carbon dioxide gassing of pigs
The Issue
I have just learned that animals in the UK are routinely stunned by immersion into a tank of 85% Carbon Dioxide. Initially I thought that the report I was listening to had made a mistake, I assumed they meant Carbon Monoxide. But no. My background is PhD in genetics, 10 years research, followed by 20 years teaching science. I am also a recreational scuba diver (knowledge of gasses).
So what’s wrong with Carbon Dioxide? Firstly, it is the only gas that we (mammals) can detect. Most people when they train as a diver are surprised to learn that we cannot detect the absence of Oxygen, but rather, we detect the build of Carbon Dioxide. It is this gas that causes all the suffocation experience. If you had to pick a gas to humanely kill an animal that was physiologically exactly wrong it would be Carbon Dioxide.
The published articles describe pigs taking up to one minute to lose consciousness. In humans the symptoms of Carbon Dioxide poisoning are; nausea, vomiting, dizziness, headache, rapid breathing, fast heart rate, and flushings ending with confusion, convulsions, and loss of consciousness.
Humane killing is defined by the RSPCA as
“when an animal is either killed instantly or rendered insensible until death ensues, without pain, suffering or distress'. When killing animals for food (termed slaughter), this means they must be stunned prior to bleeding out so they immediately become unconscious.”
How can we reconcile these two things?
Choose just about any other gas and the circumstances would be very different. One of my students recounted a story of breathing in Helium gas from a party balloon a few too many times and subsequently fainting. I myself after a trip to Disneyland experienced a near faint from doing something similar. Back in the day when scuba divers used steel tanks and were less scrupulous than we are today about checking for rust, occasionally a diver died from anoxia. The rusty tanks would under pressure react with the oxygen and leave essentially a tank of Nitrogen, divers with these tanks would be completely unaware and just lose consciousness and often die.
It doesn’t seem a big ask to adapt the systems currently used to stun/kill animals to use an undetectable gas to exclude the Oxygen and bring on unconsciousness and death rather than use the only gas we mammals can detect.
The Issue
I have just learned that animals in the UK are routinely stunned by immersion into a tank of 85% Carbon Dioxide. Initially I thought that the report I was listening to had made a mistake, I assumed they meant Carbon Monoxide. But no. My background is PhD in genetics, 10 years research, followed by 20 years teaching science. I am also a recreational scuba diver (knowledge of gasses).
So what’s wrong with Carbon Dioxide? Firstly, it is the only gas that we (mammals) can detect. Most people when they train as a diver are surprised to learn that we cannot detect the absence of Oxygen, but rather, we detect the build of Carbon Dioxide. It is this gas that causes all the suffocation experience. If you had to pick a gas to humanely kill an animal that was physiologically exactly wrong it would be Carbon Dioxide.
The published articles describe pigs taking up to one minute to lose consciousness. In humans the symptoms of Carbon Dioxide poisoning are; nausea, vomiting, dizziness, headache, rapid breathing, fast heart rate, and flushings ending with confusion, convulsions, and loss of consciousness.
Humane killing is defined by the RSPCA as
“when an animal is either killed instantly or rendered insensible until death ensues, without pain, suffering or distress'. When killing animals for food (termed slaughter), this means they must be stunned prior to bleeding out so they immediately become unconscious.”
How can we reconcile these two things?
Choose just about any other gas and the circumstances would be very different. One of my students recounted a story of breathing in Helium gas from a party balloon a few too many times and subsequently fainting. I myself after a trip to Disneyland experienced a near faint from doing something similar. Back in the day when scuba divers used steel tanks and were less scrupulous than we are today about checking for rust, occasionally a diver died from anoxia. The rusty tanks would under pressure react with the oxygen and leave essentially a tank of Nitrogen, divers with these tanks would be completely unaware and just lose consciousness and often die.
It doesn’t seem a big ask to adapt the systems currently used to stun/kill animals to use an undetectable gas to exclude the Oxygen and bring on unconsciousness and death rather than use the only gas we mammals can detect.
Petition Updates
Share this petition
Petition created on 4 January 2020