For too long, the pork industry has been permitted to inflict what amounts to criminal animal cruelty—with the help of billions of dollars in public funding. Approximately two-thirds of mother pigs, weighing 525 to 790 lbs, are trapped within gestation crates for the entirety of their 114-day pregnancy. These stalls, measuring 2.5 feet by 7 feet, cruelly restrict their mobility, permitting only a few steps forward and backward—an experience similar to enduring months of confinement to an airline seat without any cushions. To ward off obesity, producers intentionally subject them to a perpetual state of hunger.
In 2018, voters in California decided they’d had enough and passed Proposition 12. That legislation stipulated that pork entering California’s markets must originate from animals whose mothers were given a minimum of 24 square feet of space, freeing hogs from gestation crates.
The law was meant to go into effect last year, but it was blocked by legal challenges from the National Pork Producers Council, which were eventually struck down by the Supreme Court this spring. Prop 12 will take effect December 31, 2023, and when it does, veterinarians like myself will be able to celebrate one small victory against this powerful industry.
However, a new challenge to Prop 12 has emerged: The Ending Agricultural Trade Suppression (EATS) Act poses yet another barrier to our efforts to alleviate extensive animal suffering. This proposed legislation aims to invalidate more than 1,000 state-level laws and guidelines pertaining to both food safety and the protection of animals. Among the signatories of a letter
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