Written and Submitted by Joyce Davis
I am writing today to inform you and your readers about a bill that has been proposed in Congress. If passed, the deceptive and shoddily concocted Ending Agricultural Trade Suppression (EATS) Act (H.R.4417/S.2019) could hurt animals, farmers, American consumers, and the environment in vast and unimaginable ways. According to a recent report from Harvard Law School, the “EATS Act could affect everything from commercial fishing regulations to the slaughter of horses, creating cascading effects far beyond” the issues it purportedly seeks to address. It is critical that New Yorkers come together in opposition to this bill.
The EATS Act, which seeks to block state and local governments from passing their own laws and regulations governing the sale of “agricultural products,” is being sold as a way to help farmers by sparing them from excessive regulation. In reality, the EATS Act will only benefit and further the interests of the hyper-consolidated, multibillion-dollar factory farm industry.
Of particular concern is the bill’s potential to erase hundreds of state and local laws that protect animals from extreme abuse. Nearly 10 states, for example, have banned the sale of eggs from hens raised in cruel battery cages, which are known to cause birds severe psychological and physical trauma including pressure sores, lesions, and osteoporosis. The slaughter of horses, which is presently not allowed in the United States, for animal food would be allowed in this bill. The EATS Act could undo these and other commonsense laws and regulations designed to protect animals.
I am disheartened that some members of Congress have chosen to advance the interests of industrial agriculture at the detriment of Americans and vulnerable animals. I encourage you to contact Senators Gillibrand and Schumer and ask them to oppose it and keep it out of the 2023 Farm Bill.
Please contact your legislators and ask them to vote “No” to protect our animals and states’ rights.
The views and opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of The Eastwick Press.