1 million signatures for End The Slaughter Age legal initiative

On 5 June, World Environment Day and National Animal Rights Day, the European Citizens Initiative called ‘End The Slaughter Age’ started: in simple terms, it is an official signature collection – a legal act, not a simple petition – which aims to exclude farms from the European CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) subsidies for the livestock industry, to channel these funds towards greener and more sustainable alternatives such as cellular agriculture and the production of plant-based foods that do not involve killing animals.

The launch of the ECI, considered legally admissible by the EU as it meets all the criteria established by the 2012 Lisbon Treaty, started on Sunday 5 June. Whoever wants to sign the petition can go on the site www.savefarmanimals.eu which redirects to the official European Citizen’s Initiative site.

The international organization End The Slaughter Age, the Italian activist Nicolas Micheletti, aim to collect at least 1 million signatures from seven member states of the European Union within a year, the minimum objective necessary to get the European Commission moving.

Within the 1 million signatures collected across all the EU, seven countries must also reach a minimum threshold. Malta needs to collect a minimum threshold of 4230.

Once this threshold has been exceeded, it will in fact be required to act, deciding whether or not to carry out the initiative and support the decision with clear and exhaustive reasons.

As the impact of climate change is increasingly dramatic and the livestock industry is among the main catalysts of CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions, quick and clear decisions are also expected in favouring diets mainly based on products plant-based, considered much more sustainable.

The End The Slaughter Age initiative aims precisely to facilitate these ethical, sustainable and healthy alternatives for the benefit of all: animals, humans and the planet. Vegetable meat and cultivated meat produce over 90% less greenhouse emissions, for the same amount of meat produced, and require as many fewer resources, that is land water. 6 million animals are killed every hour for food. We must stop this cycle. The only way for us to save our plant is to change our lifestyle to a more plant-based lifestyle.

Locally, End The Slaughter Age is supported by VeggyMalta, Animal Liberation Malta and Real Animal Rights.

Darryl Grima,
VeggyMalta