Ag-gag update: constitutional challenge

It's been awhile since I wrote about Ag-gag laws and their impact. (If you aren't familiar with what they are, start here.) They're back in the news again, after Idaho recently passed Senate Bill 1337, which makes it a crime punishable by imprisonment to photograph or videotape abusive, unsanitary or unethical activity on a farm. It was signed into law by Idaho's governor on February 28, and Idaho is now the seventh state to have an active Ag-gag law.

Thankfully, a coalition of groups including the American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho, Animal Legal Defense Fund, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, and the Center for Food Safety, filed a federal lawsuit in mid-March challenging the bill's constitutionality. In the coalition's rationale for the lawsuit, they question journalists' free speech and freedom of the press rights. They also highlight the fact that now, Idaho more severely punishes the person who exposes animal cruelty than the person who commits it.

These laws don't protect animals or even human beings and public health. They protect industry. Which we obviously value in this country, the way we protect large corporations in every way imaginable. 

It's also important to point out that no one is asking these companies to allow someone to set up cameras 24/7 to document what happens in a slaughterhouse. We know what happens in a slaughterhouse. Slaughter. And the adage is probably true on some level that if we watched what happens in a slaughterhouse every day, we might all be vegetarians. Transparency in food doesn't mean we need to see every single second of an industry's work - that's just absurd. 

The big issue here is that whistleblower protection is necessary. The photos and videos that these laws try to exclude are ones that show the company overstepping its legal bounds, not to mention ethical ones. A worker should feel safe in coming forward with legal or ethical concerns and allowing a journalist to do his/her work in documenting such items. These bills make it difficult to even get the evidence to law enforcement to spark an investigation before the person would be arrested under the Ag-gag law. 

Other industries can learn to get along with whistleblower protections. Industries that take money from the government, such as healthcare facilities, all must value whistleblower protections. You can't be retaliated against in any way for exposing fraud or ethical/legal concerns and you are protected by the full extent of the law. This exists to make sure government dollars, and by extension, tax payer dollars, are spent wisely. So why not industrial agriculture? With the amount of subsidies and tax benefits these corporations receive, their workers should receive the same whistleblower protections.

We should not have laws in this country that forbid our citizens from exposing corruption, fraud, cruelty and abuse. We can't claim to be the greatest, most free society on earth if we don't.      

  

Reading (and viewing) this week

Genetically Engineered Food Right-To-Know Act (Huffington Post)

I’ve written on GMO labeling before, and this is an issue that is constantly evolving and changing.

On Wednesday, we took another step forward as Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) (otherwise known as my new heroes) with 9 Senate co-sponsors and 22 House co-sponsors, introduced the Genetically Engineered Food Right-To-Know Act that would require food manufacturers to label any product containing GMOs. If not properly labeled, the product could be classified by the FDA as “misbranded.”

It’s about time. I am working on drafting a letter to send to my legislators here in Pennsylvania, and when it’s ready, I will share so you can pass the word! 

Ag-Gag on the Ellen Show

Speaking of legislative advocacy, Ellen DeGeneres had a representative from the Humane Society on her show to talk about Ag-Gag laws. Ellen’s got a wide audience and huge following, not only for her general awesomeness but her advocacy work on the part of animals. I’m really happy to see someone like Ellen educating and encouraging people to take action.

Mark Bittman's "Flexitarian" (NY Times)

Definitely looking forward to Mark Bittman’s new Flexitarian column. He says the goal is “to marry the burning question “What should I be eating?” with another: “How do I cook it?”

The latest in locavore flim-flam! (Colbert Report)

Michael Pollan talking to Stephen Colbert about his new book, Cooked

The Colbert Report
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More evidence of human illness tied to farm antibiotics (NPR)

Yet more proof that eating antibiotics in meat is detrimental to our health: government researchers have found bacterial varieties in meat that are resistant to antibiotics.

Environmental Working Group has some great information on superbugs in meat.

Pennsylvania HB 683 - Open letter to my legislator

I've never written an original letter to my elected representatives before. I've sent form emails that other companies encouraged me to use, but I've never taken the time to write my own letter. PA's House of Representatives convenes again next week, and I decided that I should contact my representative to let him know how I feel about House Bill 683 - PA's proposed Ag-Gag law. My letter appears below. Feel free to use my letter or amend it to send to your representative. Don't let this bill fly under the radar. (My husband wrote his own letter, and already received a response from our representative, who didn't know what the bill was and wanted to learn more. He actually called him in person. Contacting your representatives matters.)

***

Dear Representative _______, 

My name is Joanna Taylor Stone, and I'm writing to express my vehement opposition to PA House Bill No. 683, regarding “the offense of interfering with agricultural operations,” sent to Judicial Review Committee in February 2013.

I work for a health system, and as part of my employment, I know that I am covered by whistleblower protections that exist to allow me to feel confident to report fraud or waste as it pertains to the use of government money. House Bill No. 683 would strip away whistleblower protections for workers in agricultural operations intending to document animal abuse and cruelty (animals that end up in our food supply), food safety violations, workplace violations or environmentally destructive practices. Even the transmission of this information would be outlawed, which does not encourage media outlets to be able to communicate this information to consumers.

We as citizens know that the best defense to libel is the truth. If an agricultural company has nothing to hide in its facilities, it shouldn’t matter if the daily operations are documented. Transparency leads to quality and safety in any industry, and that is especially the case for agriculture, as what we don’t know could kill us. Hidden camera investigations are one of the most useful tools in eliminating fraud and mistreatment. Consult any number of videos taken on farms right here in Pennsylvania and you will see that it is imperative that what goes on behind these closed doors is exposed for consumers to see. Only then can we make informed choices as to whether or not to support corporations who abuse animals, workers and the environment to achieve their profit margins.

As a resident of _____, you represent me in the PA House. One of the hallmarks of our democracy is the right to free speech. Ag-gag laws that attempt to silence those who would speak up and expose fraud and abuse are an egregious violation of that right.

I urge you to do what you can to oppose this bill and encourage your colleagues to do so as well. 

Thank you for your time,

Joanna Taylor Stone

Ag-Gag Undercover

Perhaps what I want the most from our industrial food system is transparency. I think if everyone knew how our food gets to us, and how the system works from the inside out, we would be able to stand up and demand more of these companies. 

But how do people know what is happening if it becomes illegal to show what goes on there by taking photographs or videos? How do we know what is happening when a worker would have to risk going to jail to expose the conditions in which he/she works? 

Laws are being considered by many states, Pennsylvania included, that would make it a crime to "interfere with agricultural operations" by taking still images or video recordings inside industrial agricultural facilities. Some of these laws would also make it a crime to share them, so media organizations would potentially face felony charges as well. They are called Ag-Gag laws, since they aim to silence anyone who tries to show the hard truth about what happens in these confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) and industrial farms. 

No federal laws exist governing animal cruelty when it comes to agriculture, and any state laws are typically very weak (having been watered down by lobbyists from the industry). Finding no help in the law, many people take to hidden camera investigations and publish the findings, hoping to try the factory farms in the court of public opinion. 

In a country that zealously guards its rights to free speech, how can we consider punishing someone with felony charges for telling the truth? How can the federal government subsidize through the Farm Bill an industrial food system that isn't open to public scrutiny and in fact does everything it can to keep its operations behind closed doors?

I recently came across this article in The Atlantic concerning Ag-Gag laws, by someone who took undercover footage while working at a pig farm right here in Pennsylvania. I followed the link to the video that the author published through Mercy For Animals. 

I'm going to be perfectly honest. I have seen documentaries and undercover footage from industrial farms before. It's what got me to start considering the realities of what I was eating. But each time I see these videos, I have to pause them after a minute or two to close my eyes and wish I hadn't seen it. Because once you see it, you can't forget it. To think that we let this happen simply so we can buy cheap bacon.

I've embedded the video below. Watch what you can. Sadly, there are hundreds more just like it. 

The next time that you hear of an Ag-Gag law being proposed where you live, call your government officials and spread the word to anyone that will listen that we have to stand up to protect the truth.