“Ag-gag” laws are designed to limit undercover investigations on factory farms by campaigning groups. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22098224 Concerns over the conditions in which cattle, pigs and poultry are raised and slaughtered have prompted many animal welfare groups to mount undercover investigations. There is no single US federal law that protects animals, welfare investigators have played a significant role in bringing public attention to inhumane practices. In 2008, a distressing video of staggering cattle secretly recorded at a California slaughter plant led to the biggest meat recall in US history. Last year a recording from a pig farm in Wyoming was used to secure convictions against a number of workers for cruelty. In some states, the undercover recording of videos like these is now illegal. Several other states including Indiana, Arkansas and Pennsylvania are considering similar laws. Other provisions in these bills require prospective farm employees to disclose any link to animal welfare groups. “It is exactly what these industries want – they want to shut down the conversation that’s going on about what is happening with the animals we raise for our food.” “it is all part of the same deal which is to prevent ongoing investigations of the type that ended in the largest recall of beef in the history of the US,” The American Legislative Exchange Council is the moving force behind these laws. They have described animal rights campaigners as terrorists. They support the laws because they believe investigators are threatening the privacy rights of individuals and businesses. “As factory farming spreads like a plague around the world, international agribusiness interests will certainly attempt to import America’s ag-gag laws along with its tainted meat and animal abuse.” Consumers around the world will no longer be able to trust that exports of US agricultural products are produced without cruelty. “Anyone who consumes animal agricultural products imported from the US should be scared. This prevents them from knowing what’s going on – it blocks an entire industry from transparency.”
“Such atrocious public policy sets a dangerous precedent for UK industry, as does the introduction of US-style mega-farms, legislators should instead be passing laws to require cameras in all abattoirs and factory farms in order to catch animal abusers,”