New Laws Pose Potential Threat to Food Activists

This post originally appeared in Project Groundswell

In a recent New York Times article titled, “Animals, Cruelty and Videotape”, author Jennifer Mascia describes “Ag-gag” laws making it illegal to film inside slaughterhouses. So what, you might ask? Animal rights activists and those wanting to document the environmental and health effects of our modern agricultural system fear a nationwide trend.

Some of the Proposed Bills include:

A bill introduced in the Minnesota House sponsored by Rep. Rod Hamilton, a former president of the Minnesota Pork Producers. The proposed bill would prohibit “animal facility interference“, making it illegal for anyone to expose “image or sound” of animal suffering.

A bill proposed by Florida state senator Jim Norman making it a first-degree felony to photograph a farm without written permission from the owner.

For more in-depth information on this bill see: Your Guide to the Illegal Farm Photos Bill.