Document type : Podcast of Le grand entretien on France Inter (27 min)
Authors: Jérôme Cadet, Alexandra Bensaid, Stéphanie Boutonnatc, Alexandre Gilardi, Juliette Hackius. Guests: Florence Burgat, Louis Schweitzer.
Preview: Florence Burgat, philosopher, director of research at INRA, assigned to the ENS, author of "L'humanité carnivore" (Seuil) and Louis Schweitzer, president of the Fondation Droit animal (LFDA), former CEO of Renault, are the guests of the Grand entretien de la matinale to discuss the animal condition.
Several laws on animal welfare have been passed this year and 40% of French people say they are flexitarians, i.e. they limit their meat consumption. However, 3 million animals are slaughtered every day in France. This is the paradox that Florence Burgat, philosopher and director of research at INRA, points out: "There is an awareness in the political world and in French society, but it is the behaviors that are changing the most," she explains.
"The fact that we have a law voted by almost all parliamentarians is a new fact. It's positive," adds Louis Schweitzer, president of the Animal Rights Foundation (LFDA) and former CEO of Renault. "But this law does not address the most difficult issues, which are livestock and wildlife. Progress is therefore still to be made, according to him, especially on hunting. "I think that this government is part of a generation where the understanding of the animal subject is not yet acquired," he notes.
Limiting or stopping its consumption?
ForLouis Schweitzer, the most important thing is to provide suitable living conditions for animals. According to him, it is possible to produce differently by feeding the whole population, especially since "a chicken that has had proper living conditions is a better product".
A point with which Florence Burgat disagrees, recalling that "organic chickens live between 83 and 93 days and the intensive chicken lives 40 days. You could say that they have no life at all. Of course, it's better for them to spend those few weeks in the open air than locked up. But we must see the disproportionate problem we have between the pleasure we have in eating a roasted chicken and the cost to the chicken. No sooner does it begin to have a life than it is slaughtered. To say that we will all die one day, of course, but who can we wish to be slaughtered the moment it begins its existence?
According to the philosopher, the solution is to stop eating meat. "It won't happen overnight, but it's my deep conviction," she says.
For Louis Schweitzer, it is not necessary to stop eating meat but to limit its consumption. "We must be aware that even if we are not vegan or vegetarian, in our rich countries, for environmental reasons and not only moral, we will have to reduce meat consumption," he explains. "It's about eating less meat and better quality meat."
" Today, the vast majority of people eat meat and this action must not result in unbearable living conditions for animals," emphasizes the president of the Animal Rights Foundation. "This has an economic cost and we must help breeders bear this cost, allow them to invest in improving the animal condition and pay what they produce at the price necessary for the living conditions of these animals to be acceptable."
