EM:/ House Ag Passes Meaningless Animal Welfare Bills - Sierra Club Press Statement

Sierra Club Press Statement

House Agriculture Passes Meaningless Animal Welfare Bills

 

July 30, 2009

by Gayle Miller, Sierra Club Legislative Director

 

 

"Today the House Agriculture Committee passed a package of so-called Animal
Welfare bills (HB 5127-5128) over the strong objections of the environmental
community, the Michigan Farmers Union representing small, non-industrialized
farms, the State Bar of Michigan, faith groups, animal welfare organizations
and more. Four of the six democrats on the committee opposed the bills or
passed when the vote was taken.

 

"The bills set up an expensive and unnecessary regulatory process requiring
all farms in the state - from animal factories on down to hobby farmers - to
hire auditors to oversee the way they care for their animals. The farm audit
system established in the bills specifies that the auditor work for the
farm, and not the people of Michigan, creating an immediate conflict of
interest. What's worse, all information collected by the auditor stays on
the farm, guaranteeing that the public can learn nothing about the food they
eat.

 

"After four hours of vigorous debate in the committee, and vocal opposition
by Rep. Vicki Barnett (D-Farmington Hills), even the Department of
Agriculture agreed that the state already has the authority to require
better standards for animal welfare. The bills, however, actually put
implementation of existing animal welfare standards on hold until 2020,
delaying compliance with care standards that should already be in place -
meaning the bills are a stall tactic.

 

"Representatives Barnett and Valentine (D-Muskegon) urged Chairman Simpson
(D-Jackson) to postpone a vote on the bills so that a workgroup could be
established that would include a broader section of the public and farming
community. However, the bills as passed by the Committee today were
negotiated behind closed doors between the Chairman, the Farm Bureau and
industrial producer groups. Other groups were not invited.

 

"The Sierra Club is particularly concerned with the self-regulatory audit
program. Similar programs suggesting how animal factories operate have for
years enabled CAFOs to cause severe air and water pollution in rural
communities while preventing rural residents and communities from protecting
their public health.[L1] <>  

 

"Fundamentally the package of bills is designed to keep the public from
knowing how their food is produced. The horrific conditions often found
within animal factories will not be solved by this package, but will instead
allow business to continue as usual. The public will have less, not more,
information and confidence in the quality of their food if these bills pass.


 

"People who have first-hand knowledge of CAFO-style food production are
seeking alternatives - thus the boom in farm markets and direct,
farm-to-consumer marketing. Unfortunately, the small producers feeding these
hungry markets will be unfairly burdened by these new regulations. 

 

"The Farm Bureau and industrial agriculture have fought meaningful
regulation for years. The fact that these groups are now asking for
additional regulation should raise a red flag."

 

Gayle Miller

Legislative Director

Sierra Club Michigan Chapter

109 E. Grand River Ave.

Lansing, MI 48906

ph - (517) 484-2372, ext. 13

cell - (517) 420-7198

fax - (517) 484-3108

gayle.miller at sierraclub.org

 <http://mackinac.sierraclubaction.org/> 

www.michigan.sierraclub.org 

 

Click
<http://www.mapquest.com/maps?city=Lansing&state=MI&address=109+E.+Grand+Riv
er&zipcode=48906>  for a map to our office 

 

  _____  

 [L1] <> Not sure this adds anything. are you trying to get across their
incompetence? 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.great-lakes.net/lists/enviro-mich/attachments/20090730/cf51da92/attachment.html 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 2687 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://www.great-lakes.net/lists/enviro-mich/attachments/20090730/cf51da92/attachment.jpe