For years, activists and investigators have gone undercover to reveal shocking and horrible cases of animal cruelty at some of the country’s largest plants and farms. They often take pictures or record secret videos of the abuses, leading to prosecution, closures, recalls, or statements from the offenders promising to change such practices.
Who can forget the largest meat recall in U.S. history back in 2007? An investigator from the Humane Society went undercover to a slaughterhouse in Chino, California and filmed “downer” cows, too sick or injured to walk, being dragged by chains and pushed by forklifts to the kill floor. When the footage aired on cable news, the U.S. Department of Agriculture was forced to recall the beef because “downer” cows pose a higher risk of mad cow disease. But, it was too late. Much of that meat had already been consumed – mainly through the National School Lunch Program and fast food chains. Mmmm…sloppy joes, beef tacos, and burgers, sprinkled with mad cow disease.
And what about the 2011 Mercy for Animals investigation that revealed dead hens rotting in cages, alongside live hens at Sparboe Farms? The report, and the ensuing public outcry, prompted McDonald’s to drop the egg supplier from all its restaurants west of the Mississippi.
In America, today, the war on whistleblowers is expanding. Individuals exposing government secrets are not the only ones being targeted. In many states across the country, documenting and revealing animal abuse at factory farms is now also becoming illegal. Agriculture gag, or ‘Ag-gag,’ laws make it a crime to photograph or videotape “animal agricultural” operations with the intent to expose its abuses.
In an era of smartphones and social media, any worker could easily shoot and disseminate damning video of animal abuse and unsanitary production environment. Prospects like these had meat producers pressing for legislation that would outlaw, or curtail, whistleblowers.
The meat industry is a powerful industry. Remember back in the ’90s when Oprah was sued by a group of Texas cattle ranchers over her statement “stop me cold from eating another burger!” when she discovered on her show that cows were being fed ground-up meal from dead live-stock? Oprah eventually won that lawsuit, stating: “Free speech not only lives, it rocks!”
Since then, the meat industry has hired lobbyists and worked with ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, to help push for laws that prevent people from investigating and documenting its practices. ALEC is the same organization that helped implement the “Stand Your Ground” law that gave George Zimmerman his “license to kill” the unarmed African-American teen Trayvon Martin.
The ALEC bill, The Animal and Ecological Terrorism Act (AETA), makes it illegal, and an act of terror, to take pictures or videos with the intent to defame a facility or its owner. Those convicted under the act would be put on a terrorist register list, alongside members of al-Qaeda. He who is exposed in the investigation is also given the right to sue the whistleblower for damages. ALEC’s board members approved the bill in 2004, which includes lobbyists, legislators, and corporate representative, and sent to statehouses across the country for implementation. Since then, it has been enacted in eight states, with ten more still considering them. Thirteen states, including New York, have failed to pass such measures.
This is not just an animal rights issue, more importantly it is a health concern issue. Another problem with these Ag-gag laws is that animal abuse often goes hand-in-hand with dangerous and unsanitary environments. In 2009, the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production concluded that “the current industrial farm production system often posses unacceptable risks to public health, the environment and the welfare of the animals themselves.”
Regulators have also failed the American people. Monitoring farm pollution is ostensibly the job of federal regulators, but lobbying by the agricultural industry has helped monitors turn a blind eye to much of the unsafe and illegal activities. A recent plan by the Environmental Protection Agency to clean up manure lagoons was stalled by the almighty agriculture industry. The manure lagoons (yes, sh*t ponds) end up contaminating local groundwater.
Oversight has been left up to activists, but Ag-gag laws could prevent concerned citizens from doing the job where EPA fails and the industry refuses.
Danielle DeAbreu
Danielle DeAbreu is a former model and student at William Paterson University studying Broadcast Journalism with a minor in Political Science.
Follow me on Twitter @DaniDeAbreu13
