European authorities are “not planning to impose masks on cows”, said European Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski.
That comes amid rumours over the past 12 months that Brussels was examining whether or not to impose “mask mandates on farmed bovines”. The bloc is putting €50,000 into a project aimed at developing head coverings for cattle for the purpose of “lowering emissions”.
While Wojciechowski accepted the EC had given funding to the project, which has also received the backing of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, he insisted it had no plans to make the rollout of the device mandatory.
“The Commission is not planning to impose masks on cows,” the Polish politician said.
He added that there were already many ways of reducing emissions produced by cows, such as by changing their diets, and that such methods were backed by the EU’s Common Agriculture Policy.
The day the farmers came to town.#AgriculteursEnColere #Bruxelles #BoerenProtest pic.twitter.com/1sMNX5tjAV
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) February 1, 2024
Wojciechowski’s comments came in response to concerns raised by Identity and Democracy politician Annika Bruna.
Writing to the EC in December, the French MEP claimed that the cow masks would likely harm cattle forced to wear them.
“Animals would be bothered by the use of such masks,” said the politician, who is a member of Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National.
“Therefore, they constitute further regression in terms of animal welfare,” she added, arguing that farmers also “strongly oppose the masks” for the same reason.
Responding to her concerns, the EC said that its authority responsible for the welfare of dairy cows had yet to examine the issue of cattle wearing masks to lower emissions.
“The scientific opinion on the welfare of dairy cows published by the European Food Safety Authority … does not address the impact of masks on cows,” Wojciechowski said.
A tweet encouraging the public in Ireland not to eat meat was axed by a state agency of the Irish Government after a backlash from farming organisations in the country. https://t.co/kZ2BBQgRAu
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) October 18, 2023
