When animal advocates speak up—especially against powerful industry interests—they often face backlash. To be effective, advocates have to prepare to face criticism and retaliation and use it to strengthen their resolve.
Dr. Crystal Heath is a shelter veterinarian, animal welfare advocate, and founder of Our Honor, a nonprofit working to expose and end systemic harms in animal care systems. Known for challenging unethical practices both within and outside her profession, Dr. Heath has faced criticism, professional retaliation, and outright misinformation campaigns. In this episode, she joins us to reveal how real progress for animals requires both courage and strategic advocacy—plus a healthy dose of ethical resilience.
In this episode, we explore:
- Why most farm animals in the US have virtually zero legal protections, and how state laws like California’s Prop 12 are trying to fill the gap
- The disturbing industry practice of “ventilation shutdown”—what it actually means for animals, and why it’s so controversial
- How animal welfare advocates inside veterinary medicine are often maligned, silenced, and targeted—and why Dr. Heath believes transparency and collaboration are the keys to change
- The truth about the Save Our Bacon Act (f.k.a. the Ending Agricultural Trade Suppression “EATS” Act) and the real public health risks it could worsen
- Why veterinarians are vital voices for both animal welfare and food safety—and how companion animal practitioners can support their farm animal colleagues
- What it takes to build “ethical resilience,” prepare for criticism, and keep advocating even when faced with adversity
Dr. Heath shares hard-won lessons from her journey, including how to use Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to uncover industry strategies, and why connecting veterinarians and advocates is a powerful force for change.
Key Takeaway: Effective animal advocacy means being prepared for criticism, prioritizing truth, and supporting state-level regulations that protect both animal welfare and public health.
Episode Highlights:
00:00 Intro Penny Ellison previews the episode’s shift from companion animal issues to farm animal advocacy and introduces Dr. Crystal Heath.
01:57 The Battle Over Farm Animal Protections: Why state laws like Prop 12 matter, the Supreme Court’s surprising decision, and Congress’s attempt to override animal welfare advances.
03:07 Meet Dr. Crystal Heath: From high-volume spay-neuter work to activism for all kinds of animals.
06:03 Becoming a “Veterinary Activist”: Dr. Heath’s background, education around “animal rights” in vet school, and what made her challenge norms.
08:57 Inside Factory Farming and Ventilation Shutdowns: Explaining the realities and animal suffering caused by mass confinement and controversial depopulation methods.
11:08 Backlash from the Profession: Dr. Heath shares the personal and professional retaliation she’s faced for speaking out—including online harassment and exclusion from industry groups and events.
13:44 FOIA Fridays and Industry Messaging: How Dr. Heath uses Freedom of Information Act requests to uncover how corporations manipulate public opinion and co-opt veterinary voices.
16:10 What Is Ventilation Shutdown?: The grisly details on this industry “solution” to animal overcrowding during crises like pandemics.
20:07 Understanding Prop 12—and Why Industry Is Fighting It: The mechanics of state-level animal welfare laws, failed federal protections, and Supreme Court battles.
21:52 Animal Welfare, Food Safety & Public Health: How better animal welfare means fewer human diseases and reduced foodborne illness.
25:08 Industry Lobbying and “Save Our Bacon” Act: The political playbook: using misleading bill names, attacking change, taking power away from people and states and ignoring smaller producers who already comply with higher welfare regulations.
30:05 Why Regulation Drives Innovation: How strong laws and regulations create real progress in both animal welfare and non-animal alternatives—not just “nanny state” interference.
33:12 Our Honor: Supporting Veterinary Advocates: Dr. Heath’s nonprofit offers a safe community and platform for vets who want to speak out and make change.
34:51 Building Ethical Resilience: Advice for advocates on managing overwhelm and staying strong in the face of criticism.
36:32 What Gives Dr. Heath Hope: Veterinarians, students, and the public coming together to create a future free from exploitation—one where advocacy wins.
Resources mentioned:
- Learn more about Dr. Crystal Heath’s work and support veterinarians speaking out: ourhonor.org. Their Motto: “Embrace your conscience. We’ll back you up.”
- FOIA Fridays with Dr. Heath: Discover how transparency tools can expose industry messaging (find episodes and info on YouTube)
- Find your Congressperson so that you can reach out to tell them to oppose the Save Our Bacon Act, (HR 4673) and the PURR Act (HR 597).
Subscribe for more episodes on animal law, systemic change, and practical advocacy for every animal lover.
Because compassion is great—but compassionate action is infinitely better.
Transcript
Penny Ellison:
Welcome back to the Animal Advocate. Thanks for joining us. So we’ve been covering lots of companion animal issues and working through some bills that I’m excited about getting our community behind, like allowing veterinarians to expand services by permitting them to see new patients virtually and requiring local governments to provide animal control services for the good of both the animals and the people in the community. This week, we’re taking a bit of a different turn. We’re talking with Dr. Crystal Heath. Dr. Heath is a shelter veterinarian, animal welfare advocate, and the founder of Our Honor, a nonprofit working to expose and end systemic harms in animal care systems.She’s known for speaking out against unethical practices and advocating for transparency, equity, and compassion in animal services.
Welcome to the Animal Advocate, where we arm animal lovers with the information and inspiration you need to become effective advocates. I’m your host, Penny Ellison, and I’ve taught animal law and advocacy at the University of Pennsylvania since 2006. If you’ve ever thought someone should do something about that, I’m here to guide you on your journey to being that someone. You can find us on the web@animaladvocacyacademy.com and that’s where you’ll find show notes and resources, and you can send us your comments on episodes and ideas for topics you’d like to hear on future shows. So on to today’s topic.
With a background in both veterinary medicine and public policy, Dr. Heath brings a unique perspective to some of the toughest issues facing animals today.I originally reached out to her because she was speaking out on an important issue that was happening at the federal level. We haven’t talked much about farm animal protections, but if we did, you’d find out that there are basically none. So some states have started to pass basic animal welfare laws and saying that meat that comes from animals that have been subjected to the worst forms of intense confinement, like gestation crates for pigs that don’t give sows even enough room to take a step or turn around – that meat that comes from animals that were treated like that can’t be sold in the state. California and Massachusetts have both passed laws like that. In something of a surprise, the Supreme Court actually upheld California’s law, saying they have a right to regulate what gets sold to their citizens. So industry lobbyists have pushed for a bill in Congress that would strike down any state laws that put any protection whatsoever in place for animals that are raised for meat or eggs or other animal products. So that’s where Crystal and I started.But it’s not really where we ended up.
We covered lots of topics. Her day job is working for nonprofits providing high quality, high volume spay neuter services. But in her off hours, she’s an activist and advocate for animals on all kinds of issues. In our talk, she discusses how in vet school she was taught to fear any legal push to give animals rights because it was a threat to the profession and they told her it would drive up the costs of veterinary care. When we talk about farm animals, she describes how animal production methods have changed because of the huge quantities that we now need to produce for meat. She’s fought against some of what she sees are the worst abuses. For example, a practice known as ventilation shutdown, a controversial means of quote, unquote, euthanizing poultry and pigs when slaughterhouses were shut down. It involves basically cooking them alive in barns that are pumped full of heat.
Maybe most importantly, she’s going to talk about the way she was attacked from both inside and outside the veterinary profession. And I think that’s important to hear because if you’re going to become an advocate for animals, you’re going to face a lot of criticism and you’re going to have to think in advance about how to handle that. Dr. Heath gets really candid about the criticism and retaliation she faced for speaking up for animals. This is probably more common when you speak up for farm animals because there’s so much money involved. But anybody who advocates for animals is likely to hear at one time or another that you care more about animals than you care about people, and you should get your priorities straight.
So expecting that will happen and preparing how you’ll respond both internally and to your critics is an important part of becoming an effective advocate. So I hope you enjoy this far ranging interview with a veterinarian on the front lines of animal advocacy.
Welcome, Crystal Heath. I’m so happy to have you.
Crystal Heath:
Thank you so much for having me. Happy to be here.
Penny Ellison:
So we have a lot to talk about. Because you are involved in some of the issues that I’ve been talking about recently on the podcast, including access to veterinary services, subsidized spay neuter services, and you’re also involved in some farm animal issues that I also want to spend some time on because it’s very important. I’m interested in the path to how you became sort of a veterinary activist, I will call it. I teach at a university that has a law school and a vet school. And it’s not been my experience that the vet students are activists in the way that you are. They go into that big financial and time commitment of vet school, caring about animals. But, you know, by and large, they care about them as part of and accepting the conventional system of how we use animals. And they don’t challenge those paradigms.
How did you find yourself going down a different path?
Crystal Heath:
Absolutely. Well, I’ve always been a lifelong animal lover and grew up in, you know, rural Northern California and was in 4H, but always was questioning things. I saw my neighbors raise pigs and sheep and cows for the county fair. I even debated going that path and raising a pig and getting the money. But then I’m like, I really, I don’t think I can do that. Got my hands on some PETA material quite young and understood the environmental impacts of animal production and just the moral impacts. Like, I loved animals. They are my best friends.
Why, why should they be sold as profit for some corporation? And so I went on this path and eventually ended up going to veterinary school. In veterinary school, I was a vegetarian, but in my class, about 25% of us were vegetarians and there were a couple of vegans. But I learned in veterinary school there was just this negative view of groups like PETA and animal rights in general. And we got whole classes on how the animal rights lawyers were a threat to our profession, that they were trying to sue us. And if animals gained the ability to be considered people, our clients could sue us for lack of companionship. That would just lead to increase cost of veterinary care because we would be practicing cover your ass medicine and our malpractice insurance would go up, and that would mean the cost of veterinary care would go up and all of these, these negative externalities associated with giving animals rights. But at the same time, I saw, while there was growing awareness of animal welfare and animal welfare was becoming more professionalized, things were getting a lot worse for animals. Things like ventilation shutdown, where they seal up buildings, pump in heat, and wait for the animals inside to die. This is as a response to emergencies and infectious disease outbreaks.
These methods of depopulation of animals, because we’ve never combined this many animals before in history. Up until 70 or so years ago.
Penny Ellison:
People say, you know, we always have eaten animals, and we may have, but not in the production volume that we do now. And they’re facing those kind of issues that you’re talking about. Ventilation shutdown.
Crystal Heath:
Absolutely. And I. So I’m weighing these two things. What I’m hearing in the veterinary profession with what I’m hearing in the animal advocacy movement. And I’m seeing the problems with how animal advocates communicate about these things, how they don’t always get the facts right and how the veterinary profession takes advantage of the fact that animal rights activists don’t get the facts right because they don’t know. And so in here I’m trying to get the facts right and also communicate to my colleagues. This is actually really important.
Crystal Heath:
And now I’m learning more and more about how just a threat to our national security, our food security, is the way that we treat animals because we’re seeing this growing emergence of viruses, of pandemic potential because of the growing number of animals that we confine. So that brought me along this path and also mostly my, my day job is working as a veterinarian, working for nonprofits on companion animals, providing access to care, high quality, high volume, spay, neuter and that sort of thing. So that’s allowed me to both treat individual companion animals while also advocate for farmed animal welfare reforms. And ultimately my goal would be a scaling down of animal based protein production and a support of animal free methods of protein production.
Penny Ellison:
You gave me a flashback to… I sometimes have guest speakers in my class and one of my guest speakers was a vet who was an advisor to all of the labs on campus. And the closing slide of her presentation had a kind of a cartoon with people with sheets over their heads and it said like HSUS on the sheet. And she was making them out to be terrorists. And I thought that’s because, you know, within the movement they were not exactly viewed as out there in terms of rights. But people do, and you mentioned people do view animal advocates as sort of crazy and ill informed. And that’s, you know, you and I, I think are both trying to, to fight that. You know, you from the veterinary perspective and me from the legal perspective.
It’s not all people that don’t know what they’re talking about.
Crystal Heath:
Yeah, we’re viewed as like overly emotional. And especially when you’re a woman, if you’re a woman trying to save animals, nobody cares. But if, you know, there are some men in the animal rights movement who are saving animals and you know, crying on camera and being overly emotional, of course they get all the attention and clicks because it’s like, oh, a man breaking the, these norms. But of course they’re sometimes doing it in a very manipulative way.
Penny Ellison:
So I guess you’ve become an activist, you have maybe been maligned by some people or being too outspoken. Do you want to tell me about that? What they’ve said the toll it’s taken on you.
Crystal Heath:
Oh, yeah, it’s amazing. My veterinary colleagues, they sent this meme around about me to various veterinary Facebook groups saying, Beware, Dr. Heath has an agenda that doesn’t mean anything positive for our profession. They do this big long screed about how I’m in all these 4H groups and how I’m in these equestrian groups, which I was a former 4Her, so that’s why I’m in those groups. And I’m in, you know, equestrian horse groups because I was a horsey person, you know, kind of implying that I’m there to like gather data and all of these things. And so they recommended blocking me and I to this day have been blocked from various veterinary Facebook groups, even though I’ve always gone about this in very professional ways. I’ve been accused of being a liar, I’ve been accused of trespassing onto farms. And this one large farming Facebook page with a million followers was calling for my veterinary license to be revoked because I had taken pictures of sick and dead cows from this avian influenza outbreak that we’re having in the Central Valley of California.
Crystal Heath:
So I’ve, I’ve faced a lot of backlash. I’ve been banned from attending the AVMA’s Cargill sponsored Humane ending symposium because I disagree with using heat stroke based methods to kill farmed animals and support access to nitrogen based foam and nitrogen gas, which are less cruel methods. And it’s outrageous. Sort of the backlash that I’ve gotten. But it’s also been very good because I just highlight “look at what happens to somebody who’s trying to professionally advocate for improvements in animal welfare and science based solutions to our greatest problems” This is the type of silencing and backlash that I face from corporate interests when trying to obey my veterinary oath. Everybody should be outraged by this. And it’s gotten a lot of press attention.
I’ve received, you know, international press for doing this and for the backlash that I’ve received. So every time I face backlash, it’s been really, honestly very positive. And more and more people join us and more and more veterinarians realize how they’ve been lied to by the industry.
Penny Ellison:
And you found out about some of the things that were being said about you because of a FOIA request.
Crystal Heath:
Yeah, it was a FOIA request and this group, the Animal Agriculture Alliance, had sent out an email to members of the, the National Pork Board. And so that’s how this email was received, basically saying this veterinarian in California is trying to shadow a livestock Vet. And we believe her intentions are to gather information she can use against the industry. So spread this around to your contacts in California. So basically, like, no, I couldn’t have any relationship with any livestock veterinarians to understand what they’re going through, which is my intention. My intention is to bridge the divide and bring some conversations between animal welfare advocates, animal rights activists, and veterinarians. I never have maligned any of my veterinary colleagues other than merely saying what they say. But if anybody wanted to speak to me on conditions of confidentiality, I would never betray that.
Crystal Heath:
But they’re, you know, portraying me as somebody who’s a liar and deceptive and manipulative and all of these things, which is quite damaging to my reputation.
Penny Ellison:
And you got that as, I mean, a FOIA request for those who don’t know is a Freedom of Information Act request, which means those documents about you were in the possession of where, the Department of Agriculture?
Crystal Heath:
Yeah, this was the Department of Agriculture, Agriculture Marketing Service. So they oversee things like the Pork Board, and that’s how you can get emails that they’re, you know, sending and receiving. And I, since then, I’ve really taken advantage of that and gotten a lot more.
Penny Ellison:
I know you have a show called FOIA Fridays, right?
Crystal Heath:
Yeah, we do. And we go through the FOIAs that we received every week, and we draft new FOIAs, and it’s amazing what will find.
Penny Ellison:
What are the kind of themes that come through on those findings?
Crystal Heath:
A lot of it is how they’re messaging. They’re very strategic and manipulative about how they message stuff. They understand the importance of maintaining consumer confidence in their products, and it discusses their strategies for how they do that and the importance of getting veterinarians on their side and the importance of having veterinary voices lend legitimacy to things like ventilation shutdown.
Penny Ellison:
And tell us what ventilation shutdown is.
Crystal Heath:
Ventilation shutdown is sealing up buildings, pumping in heat, and waiting for the animals inside to die. This is a depopulation method that was allowed by the American Veterinary Medical Association in response to things like the avian influenza outbreak. And it was even used during COVID 19, when the pork industry had failed to put plans in place for what would happen if there was a slaughterhouse bottleneck. Many of the workers at the slaughterhouses were sick and not coming to work because of COVID. That decreased capacity by 45%. So, the producers resorted to sealing up these barns of pigs, pumping in heat and sometimes steam, and waiting for the pigs inside to die, which was quite horrifying, and just showed their lack of planning for these sorts of situations. And we have specific emails saying how we’re, it’s going to need a veterinary perspective for what these producers are going to have to do because it is.
Penny Ellison:
Going to look ugly to the public. So we’re going to need a veterinarian to say there’s really no suffering involved or not much suffering or it’s nothing to worry about.
Crystal Heath:
Yeah, that. Because we have the trust of the public. The public trusts us to do the right thing. And, and here our profession’s reputation was being weaponized to support this horrible act of violence against animals to protect corporate profits and protect consumer confidence in the pork industry, which was quite horrifying.
Penny Ellison:
We will talk a little bit about pork producers because, you know, the reason that you and I got together for this discussion is a proposed law that you have been active in and you mentioned that industry cares about how they’re perceived and that often comes through in the way bills are named. So this is a, you know, a Farm Protection act is the way that it’s named, but it’s sort of a reincarnation of the bill that was originally the King Amendment and then the EATS Act and now it’s the Farm Protection Act. Let’s talk about that and your testimony around it. So I guess I’ll put on my law professor hat for a minute and talk about what protections exist out there for animals that are raised for food because I think people assume that there are a lot more protections than there are. Federal law does pretty much nothing to protect farm animals until they are on the truck on the way to the slaughterhouse. There are no standards, no inspections for how the animals have to be treated on a farm or in a feedlot. There’s a very minor and largely non enforced protection about how long they can be on a truck without any food or water on their way to the slaughterhouse. And there’s a requirement that they be rendered insensible to pain before they are slaughtered, which as you mentioned earlier, with the volume of production we have now and the limited amount of oversight is also sometimes not adhered to.
Penny Ellison:
But there really is nothing that protects the animals before they are on their way to the slaughterhouse. And some states have decided that, well, people want that… people want some level of animal welfare, quality of life for the animals that are destined to be slaughtered. So states like California adopted, in California it’s called Prop 12. But other states have adopted something similar that says if you want to sell animal products in the state, you can’t use certain intense confinement methods. Like gestation crates for pigs where they can’t turn around battery cages for eggs. So some states have said, you know, the federal law has not regulated this, but we as a state are going to regulate that. And Prop 12 went to the US Supreme Court, challenged by the pork producers, and it was upheld. They were challenging California’s ability to regulate animal production.
Penny Ellison:
It is a very long and fractured opinion, but the basic argument is if the production happens somewhere else like Iowa, should California be able to regulate it? And the court said yes, if they’re selling products in California, they can regulate what products are sold there. That obviously doesn’t make the industry very happy. And they are now trying to get around it with this Farm Protection Act. So tell me about that and your involvement with it.
Crystal Heath:
Yeah. So the U.S. house Committee on Agriculture just had this hearing, an examination of the implications of Prop 12, and they discussed all of the problems with Prop 12. And during this hearing, there were no veterinary voices. It was all industry people speaking and they’re hoping to introduce. They talked about the Save our Bacon Act, HR 4673, which just is a retread of another act that they were trying to pass earlier, the Ending Agriculture Trade Suppression Act or the EATS Act. The ironic thing about the Save our Bacon act is Prop 12 actually doesn’t regulate bacon. It doesn’t affect bacon.
So you can sell bacon in California even if the pigs come from mothers who are confined to these gestation crates. So it’s really another example of their gaslighting. But they recently had this hearing, they’re looking at all of these different ways to overturn Prop. 12. But during these congressional hearings, here’s what you don’t hear, is that research shows that 92.6% of crated sows exhibit abnormal repetitive behaviors, which are these stereotypies which show that they’re very stressed. These are coping mechanisms that they have to… these sows have higher levels of stress hormones compared to group house sows. And this weakens the.
Penny Ellison:
And that’s something you’d only ever hear from a veterinarian. You’re not going to hear that from industry.
Crystal Heath:
Yeah, the industry doesn’t care about this. So this affects foodborne pathogens like Salmonella and Campylobacter and these pathogens, it makes them more virulent and enhances and promotes their growth of these pathogens, which these pathogens then infect their piglets who are born immunosuppressed and they remain infected with these pathogens to slaughter. So it’s really, it’s we also, we think of this Prop 12 as being an animal welfare law, but really it’s also a food safety and public health law as well because piglets of group house sows show better resistance and resilience to these diseases. And pork is the leading source of foodborne illness in the United states. It’s responsible 787,000 illnesses annually. Salmonella alone is responsible for $1.9 billion in annual public health costs. And so they’re talking about the economic implications of all of this, but they’re not talking about the public health costs associated with this.
Penny Ellison:
So you talked about hearings. Did you testify at the hearings?
Crystal Heath:
No, I’m just doing advocacy. Of course they wouldn’t let me testify. I mean, does any…
Penny Ellison:
So let’s, let’s back up, I guess, and say the hearings are because they are proposing a bill that would negate Prop 12 and all the laws like it and say that states cannot regulate this. Right.
Crystal Heath:
Yeah. The main thing that they say is our bill makes it clear if you don’t grow it, you don’t get to regulate it. Which is so ironic because Florida and Alabama, Mississippi, Montana, Indiana, Nebraska and Texas have implemented bans on cultivated meat. And I don’t think they grow it, but they’re regulating it.
Penny Ellison:
So I wonder, the state can always protect the health and safety of its citizens. So as soon as you say it’s also a food safety issue, it seems to me clear that the state can, can protect its citizens.
Crystal Heath:
Absolutely. It should be able to protect its citizens. So, and it’s outrageous that they’re making all of these arguments. They’re talking about how retail protection, pork prices in California have increased by 18.7% year over year. And so as a result of that, low income households reduced their pork purchases by 22%, which should be a good thing because that means they’re going to spend less on healthcare costs, they’re going to not take time off work, they’re going to be spending more time in the grocery store and you know, retail stores buying things because they’re not sick with salmonella, Campylobacter and all of these things that happen from people who consume pork that comes from pigs whose mothers were confined to 2 and a half foot by 7 and a half foot gestation crates for 114 days of their pregnancy.
Penny Ellison:
So I guess, you know, despite its name about protection or save our bacon or whatever this is, really, industry does not want to invest in making changes that will improve animal welfare.
Crystal Heath:
Yeah. But it’s interesting because a lot of the small pork producers have already invested in making these changes. So if they were to overturn this, of course those small ones would be at a loss. And they don’t want the animal advocates to win because next year we might ban something else. They kept saying, what if next year they make the requirement now 25 square feet of space, or now it’s 24 square feet, then we’re. We’ll have to change. Then it’s like, well, yeah, fight that.
Penny Ellison:
Yeah. Because Prop 12 came up, as a lot of laws do in California, as a ballot initiative, which means, you know, it goes directly to the people first to say, is this something that you want? And then if the answer is yes, which it was, the legislature figures out how to effectuate that. So, it’s clearly the will of the people. And there was plenty of opposition, putting out ads that tried to tell people horror stories about what their food would cost, and people still voted for it. So that’s. That’s what democracy is.
Crystal Heath:
Yeah. Despite the billions of dollars of marketing by this industry to get people to want to eat their products, to think that their products are healthy and nutritious and something that people need in order to survive, the advocates still won. And that’s saying something. So I, you know, I think it’s a good sign that that’s going in the right direction. But we have to protect our state’s right to implement this, to protect our own public health and the welfare of animals.
Penny Ellison:
Absolutely. And this is still an open issue in Washington. We don’t know whether it’s going to pass yet at this point.
Crystal Heath:
No, we don’t. And we’re advocating for people to contact their veterinarians, to get their veterinarians to contact their representatives and make them aware of these facts and how it does threaten public health. Because this isn’t being talked about. The food safety risk aspect of it isn’t being talked about. And it’s all framed as these radical animal rights activists who somehow got this law passed. But really it’s veterinarians and food safety officials are advocating for this because it will protect our public health and food safety, and anything we can do to reduce pork consumption will save us potentially billions of dollars in food safety risks. So I think that’s one really good reason to support this.
Penny Ellison:
And it’s so important to come at it from that angle, because we’re always thinking about… in trying to be advocates for animals, the alliances that we can form from different perspectives. And back shortly after I started teaching, the Westland Meats video came out that showed basically, you know, dairy cows, “spent” dairy cows, being sort of pushed with a bulldozer to… They were supposed to be ambulatory if they were going to be slaughtered, they weren’t ambulatory. And some people like you and I would care about the welfare of the cows. But it was promoted by HSUS at the time as “this is what goes into your child’s school lunch.” So, you know, more people care about that and whether or not that’s a safe product.
Crystal Heath:
Yeah, absolutely. And the problem is this growing number of animals that we are housing and confining is a playground for virus mutation. And now we have dairy cows that are infected with human, pig and avian influenza viruses. And this creates the perfect conditions for viral reassortment. And perhaps we can learn something about how we got the industry in general just industrial corporations to address pollution. I’m thinking of David Hounshell who’s one of America’s leading historians of technology. He had this 2005 article called Regulation as the Mother of Invention and it explained that it is well established that the lack of immediate financial benefits leads companies to underinvest in R & D. And this general problem is particularly severe when it comes to pollution control because pollution prevention is a public good not well reflected in the market price of goods and services.
The incentives for private investment are weak. Competitive forces just don’t provide enough justification for the long term investment required. There’s a lack of driving demand. However, when government establishes a regulation, it creates demand. If companies know they have to meet a firm regulation with a definite deadline, they respond and they innovate. And I think that’s what Prop 12 does here and addresses this issue with food safety and security and hopefully will inspire corporations to see, hey, maybe we should invest in animal free methods of protein production because that’s the way the wind is blowing.
Penny Ellison:
That is very brilliant because you know, in terms of the improvements in farm animal welfare that Prop 12 called for, all of that technology exists and agricultural companies are going to invest in new technologies and new housing anyway. So putting the regulation in place sort of forces it and gives it a deadline. And I’ve seen the same thing on the lab animal side of things that if there’s no incentive created to come up with non animal testing by a certain date, then there’s no reason for a company that’s profit driven to do it. But if there’s a deadline. They come up with amazing new methods that don’t involve animals.
Crystal Heath:
Absolutely. Yeah. I think that’s why regulation is so important. But it’s of course viewed by corporate interests as something bad and they frame it as like hurting their freedoms and hurt. And people buy into that.
Penny Ellison:
The Center for Consumer Freedom …speaking of misnomers and. So I always say, I’m a card-carrying lover of regulation because the point that you make, which we call externalities, you know, the external costs of animal agriculture are felt by us, they’re not felt by industry. And so regulation is the only thing that stands between you and filthy water, basically. Clean water and clean air. That all comes by regulation. That’s not going to come just because a corporation decided it’s a good thing to do.
Crystal Heath:
Absolutely. And I think. But it’s framed as like, oh, a nanny state protecting the people. And we have to reframe it as. No, we are standing up to these abusive corporations and that’s, that’s the framing. We’re standing up to those in power and we’re saying, no, you cannot take advantage of us like this.
Penny Ellison:
That is inspiring. I mean, you said earlier you’re advising people with the farm protection bill to talk to their veterinarians and get their veterinarians to write their legislator. And I know that you started an organization called Our Honor to support veterinarians who are speaking out. You probably are still a minority in their profession. So tell me about Our Honor and the kinds of people that are involved in that.
Crystal Heath:
Yeah, Our Honor. We support and empower veterinarians and animal professionals to work for the best interests of others, no matter their species. And I find actually the vast majority of veterinarians I talk to are aligned with us, but veterinarians are very busy. They’re working hard day in and day out taking care of animals. 60% of veterinarians are companion animal veterinarians and they’ve been told to stay in their lane. But at the same time, the farm animal veterinarians, those who are advocates for the animals and want the animals to be protected and are trying to stand up to these corporations, they need the help of those companion animal veterinarians who won’t suffer retaliation and loss of career opportunities for standing up. So, companion animal veterinarians are in this very good place of being able to speak the truth and hold these corporations accountable without fear of losing their job.
Like lab animal vets do. I have so many lab animal vets reach out to me who do end up Quitting after they’ve tried to improve animal welfare in their laboratories, and they fail. And they realize this industry is not where it’s at, and they leave. But a lot of the vets who are stuck inside view it as like, I’m these animals’ only hope. But, you know, I think more and more people are starting to question these things and starting to see the way that corporations have shaped the culture and the way science is done, and they should be questioning these things. So we just give veterinarians a voice. We’re mainly focused on getting some press attention on these issues and lending legitimacy to various animal advocacy campaigns.
Crystal Heath:
But we also hold the animal rights movement accountable when they don’t get things right. We want them to get their facts right, because that’s been a big failing of the animal rights movement that makes us not appear legitimate is because we often sensationalize things and we aren’t truthful in things. And we think we’re doing good, but we’re actually causing harm. And I think we help people realize that we are all victims in this system, and we can change these systems if we start to speak out and share our stories.
Penny Ellison:
That’s very interesting, especially the part about recognizing your weaknesses. As a mediator. I like when people acknowledge that there are weaknesses in my argument, too. So you’re saying there’s a weakness on the animal rights side of sometimes grabbing the most sensational thing and spreading it without really knowing the truth of it for yourself. So that’s something that you have to face.
And you brought up conscience. And I’m picturing these lab animal vets who got into it because they loved animals, but feel a little, you know, their conscience is giving them a hard time. You’ve often used the term ethical resilience, so especially, you know, for those who care about animals, but they feel overwhelmed. What do you mean by that term?
Crystal Heath:
Well, I. I think we do get overwhelmed. And I think it comes from just this feeling that everybody is bad, you know, if you’re not vegan. Those people who hear the arguments and don’t go vegan, oh, my gosh, they’re bad people. And how can I live in this world that’s surrounded by all these people who are such bad people, and you just can’t look at it that way. I think we have to be grateful for our wins. We have to focus on the good things and focus on the people who are working with us to advance animal protection and advance these causes and issues.
Don’t get bogged down by the violence of it all. And it’s really hard. And I think you just have to take care of yourself, work out, meditate, do all these things so that you can be resilient and show up and do good work for the, the animals and the world every day. And just having this feeling of judgment of others and feeling negative and constantly looking at the bad things, it does wear you down. It leads to compassion fatigue, which veterinarians face too.
Penny Ellison:
What gives you hope? If we were talking now to veterinarians and advocates, what’s your message to them? What gives you hope?
Crystal Heath:
What gives you hope is the people coming together and the veterinarians coming together and realizing that there’s a future with animal free methods of protein production. There’s a future where we don’t have to exploit animals. And people are joining together, mobilizing and organizing every day to make that future a reality. So that gives me hope. Every time I get a new email from a veterinarian who’s like, I love what you’re doing, thank you so much. And shares their story with me, that gives me hope. And every time I hear a vet student who is pushing back against their harmful curriculum in veterinary school and is trying to make things better for the next class that comes behind them, that gives me hope. And all of these things add up and we just have to do it faster than the corporations are doing it.
But I think we will.
Penny Ellison:
Well, thank you. Thank you so much, Crystal, for being that, that voice against the much louder voice of corporations. So I really appreciate your joining us today. I’m going to put links in the show notes to your podcast and your website and encourage especially veterinarians to reach out if they’re looking for support in speaking their mind on these issues.
Crystal Heath:
Thank you so much and thank you for all you do and thank you for having me on the show.
Penny Ellison:
Crystal decided to turn a negative into a positive. She considers all the backlash that she got to be a net positive because it brought attention to the issues she set out to shed light on. May we all figure out how to do that as we navigate the ups and downs of speaking up for beings that don’t vote and can’t speak up for themselves.
Today’s Be the Change action is to let your congressperson know that you’re against the Save Our Bacon Act, which is HR4673. It’s easy. I’ll put a link that will show you how to find their contact information in the show notes and you can call or send an email and also let them know that for the same reason they should vote against the PURR Act, which is HR597 that’s trying to do something similar on the companion animal front. They want to stop states from funding subsidized spay neuter services with fees on pet food manufacturers. That plan has been effective in Delaware and other states and they’re trying to take it away.
So this is great practice to start your advocacy journey. Make your voice heard. Thanks so much for being part of this great community.
That’s it for today. The Animal Advocate Podcast is brought to you by the Animal Advocacy Academy. You can find episodes and show notes at animaladvocacyacademy.com along with a link to our Facebook and LinkedIn pages where we discuss our podcasts, and we’d love to discuss your thoughts and experiences there. If you’re interested in learning more about protecting animals, subscribe to the show so you get every episode when it comes out. If you have any questions on this or any other topic related to animal law, email them to podcastimimaladvocacyacademy.com and we’ll make sure to get them answered. We’ll either email you back or feature them in a future episode, or both.
And remember, compassion is great but compassionate action is infinitely better. Until next week, Live with Compassion.
