Inside the Republican effort to force millions of farm animals back into cages

[Jilly_in_VA]

By Kenny Torrella

You may not have noticed it, but the grocery store egg aisle has increasingly been going cage-free. In 2015, just a few percent of eggs sold in the US came from hens that weren’t confined in tiny cages. Today, it’s close to 40 percent. That swift change has come in part because eight states have prohibited the sale of eggs from caged hens; some of those states have also prohibited the sale of pork and veal from cruelly confined animals.

While some cage-free conditions are far from humane, the shift in farming practices represents one of the few examples of progress in the decades-long fight against animal factory farming. Now a GOP-led bill in Congress could blow it all up.

The EATS Act, short for Ending Agricultural Trade Suppression, was introduced last month by Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) with a companion bill in the House from Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA), and would prohibit state and local governments from setting standards for how agricultural products imported from other states are produced. The bill’s language is not only sweeping, but vague, and some of its potential effects are unclear. For example, it covers the “preharvest” production of agricultural products, but “preharvest” isn’t defined.

If enacted, and if it were to survive likely court challenges, the EATS Act would open up all those cage-free laws to lawsuits, potentially erasing decades of progress for animals suffering on factory farms. The bill would also threaten other farmed animal welfare laws, like California’s and New York City’s prohibitions on the sale of foie gras, a product made by force-feeding ducks and geese. (Disclosure: Prior to Vox, I worked at animal welfare groups that advocated for cage-free laws and opposed legislation similar to the EATS Act.)

https://www.vox.com/

Of course it would come from these a-holes from these s-hole places. (On reflection, I should really stop calling people a-holes. Those things serve a useful purpose.)

[SWBTATTReg]

1. Ah, once again, republicans telling businesses how to run their businesses instead of what

consumers are telling these businesses to do, e.g., Consumers/we want uncaged birds !

[GreenWave]

2. Just the thing an overheating planet needs. More GOP bullshit that kills animals.

[BeckyDem]

3. Soon it will become a political party that has individuals sign a waiver before

being accepted into their party. Something like, I am not a good human being and promise to vote accordingly.

[bahboo]

4. cruelty is always the point with these sick fucks...

[Jack-o-Lantern]

5. Those sick bastards are the ones who belong in cages, squatting in their own shit.