Objectives of the conference
This conference will provide an opportunity to bring together the best scholars working on the intersections between animal ethics, sustainability, and food policy, and to develop further capacity and stimulate community action in this field. Scholars from different disciplines as well as those who adopt interdisciplinary perspectives are welcomed to submit extended abstracts insofar as they engage with the question of how governments should address the ethical issues raised by the consumption of animal products. To contextualise the problem, abstracts should address the following question: ‘How should the UK Government regulate the consumption of animal products?’

Context
This conference is needed to build capacity as well as consolidate existing scholarship and community action on the ethics and politics associated with the consumption of animal products. Internationally, the field of human-animal studies has gained impetus through the ‘Minding Animals’ conferences, the first of which was held at the University of Newcastle, Australia, in 2009, and the second of which will be held in 2012. The planned conference will serve as a pre-conference for the latter, which will provide a further opportunity to explore the theme of animal ethics and sustainable food policy. The Newcastle Animal Ethics and Sustainable Food Policy conference will provide an opportunity to address the question of how governments should regulate the consumption of animal products. Whereas speakers are invited to focus on the UK with its distinctive social, economic, geographical, and climatological context, they should also consider how UK policies might differ from as well as inspire policies that might be adopted in other legal contexts.

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Programme:

Introduction to the day by
Cristina Fernandez-Garcia (Newcastle University) .

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Steven McCulloch (The Royal Veterinary College)
Agriculture, animal welfare and climate change: an analysis of sustainable intensification and radical naturalism as responses to the impending perfect storm
[AUDIO HERE]

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Tanya Wyatt (Northumbria University)
An exploration of animal abuse in the increased scale and industrialisation of pig farming
[AUDIO HERE]

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Maureen Robertson and Keith Robertson (The Scottish School of Herbal Medicine)
Given the strong causal link between the consumption of animal products and ill health, how can the UK government use its health and farming policies to reduce the intake of animal products?
[AUDIO HERE]

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Tony Milligan (University of Aberdeen)
A case for legislation against wild meat
[AUDIO HERE]

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Jan Deckers (Newcastle University)
A reflection on the day and an introduction to the UK vegan project
[AUDIO HERE]

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Final Comments and Close .