President Eisenhower signed into law last night a so-called humane slaughter law which sets up standards of food animal slaughter, but exempts Shechita from its provisions.
The measure had been opposed chiefly by Orthodox groups which feared that the establishment of such standards might prove–as it has historically in other countries–an entering wedge in the direction of restricting or forbidding the Jewish ritual method of slaughter. Other national Jewish groups did not oppose the measure and some aided in the wordings of the provision of the measure exempting religious slaughter from its terms.
The act, which becomes effective after June 30, 1960, provides that the Federal Government and its agencies may not purchase meat from slaughter houses which do not render insensible to pain food animals prior to slaughter. There are no penalties other than loss of Federal patronage for slaughterers who do not meet the legislation’s requirements.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
