HSUS: Federal Bill Aims to Allow the Government to Lead by Example

Link to bill:
Forwarded from HSUS release, through AKC-LL list:


http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.R.4733:

http://tinyurl.com/yg4l9mk


http://media-newswire.com/release_1113899.html

http://tinyurl.com/yjgdpf4


Federal Bill Aims to Allow the Government to Lead by Example on Farm
Animal Welfare

As food industry giants from Burger King to Hellmann's are making moves
away from some of the most inhumane factory farming practices, a new
federal bill adds support to the growing trend. U.S. Reps. Diane Watson,
D-Calif., and Elton Gallegly, R-Calif., this week introduced the
Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act to set a higher animal welfare
standard for food purchased by the federal government.



(Media-Newswire.com) - As food industry giants from Burger King to
Hellmann's are making moves away from some of the most inhumane factory
farming practices, a new federal bill adds support to the growing trend.
U.S. Reps. Diane Watson, D-Calif., and Elton Gallegly, R-Calif., this
week introduced the Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act to set a
higher animal welfare standard for food purchased by the federal government.

The Humane Society of the United States, the nation's largest animal
protection organization, praised the proposal and encouraged Congress to
act swiftly to pass the bill.

The bill, H.R. 4733, simply requires that any food purchased for federal
programs comes from animals raised with enough room to stand up, lie
down, turn around and stretch their limbs.

"Americans are increasingly demanding that we move away from abusive
confinement in tiny cages on factory farms," Rep. Watson said. "The
federal government has a responsibility to help lead the way on this
important issue, just as many of our nation's largest companies are
starting to do."

"This bill requires meat producers who sell to the federal government to
follow the same guidelines that California producers have in place to
ensure the animals are raised humanely," Rep. Gallegly said.

"We are grateful to Representatives Watson and Gallegly for introducing
this important legislation, which would meaningfully improve the lives
of millions of farm animals being raised for the federal government,"
commented Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The HSUS. "Animals built
to move should be allowed to move, and it's the most basic of
requirements that they shouldn't be crammed into cages barely larger
than their own bodies for virtually their entire lives."

Seven U.S. states-Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Maine,
Michigan and Oregon -have passed laws to phase out some of the most
extreme confinement on industrial factory farms.

Many supermarket chains have taken steps to move away from products from
producers that use cruel and inhumane cages to confine farm animals,
including Wal-Mart, Harris Teeter, Winn-Dixie, Trader Joe's, Whole Foods
and Safeway. National U.S. restaurant chains-including Burger King,
Wendy's, Denny's, Red Robin, Quiznos, Sonic, Hardee's and Carl's
Jr.-have done the same. And the country's largest pork and veal
producers have pledged to phase out gestation crates and veal crates,
respectively.

Facts

Both the U.S. House of Representatives' and the U.S. Senate's cafeterias
already use cage-free eggs.
The HSUS has 11 million supporters nationwide.
Each year, the federal government spends more than $1 billion purchasing
animal products for a variety of programs and agencies, including the
National School Lunch Program, the Armed Services and the Bureau of Prisons.
Currently, no federal laws address the treatment of animals while
they're on factory farms.