French parliament votes to install cameras in slaughterhouses

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Amid rising reports of animal abuses at meat processing facilities, France's parliament has voted that slaughterhouses be required to install surveillance cameras to monitor workers' interactions with live animals.

The proposed legislation, which was approved by 28 members on Jan. 12, would give the country’s nearly 1,000 slaughterhouses until Jan. 1, 2018 to install CCTV cameras everywhere live animals are handled, including monitoring the transport process and while they're being held in stables, reports Politico.

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According to the bill, the footage from each slaughterhouse would only be viewable to veterinarians, approved government officials or animal-welfare inspectors and would be kept on government file for a month. The bill also proposes the creations of a national Committee on the Ethics of Slaughterhouses, which would oversee and mete out harsher penalties to facilities caught violating the law.

The move comes amid heightened scrutiny of the country’s meat industry. In 2016, animal rights activist group L214 released troubling footage showing numerous animal abuses at several French meat-processing facilities inclduing workers killing animals without stunning them first, throwing lambs into walls, and hitting live animals.

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Though the bill passed in parliament—where just four MPs opposed the legislation—it must still be approved by France’s senate. According to Reuters, the vote could happen as early as February.