Poland's Agriculture Minister Rejects Challenge To Ritual Slaughter

Poland's Agricultural Minister Marek Sawicki said last week that he rejects demands of animal rights activists to end kosher and halal slaughter in Poland.  He says that ritual slaughter is permitted under European Union law, and that banning it would be inconsistent with Poland's constitutional protection of religious freedom  According to JTA, the minister of agriculture has exempted ritual slaughter from the requirement that animals be stunned before slaughter. Activists have asked the country's prosecutor to determine if this violates Polish law. In connection with the controversy, a Polish newspaper charges that the slaughterhouses where ritual slaughter is performed are owned by a colleague of the Agriculture Minister.