Factory Farms Fancy Secrecy

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Factory Farms Fancy Secrecy

Bill Berkowitz, WorkingForChange.com

July 17, 2002

Viewed on July 23, 2002

 

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In a news cycle dominated by the permanent " war on terrorism " and the crisis

in the Middle East, this story is an exception. It comes to you from the

Midwest -- Illinois to be exact. It's a story about factory farms and how

corporate interests are getting more and more concerned that you may find

out how they go about their business.

 

 

If corporate lobbyists continue to have their way with the Illinois state

legislature, it may become as difficult to find out the skinny on factory

farming as it has been to ferret out the truth of the Jenin refugee camp

invasion or discover how many innocent civilians have been killed by the

U.S. bombing in Afghanistan. The public's right to know is under attack both

at home and abroad.

 

 

Factory farming is a business that often leaves a major mess in its wake. If

you are an activist concerned with these issues, you can try lobbying for

stricter regulations to protect the " farmed " animals and the environment

from contamination. However, owners of these operations do not want the

outside world to find out what's going on. A few weeks back, the Illinois

House took one step toward that goal, by passing House Bill 5793. By a 118-0

vote, legislators passed a bill making it illegal to photograph or videotape

the animals on factory farms without the consent of their owner.

 

 

Although the Chicago Tribune reports that the bill is " temporarily stalled "

in the state Senate, where it failed to make it out of committee in time for

consideration this spring, Don Rolla is still concerned. " The bad news, "

said Rolla, the executive director of Illinois Humane PAC, " is that the idea

seems likely to come back either tacked onto other legislation in coming

weeks or on its own next fall. "

 

 

House Bill 5793 " makes it a crime to be on a farm (or other 'animal

facility') and photograph or videotape pigs or any other animals without the

consent of the owner if one's intent is to 'damage the enterprise,' " reports

the Tribune. The term " animal facilities " is defined as anywhere an animal

is " kept, housed, handled, exhibited, bred, raised, or offered for sale or

purchase. " The Peoria Journal Star claims that " the bill would prohibit

state inspectors from taking pictures to document their investigations of

these farms. "

 

 

The Journal Star reports that " The stated need for the law, according to a

legislative analysis, is to protect the food supply from terrorists.... The

more plausible reason is that opponents of factory farms have been fond of

using pictures of pigs raised body to body, or lagoons filled with sewage,

to bolster their case. "

 

 

The Journal Star: " Beyond that, the law will discourage whistleblowers who

may be employed on a livestock farm, or otherwise there legally, from

photographing abuses. Such pictures have been used before to go after

violators. Opponents say people likely will be deterred from filming farms

from the public right-of-way, for fear that a broad reading could subject

them to criminal penalties. "

 

 

Industry intimidation

 

 

Over the past several years, animal rights and family farm activists have

documented how animals are being treated on factory farms via photos and

videotape. This does not please the pork industry, which has used " unusual

tactics to intimidate its critics, " writes Christopher D. Cook in the

September 1999 issue of The Progressive magazine.

 

 

In North Carolina according to Cook, Steve Wing, an epidemiologist at the

University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, headed a study that found " daily

whiffs of hog factory waste appear to cause sinus problems, excessive

coughing, headaches, nausea, and diarrhea. " North Carolina's booming $1.8

billion pork industry began " pressuring Wing and his assistant Susanne Wolf

to identify the community -- and, by association, the people -- that

participated in the research. " The North Carolina Pork Council hired the

Hunton & Williams law firm " to secure the researchers records-including

documents that could be used to identify study participants who were

guaranteed confidentiality. "

 

 

" If you want to document waste spillage, animal abuse or inhumane conditions

on a farm, there's no better way to do it than with photographs, " Diane

Hatz, until recently head of the factory-farm project for the New York-based

Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE), told the Chicago

Tribune. " By trying to take away visuals, this legislation is trying to take

away a large portion of our ammunition. "

 

 

Don Rolla: " As part of Humane PAC's efforts to pass legislation to bring an

end to the millions of animals suffering in factory farms, I have gathered a

number of shocking videos and photos that were taken in undercover efforts.

The conditions and the cruelty they show are horrible, and the images in

these photos and videos are important for us to have available to show the

public. Such videos and photos are the only way to document what we all know

takes place on a daily basis! This would impede undercover investigations of

inhumane conditions. "

 

 

A Missouri bill, HB 1794 -- Animal Research and Production Facilities -- has

similar intentions and is currently under consideration in the state

legislature. The bill " prohibits any person from photographing, videotaping,

or otherwise obtaining images from within an animal facility without the

written consent of the facility. A person violating this provision of the

bill is guilty of a class D felony. "

 

 

On the face of it, the Illinois bill introduced in February by state Rep.

Mary K. O'Brien (D-Coal City) " seems only to remind everyone that laws

proscribing burglary, trespassing, sabotage and so on apply also to farms, "

reports the Tribune. " I have no problem with that, " said Karen Hudson, a

grain farmer in Peoria County who is heading up GRACE's anti-factory-farm

project in Illinois. " I'm not a radical type who believes in vandalism. "

 

 

However, Hudson worries about the small print that has likely gone unnoticed

by Illinois House members. She claims that " the 1,100-word bill is a Trojan

Horse because of a 16-word clause making unauthorized farm photography

punishable by up to 6 months in jail. " That reference, she says, " appears on

page 3 in Section 10, Subsection C, paragraph 4 -- an aside buried so deep

into the tedious legalese that it's a good bet most lawmakers didn't even

see it. "

 

 

Kevin Semlow, a lobbyist for the Illinois Farm Bureau, which supports the

bill, told the Chicago Tribune that the legislation aims to prevent economic

espionage. " A lot of these facilities do high-tech biological research, "

Semlow said " We've had problems with people making videos of copyrighted

technologies, such as the way feed systems work for livestock. "

 

 

What's really going on in Illinois and Missouri is an attempt by the

agribusiness giants running America's factory farms to pull the blinds and

prevent the dirty truths about their operations from getting to consumers.

Most Americans are dead set against cruelty to animals on factory farms and

the concomitant devastation of the environment, even if it were to save them

a few cents at the market.

 

 

Bill Berkowitz is a longtime observer of the conservative movement. His

WorkingForChange column Conservative Watch documents the strategies,

players, institutions, victories and defeats of the American Right.

 

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