Day 115 - 06 Apr 95 - Page 24
1
2 Q. Is that a good thing?
3 A. I think so. I have only seen experimental versions.
4
5 Q. I think you told us that there was not any commercially
6 available, that would appear not to be right, would it not?
7 A. Yes, Mr. Bowes' evidence suggested it has recently come
8 on the market.
9
10 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes, it did.
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12 MR. RAMPTON: Yes, it did. He had only just got it.
13 A. Yes, so I am a bit behind the times but not too bad.
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15 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You may not have got to hear of it yet.
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17 MR. RAMPTON: But he is not, is he?
18 A. No, I mean, I have been to see the thing as he may have
19 done. It is just that I went a few months ago and I think
20 it is still somewhat experimental. I think he has the only
21 one at the moment that is in commercial use.
22
23 Q. Something of a market leader, one might say, I suppose,
24 Dr. Long?
25 A. Not necessarily. The apparatus was designed really at
26 -- the impulse was given by animal welfarists, and it has
27 been going on for a long time, to try to accommodate
28 something that I mentioned before. In other words, that
29 if -----
30
31 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Mr. Rampton did say "market leader"?
32 A. Yes.
33
34 MR. RAMPTON: I used those words deliberately. I do try to
35 choose my words, Dr. Long.
36
37 MR. JUSTICE BELL: There is a distinction, is there not? That
38 is all he was suggesting. Mr. Bowes has got in first, it
39 is said, among those who are actually slaughtering pigs.
40 That is all that was being suggested to you.
41
42 MR. RAMPTON: Whether or not it confers on him a market benefit,
43 Dr. Long, if it works properly it is going to confer a
44 benefit on the animals to this extent, is it not, that it
45 will help to remove any residual doubts about the efficacy
46 of the stunning process, will it not?
47 A. It will reduce the doubts if it works well.
48
49 Q. As you will get a reading for the impedance of each
50 individual pig, will you not?
51 A. I am not sure about that. That is one of the
52 reservations I have got. When we come back to this sort
53 of -- the point that I made before is that one has to make
54 sure that the current goes through the brain, the full
55 shock, and those systems have to be checked. This
56 equipment, as I saw it, was not fully able to do that.
57
58 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Do you not think it is a move for the better?
59 A. Yes.
60
