House Republicans are attempting to block states’ ability to impose tough animal-welfare laws through a federal agricultural bill.

 

The Protect Interstate Commerce Act, recently approved by the House Committee on Agriculture, would prevent states from having their own standards for agriculture products that come from other states.

 

The legislation, sponsored by Representative Steve King (R-Iowa), who hails from the nations’ largest egg-producing state, is in response to a California law adopted in 2008 that will require (as of 2015) all eggs sold in the state be produced by hens held in cages big enough to allow the chickens to stand and spread their wings.

 

King’s proposal, if it becomes law, would prevent California from applying this standard to eggs from other states. 

 

“If California wants to regulate eggs that come into the state, fine,” King told The Los Angeles Times. “But don’t be telling the states that are producing a product that’s already approved by the USDA or the FDA how to produce that product.”

 

Scott Faber, vice president of government affairs at the Environmental Working Group, was appalled by King’s bill. “We’ve never seen anything that would so profoundly threaten the ability of states to protect consumers, farmers and the environment.”

-Noel Brinkerhoff

House Farm Bill Threatens Calif. Animal Welfare Laws (by Kim Geiger, Los Angeles Times)

Iowa Congressman Outflanks the Animal Rights Movement (by David Martosko, Daily Caller)