VOICES: Mike Francis reviews the scientific research conducted into the biology of slaughter to put paid to the misguided belief that there can ever be such a thing as the humane killing of farmed animals.

TERRIFYING TECH: In a bid to make slaughterhouses and other meat processing facilities safer for workers, researchers are looking into ways to combine virtual reality and factory robotics to do some of the work remotely.

As animal rights activists it’s easy to demonise slaughterhouse workers, the cogs in the machinery of death. We ask ourselves what drives a person to choose to kill sentient beings for hours each day, a constant barrage of the most horrendous sights, sounds and smells. We round up the research and articles that try to get to the bottom of slaughterhouse work and its effect on mental health.