‘Boycott Iowa’: Latest twist in legal tussle between animal rights campaigners and US farmers
MFA: At heart, these bills seek to insulate the worst facilities in the industry from the consequences of their actions by depriving Iowans of their right to make informed choices about the very food they eat.
ERIN McCORMICK: ‘A US governor has signed off legislation to prop up controversial “ag-gag” laws in Iowa, just months after a federal court declared them unconstitutional. In retaliation, animal rights activists are calling on their supporters to boycott the state as a vacation destination. The legislation, which will make it illegal to use “deception” to gain access to an agricultural facility, was signed by Governor Kim Reynolds on Thursday, in a case that is being watched as yet another step in a long-running battle between consumers, activists, and farmers…
The oldest example of these “ag-gag”laws, designed to criminalise undercover investigations into agricultural activities, dates back to 1991… when investigators made dozens of videos highlighting everything from piglets being hurled into pens to horse handlers burning the ankles of Tennessee Walkers with chemicals. Occasionally the videos resulted in criminal charges against individual employees at agricultural facilities… Under pressure from agriculture lobbyists, states from Utah to South Carolina began passing legislation to protect the farm industry. Some laws banned taking video or photographs in agriculture facilities without permission; others, including Iowa’s, made it illegal to get an agricultural job under false pretences…
But then campaigners began to push back: the law in Iowa was overturned in January, and similar laws have been overturned recently in Utah and Idaho, while challenges to the laws in North Carolina and Kansas are winding their way through the courts… The animal welfare group Mercy for Animals (MFA) said: “At heart, these bills seek to insulate the worst facilities in the industry from the consequences of their actions by depriving Iowans of their right to make informed choices about the very food they eat.” Opponents have also pointed out that the new legislation is likely to face similar costly legal challenges that taxpayers will have to foot’. SOURCE…
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