00:00Ever get the feeling you're being lied to, gaslit, told everything's fine when it very
00:04clearly bloody isn't? Same. Same. Same. Same.
00:07A new campaign is calling for an end to the use of carbon dioxide gas chambers in pig
00:13slaughter across the UK. It's backed by a number of celebrities who say the method raises
00:18serious animal welfare concerns. Around 90% of pigs in England and Wales are currently
00:24killed using the system. The industry says it is a regulated and standard practice.
00:30It's time to take a stand. So we're turning on the lights.
00:34Load in the slingshot and take an aim.
00:36The campaign argues the method causes unnecessary suffering and should be phased out. They are
00:42calling on the government to bring forward plans that already exist to move away from
00:46carbon dioxide stunning over time. It's a debate that's been running for years, but is now
00:51returning to public attention with high profile backing.
00:54I'm Dr Alice Brough. I am an ex-industry pig vet. So for about four years, I've worked
00:59with a large proportion of the UK's pig farms, as well as in several slaughterhouses around
01:05the UK.
01:06One of the voices supporting the campaign is Dr Alice Brough. She is a vet who's worked
01:11in the pig industry. She grew up in a farming family and says she originally built her entire
01:16career around working in the sector. But she later left the profession and now describes
01:21a very different relationship with it.
01:23I already had like quite a lot of conditioning. I was like a massive meat eater. I was working
01:28on lots and lots of farms from sort of teens onwards. Kind of nothing really could have
01:34prepared me for the scale of suffering that I saw. And that was both on farms and in slaughterhouses.
01:40But as a vet, you get to see really behind the curtain and how it all kind of fits together.
01:44And yeah, I mean, I came out with PTSD actually from the pig industry, which was super unexpected.
01:51And I'm not the only one.
01:53Dr Brough says her time working in the industry changed her perspective on animal welfare and
01:58eventually led her to step away from work in that field. She has since spoken publicly
02:03about the emotional impact of what she witnessed.
02:06From start to finish, they're kind of forced into a cage, lowered into the dark and sort of increasing
02:12concentrations of carbon dioxide, which burns them because it forms an acid in their mucous
02:17membrane. So in their eyes, nose, mouth, lungs, they have a burning sensation. And the kind of
02:23increasing concentration of carbon dioxide sends them also into respiratory distress. So they're kind
02:28of gasping for air. It accounts for about 200,000 pigs a week at the moment in the UK are
02:34gassed in
02:34carbon dioxide chambers, despite it having been known for decades that this is an aversive process and
02:40agonising day. Carbon dioxide stunning is widely used in pig slaughter across the UK.
02:46Animals are placed in controlled systems where exposure to gas is used as part of the process
02:51before slaughter. A government advisory body has previously found that exposure to high
02:56concentrations of CO2 can lead to pain, fear and respiratory distress in conscious pigs.
03:02It recommended the system should be phased out over time.
03:06The pig industry has previously defended the use of carbon dioxide, saying it is a regulated method
03:12designed for large scale food production. It also says any move away from current systems
03:16would require significant investment, infrastructure changes and careful transition planning.
03:22We've known for about as long as I've been alive, so about 35 years, we've had the data on how
03:28aversive this is. The government's own animal welfare committee has been saying we urgently need
03:34to stop this for the last 20 years. So the industry has had plenty of time to kind of think
03:39about it,
03:39do the studies, retrofit whatever they needed to do. But it's the case with kind of every welfare
03:48improvement that's pushed forward on the industry is that they kind of resist.
03:55We haven't included footage of the slaughter process itself in this report. The material shows
04:01animals inside industrial slaughter systems and under broadcast guidelines, it is not suitable
04:06for transmission in full due to its graphic nature. Campaigners say that lack of visibility is part of
04:12the issue, arguing the public rarely sees what the process involves. Dr Brough says that in her view,
04:18the fact it cannot be shown on television underlines the welfare concerns at the centre of the debate.
04:23For anyone who wants to be kind of more informed on where their food comes from, you can find
04:30footage from inside these gas chambers online. There's been quite a few kind of undercover
04:36investigations in the UK. The government has previously said it intends to phase out the use
04:42of carbon dioxide in pig slaughter, but a detailed timetable has not yet been set.
04:47Campaigners are continuing to press for change and have launched a public petition calling
04:52for action. The pig industry maintains the system remains lawful, regulated and widely used.
04:58For now, it remains the dominant method in the UK and one that continues to divide opinion
05:03between animal welfare campaigners, vets and the farming sector. The debate is expected to continue
05:09as pressure grows on ministers to set out the next stage of their plans.
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