A Right To Know
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Consumers have a right to know where their food comes from. But if animal agribusiness has any say in it, everyone will be kept in the dark.
From Striking At The Roots blog:
Undercover videos and other images taken inside factory farms are unquestionably among the most powerful tools activists have in the campaign for animals. But if lawmakers and animal ag interests in Iowa and Florida have their way, they could earn investigators prison time in those states.
Mark Hawthorne explains some recent bills that would restrict the ability to obtain undercover video exposés of animal agribusiness and the reactions from some animal advocates:
Not a single federal law protects farmed animals from cruelty during their short lives in factory farms, and Iowa specifically excludes these animals from anti-cruelty protection. “Without undercover investigations, there are no meaningful watchdogs protecting animals from egregious cruelty in these facilities,” says MFA’s executive director Nathan Runkle. “This bill is a blatant violation of free speech and freedom of the press. It keeps consumers in the dark, threatens public health, and hurts animals by shielding animal abusers from public scrutiny.”
Animal law expert Bruce Wagman says these laws will have a chilling effect on the ability of animal advocates to expose abuses. [...]
“I would think that the lobbyists behind this campaign to quell scrutiny of existing industry practices would, if their clients truly had nothing to hide, be pushing for public funding to install streaming web cameras so their clients could show off their state-of-the art operations rather than trying to prevent those who question current practice from exposing them,” says attorney Scott Heiser, director of the Animal Legal Defense Fund’s Criminal Justice Program. “At a time when many have lost faith in government’s regulatory abilities, I can’t help but wonder how much factory farming profits would drop if the average American consumer were confronted with candid and accurate images depicting the conditions endured by the animals used to produce their food.”
Read the entire article here >>
And here’s another link about the issue:
Remember, if they won’t let you see where your food comes from, DON’T EAT IT!
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