damage or harm to the meat. Marple (1977) stated Captive bolts should be discontinued in view of theirdetrimental effect on meat quality. (Quoted by Biala 1983)
2. Carbon Dioxide (CO2)
it is done by moving the animal through a room which contains a mixture of CO2 and air (about 65/70% CO2 by volume). It is used only for pigs. It is a form of chemical strangulation. CO2 is a harmful gas to be inside the body.
Problems and harm reported include;
- Considerable, unacceptable stress (violent excitation, general agitation and convulsions).
- CO2 stunning is more stressful than either properly applied electrical or captive bolt stunning (Temple Grandin 1980).
- Suffocation, strangulation and death to the animal before the cut; death was reported by Glen (1971).
- Toxic effect of the gas on the blood and physiology.
- It is definitely a cruel way for the animal and I would like to quote here also from FAWC (1984) when they discussed pain;It is doubtful whether the animal feels pain or is even conscious. This method has been banned in Holland and many other European countries
could be to head and brain only or to head and back or to the legs, and there are three varieties:
a. Low Voltage Electrical Stunning by a pair of scissors-like tongs with circular or rectangular electrodes which are usually immersed in a saline solution then applied to the side of the head. Voltage is not less than 75 volts (50 Hz mains frequency) for not less than seven seconds.
Problem and harm with this method include:
- It is cruel, by giving an electric shock directly, with no anesthesia;
- paralysis while the animal is conscious (pain);
- doubt about the effect and feeling of pain;
- unreliable: missed shots and re-stunning;
Some scientists and physiologists have expressed serious misgivings; some are of the opinion that the animal is merely paralyzed by the electric current and so prevented from making a sound or a movement while fully conscious and experiences great pain as the current passes through its body. Such views are shared by the following Professors and Scientists:
a) Prof. A.C. Ivey (North Western University of America)
b) Prof. M.J. Hertz, of France
c) Prof. Roos & Koopmans, Holland.
Stunning does not first involve passing an electric current through the animals body. The magnitude of the current passed must be adequate; voltage of higher rating could lead to bone fractures. Voltage of lower rating produces electric convulsions without inducing unconsciousness. A lower voltage rating needs longer application and this being a matter of judgment, the human element could lead to failure. The variations in the sizes of animals and their individual resistance to the current are also important considerations.
Let me quote the following petition of Meat Packers in Denmark to the Danish Government:-
Stunning with electricity causes extravasation in the meat, sanguinary intestines and fractures in the spinal column, pelvis, shoulder blades, through the shock. The blood in the meat makes it more susceptible to putrefaction and has detrimental effect on taste.
b. High Voltage Electric Stunning by using an electric shock of 300-400 volts, commonly used for pigs and sheep.
Problems and harm with this method:
- It is very cruel by giving a high electric shock (electrocution to a conscious animal).
Electric stunning of calves by the head only method is inhumane in all circumstances. (Blackmore 1982);
- Ventricular fibrillation, cardiac inhibition, cardiac disfunction, cardiac arrest and death; Head to back stunning induced a cardiac arrest in all the sheep. (Gregory and Wotton, 1984);
- Bone-shattering;
- Stress: >From a physiological standpoint, the stunned animal is more highly stressed. (Althen 1977 quoted by Temple Grandin 1980);
- High level of blood splashing in the carcass (Gilbert, Blackmore, and Warrington); Electric stunning raised the blood pressure by 31/2 times
- Pain and sensation;
I also quote Baldwin 1971 (quoted by Biala 1983): The question whether the animal is suffering pain during the period of consciousness in not so readily appropriate to objective experimental investigation.
c. Electrified Water Bath for Poultry Stunning The birds are suspended on the shackle (upside down) then the head is intended to come into contact with the water and the passage of an electric shock through the brain. (FAWC 1982)
Problems and harm with this method:
- A very cruel way to give the electric shock, especially in this uncomfortable position;
- Drowning and suffocation resulting in death.
- It was well-documented that some birds were taken, still alive to the scalding tank (to remove the skin and feathers) (Heath et al 1983). One-third of the birds are dead (mitah) in the stunner and one-third are not stunned. (FAWC 1982).
- Death from the stunner;
- Paralysisby failure of stunning.
- With regard to pain, apart from the above suffering, the FAWC reported a substantial number maystill be sensitive to pain.
SOURCE: http://www.azhar.jp/info/halal-eng/halal5.html
