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From: DawnWatch - news [at] dawnwatch.com
Date: Jun 22, 2007 8:19 PM
Subject: DawnWatch: AZ Newspaper take stand against Section 123 — 6/22/07

Last week I strayed from the DawnWatch tradition of focusing only on media stories in order to alert people to a chilling piece of federal legislation that has the potential to nullify the efforts of those who have fought and prevailed on behalf of the animals in state legislatures. (See tinyurl.com/2chz9g for that alert.) Today, Friday June 22, the Arizona Republic editorial page took a stand against that legislation in an editorial headed, “Hog-tying the will of Arizona voters.”

The editorial opens:

“In November, Arizona voters said they want farm animals treated humanely and decently.

“Last month, the subcommittee on livestock, dairy and poultry of the U.S. House Agriculture Committee inserted a provision in the 2007 Farm Bill that could nullify that vote.

“The subcommittee’s broad pre-emption language is being denounced by at least 40 environmental, science, sustainable-farming and animal-welfare groups, including Consumers Union, the Sierra Club, the Humane Society of the United States, the Center for Food Safety, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy and National Catholic Rural Life Conference.

“Animal welfare groups say Section 123 would prohibit states from enacting bans on cruel factory farming methods such as gestation crates for pigs and tight confinement for veal calves. Arizonans approved just such a ban when they became aware of the realities of modern farming.

“This measure thumbs its nose at those Arizonans.”

It points out,

“With more attention being given to the human responsibility for granting farm animals the respect that any sentient being deserves, this is no time for the federal government to enact sweeping bans on such efforts”

It also explains that Section 123 could affect laws dealing with contaminated food or genetically engineered crops as it would not allow states to “‘prohibit the use in commerce’ of any product that had passed USDA inspection.”

The editorial ends with, “Section 123 should be removed.”

You can read the whole piece on line at www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/0622fri1-22.html.

Please thank the paper for taking a stand on the issue. The Arizona Republic takes letters at www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/sendaletter.html.

You can learn more about the issue from last week’s DawnWatch alert linked at the top of this alert. That page links to other pages from where you can send letters to your legislators regarding the added section. If you haven’t already done that, please do. There is currently nothing in any legislature with the potential to have a greater impact on the treatment of a greater number of animals.

Yours and the animals’,
Karen Dawn

(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at www.DawnWatch.com. You may forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts if you do so unedited — leave DawnWatch in the title and include this parenthesized tag line. If somebody forwards DawnWatch alerts to you, which you enjoy, please help the list grow by signing up. It is free.)

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Tagged: animals animal rights animal welfare action alerts dawnwatch farm bill state’s rights federal laws legislation local laws arizona Arizona Republic editorial U.S. House Agriculture Committee 2007 farm bill Consumers Union the Sierra Club HSUS the Humane Society of the United States the Center for Food Safety Physicians for Social Responsibility Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy National Catholic Rural Life Conference factory farming