Monday, March 18, 2013
Nothing gets in the way of profits
And if you run a factory farm, one of the most productive ways to maintain or increase profits is to cut corners and limit the animals in cruel and abusive ways. Some of these abuses may have carry over effects on the consumer. And the last thing the meat industry wants you to know is what is happening. With that in mind, their good friends at ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council a/k/a Abuse of Laws Elect Conservatives) have put forth some pre-written legislation to stop this outrage.
The bills to block animal rights activists are in California, Nebraska, Tennessee, Indiana, Arkansas and Pennsylvania, according to The Associated Press. Three other states — New Mexico, Wyoming and New Hampshire — have already rejected similar bills this year, and HSUS told Raw Story that three more — Minnesota, Vermont and North Carolina — are yet expected to take them up.Why is it always cheaper to fight doing what is right than to do what is right?
Several states already have laws similar to what ALEC is pushing, and virtually all of them were triggered in response to shocking videos produced by animal rights activists, who some critics have taken to calling propagandists.
In one such recent case, undercover video from an Iowa factory farm produced by a group called Mercy for Animals caused the Iowa legislature to support a so-called “Ag-Gag” law that makes it a crime to lie in order to infiltrate a farm’s staff. That act is now a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in prison and a fine of $1,500. Lawmakers in Utah passed a similar law in 2012 that bans unauthorized photography in farms. Missouri also has an older law that accomplishes effectively the same thing.
“This, I think, this a good example of just how much this industry has to hide,” Shapiro said. “You know you’ve got a lot to hide when you want to make it a crime merely to take a photo of what you are doing.”
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