Q&A :: the bioethics of kosher and halal slaughter

Hosted by Alicja Baczynska.

The Polish Parliament recently upheld ia ban on shechita and halal killing of livestock, after the Constitutional Tribunal ruled the practice incompatible with the country's animal rights legislation.

Poland consequently joined the ranks of Sweden, Norway, Iceland and Switzerland, where the practice of killing an animal without stunning beforehand has been outlawed.

The step has triggered protest by Jewish and Muslim groups, who say it is a violation of their freedom of worship and Israel has called the ban "totally unacceptable".

But animal rights campaigners have welcomed the move.

"To me, after over a year of campaigning, it is absolutely outrageous that the representatives of religious communities, both Jewish and Muslim, blatantly ignore all present knowledge [on the pain inflicted on the animal subjected to ritual slaughter]," says Professor Andrzej Elżanowski, zoologist from the Polish Academy of Sciences and board member of the Polish Ethics Society.

The Polish government is currently looking at whether the legislation can be sent back to the Constitutional Court – this time to see if it contradicts Poland's religious freedom laws.