How Animal Rights Activists are Eating Away at Consumer Choice
There’s a brawl at the American dinner table, and consumers need to put up a fight, according to Jack Hubbard, Executive Director of the newly launched Center for the Environment and Welfare (CEW).
The purpose of CEW is to “help consumers, companies, and stakeholders navigate complex sustainability and animal welfare issues.”
Hubbard said fringe animal activist groups are not just impacting the lives and livelihoods of farmers, but are threatening consumer interests as well.
U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics data shows that food prices continue to climb in the United States, with April 2023 posting 7.7% food-price inflation compared to the year before. Hubbard pointed to fringe animal rights groups as one contributor to those surging costs.
“Exhibit A is a Supreme Court decision that was handed down in May. The high court’s majority upheld a California law that forbids the sale of conventionally raised and veterinarian-approved pork and egg-laying hens in the state,” Hubbard stated. “Well-paid animal non-profit executives who are working toward upending American dinner tables predictably applauded the news.”
The decision will force higher food prices onto California families. “And to everyone else, it’s a cautionary tale,” he advised. “Misguided policies that start in California rarely remain there.”
Hubbard also warned of animal activists targeting food companies, pushing their agendas on the likes of McDonald’s, Hormel, and Kroger, with shareholder activism. “It is similar to the ‘Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions’ playbook, where institutions are squeezed until compliant with activist demands,” he said. “In this case, the goal is to pressure corporations into adopting policies that prohibit them from buying most eggs, pork, and chicken produced in the country.”
Many European countries that have yielded to animal rights activism can serve as a bellwether for consumer fallout. One study showed that an average trip to the grocery store to buy staples like milk, eggs, chicken, and cheese currently costs Americans about $28, compared to $35 in Norway and $48 in Switzerland.
“Despite rhetoric from animal rights activists, their goal is far from achieving the humane treatment of animals,” stated Hubbard. “The movement seeks to impose extreme beliefs on the American diet by inflating the price of food until the products they deem harmful are out of reach.”
