Protecting Food. Empowering Whistleblowers.
Protecting Food. Empowering Whistleblowers.
We already got a taste of it last year, but according to Food Safety News, Big Ag has revamped its legislative strategy for 2014 when it comes to silencing whistleblowers. As evidenced by the defeat of all 11 anti-whistleblower Ag Gag bills in 2013, it’s clear that the states won’t allow the animal agriculture industry […]
By JEFF ZALESIN For years, opponents of so-called ag-gag legislation across the country have been saying that it is unconstitutional to pass laws aimed at restricting hidden-camera reporting on factory farms. Soon, they’ll tell it to a federal judge in Utah. A coalition of journalists and animal-rights activists, led by the Animal Legal Defense Fund […]
(Washington, DC) – Tammy Schrier, wife of Government Accountability Project (GAP) client and veteran USDA inspector Jim Schrier, has collected more than 150,000 petition signatures through a Change.org petition asking the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to stop retaliating against her husband. Jim Schrier, a USDA meat inspector for 29 years, was recently stationed at […]
FIC and many of our diverse coalition partners contributed to a statement released today by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) regarding anti-whistleblower Ag Gag legislation. The statement reads in part: … a broad spectrum of public interest groups today welcomed the defeat of all 11 ag-gag/anti-whistleblower bills that were […]
(Washington, DC) – On Friday, the The Kansas City Star publicized an investigative report in the case of Government Accountability Project (GAP) client Jim Schrier, a veteran federal food safety inspector who faces retaliation after blowing the whistle on violations of humane handling regulations at a USDA-regulated Tyson Foods plant in Iowa. GAP represents Schrier […]
by Ted Genoways Shawn Lyons was dead to rights—and he knew it. More than a month had passed since People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals had released a video of savage mistreatment at the MowMar Farms hog confinement facility where he worked as an entry-level herdsman in the breeding room. The three enormous sow […]
To the Editor: Re “Open the Slaughterhouses” (Op-Ed, April 9): Advocates for the meat industry are fundamentally incorrect in their assertion that ag-gag bills offer protection to whistle-blowers. To suggest that 48-hour grace periods for bringing video evidence of animal abuse to the authorities without threat of prosecution benefits whistle-blowers is misleading. Mandatory reporting is […]
by Alastair Bland For years, undercover videos documenting animal cruelty at farms and slaughterhouses have cast the nation’s meat and dairy farmers in a grim light. In response, the livestock industry supported legislative efforts in multiple states designed to keep cameras from recording without permission in livestock plants. The Salt reported on these efforts, which […]
by Kristen Rasmussen A recent spate of nationwide legislative measures designed to curb undercover recording at farms and other agricultural facilities may potentially restrict reporters’ ability to gather and publish important information about the food industry. Some of the measures would directly prohibit journalists from photographing or recording farm animals and other items and activities […]
The Utah Senate passed the state’s “Ag Gag” bill yesterday with a 24-5 vote in a move to prevent undercover videotaping of abuse at livestock and poultry facilities. Following in Iowa’s footsteps, lawmakers changed some language to penalize individuals who apply for a job at an agricultural operation under false pretenses. According to Sen. Dave […]