July, 07 2011, 12:32pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Meredith Turner, Farm Sanctuary, 646-369-6212, mturner@farmsanctuary.org
Animal Welfare Groups Win Industry Backing for First-Ever Federal Regulation of Hen Welfare
Groundswell of Public Support Results in Full Court Press for Nationwide Law Protecting Chickens to Replace State-by-State Initiatives
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y.
In a groundbreaking move that should result in the greatest advancement for farmed animals in U.S. history, the United Egg Producers (UEP)has agreed to support national legislation that will, upon enactment, improve the welfare of all laying hens in the nation. Enactment of the bill will bring about the first federal law relating to the treatment of chickens used for food, the first federal law relating to the treatment of animals while on factory farms, and the first farmed animal protection legislation in more than 30 years.
Today's deal is the apex of a 25 year-long struggle that Farm Sanctuary (www.farmsanctuary.org) and other animal protection organizations have had with the egg industry, in which Farm Sanctuary has investigated and produced undercover video of battery farms, produced and disseminated scientific reports on caged hen welfare, initiated statewide ballot initiatives, and constantly mobilized its hundreds of thousands of supporters to write letters, sign petitions, and work on behalf of hens in cages in myriad ways.
Because of the work of Farm Sanctuary supporters and other animal protection advocates across the nation, the UEP now understands the overwhelming opposition to battery cages, which were subject to a ballot initiative in California in 2008, in which California citizens voted overwhelmingly to ban the cages; the initiative received more "yes" votes than any other ballot measure in California history. Similar legislation, on hold as a result of today's agreement, was planned in Washington State and Oregon. Specifically, if it becomes law the legislation will:
- require the nationwide elimination of battery cages--tiny cages that nearly immobilize hundreds of millions of laying hens today;
- require environmental enrichments so that birds can engage in important natural behaviors currently denied to them in barren cages, such as perches, nesting boxes, and scratching areas;
- mandate labeling on all egg cartons nationwide to inform consumers of the method used to produce the eggs, such as "eggs from caged hens" or "eggs from cage-free hens;"
- prohibit forced molting through starvation--an inhumane practice which is inflicted on tens of millions of hens each year and which involves withholding all food from birds for up to two weeks in order to shock their bodies into another laying cycle;
- prohibit excessive ammonia levels in henhouses--a common problem in the industry that is harmful to both hens and egg industry workers;
- require standards for euthanasia practices; and
- prohibit the sale of all eggs and egg products nationwide that don't meet these requirements.
Some of the provisions will be implemented almost immediately after enactment, such as those relating to starvation, ammonia levels, and euthanasia, and others after just a few years, including labeling and the requirement that all birds will have to have at least 67 square inches of space per bird. Currently, approximately 50 million laying hens are confined at only 48 square inches per bird.Further improvements in mandated minimum space for hens occur later in the agreement.
"This deal represents a majorvictory for farmed animals," explains Gene Baur, president and co-founder of Farm Sanctuary. "For too long, animals on factory farms have had no federal protection from even the most heinous abuse. We are proud of our significant part in making this legislation a reality, and we salute the hard work of animal protection advocates nationwide who worked so hard on behalf of our nation's hens."
Farm Sanctuary fights the disastrous effects of animal agriculture on animals, the environment, social justice, and public health through rescue, education, and advocacy.
LATEST NEWS
'Beyond Misleading': Katie Britt Border Story Debunked With Bruising TikTok Takedown
"This is worth every minute," said one person who watched the 7-minute take down.
Mar 09, 2024
A freelance journalist is receiving widespread praise for his "must-see" critique of a story told by Alabama's Republican Senator Katie Britt during her official Republican Party response to President Joe Biden's State of the Union on Thursday night.
In the 7-minute and 23-second video posted to TikTok on Friday, reporter and book author Jonathan M. Katz deconstructs a key portion of Britt's speech, remarks overall that were widely panned as a "creepy" representation of the far-right, xenophobic, Christian nationalism that has found a home in Donald Trump's GOP.
The specific claim in question centers on Britt's telling of a story about a 12-year-old girl who suffered sexual violence, including rape, at the hands of drug cartels—but the details of the horrifying story, according to the facts established by Katz, reveal a clear effort to deceive those watching her speech.
"Holy moly... Jonathan Katz exposes Katie Britt as a lying sack of shit."
In the video, Katz says the facts he was able to determine about Britt's claims—which she delivered to millions of American viewers on Thursday night as the response was featured live on Fox News and countless live streams across the internet—was "beyond misleading."
Watch:
@katzonearth This isn’t going to make her like TikTok more. #katiebritt #sotu #stateoftheunion #lies #politicians #biden2024 #trump2024 #immigration #traffickingawarenes #mexico #bordersecurity #fyp ♬ original sound - Jonathan M. Katz
"Holy moly. This is worth every minute," said writer Nick Knudsen after watching the video. "Jonathan Katz exposes Katie Britt as a lying sack of shit."
Because the woman he identified as the source of the story, a Mexican activist named Karla Jacinto Romero, has retold her personal history repeatedly in public, including in front of Congress, for years and explained that events described took place in Mexico between 2004 and 2008 when she was a child and George W. Bush was president, Katz slammed Britt for making it seem "as if this woman had confided something in her and as if she was describing actions that had taken place on or even near the U.S.-Mexico border during Joe Biden's presidency," which just isn't true based on the record.
"I don't know even know what to say," Katz remarks in the video, "except that it is just fundamentally dishonest."
The gut-wrenching story that Britt told to fearmonger over Biden's border policy and denigrate immigrants and asylum-seekers to right-wing voters and unsuspecting viewers, explains Katz, "didn't happen in the United States" and "it's not an example of something that happened recently and is not even an example of something that happened on the border, and certainly not something that happened under Joe Biden."
But why would she do that? "It's very clear to me," says Katz, that Britt was "trying to create an association in the people's mind between Joe Biden, the border, Mexicans... or people of Latin descent, and sexual violence. That's what she's going for and she's doing it on the basis of what you can only say is just an out and out lie."
Katz said Friday he reached out to Britt's office for some kind of explanation but had yet to hear back. He said he would update his post if he learned more from the Senator or her office, "But for now it just looks like she got on national television and lied about something really horrific and really important for her own personal and her party's political gain."
The Washington Post later confirmed with Sean Ross, a spokesperson in Britt's office, that the women referred to during Thursday night's speech was Karla Jacinto Romero, but disputed anything about the senator's language was misleading.
But many who had watched Katz's seemed much more convinced of his case and others condemned Britt for exploiting Romero's story for cynical and deceptive political gain.
Josh Marshall, editor-in-chief of TalkingPointsMemo, congratulated Katz on the piece and said the video revealed that Britt is "not only an emotionally disregulated freak, but a big fat liar."
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'He's the Boss': Trump Praises 'Fantastic' Dictatorial Style of Orbán
"How many different ways does Trump need to tell you he's going to rule as a dictator before you believe him?"
Mar 09, 2024
Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, praised Hungary Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on Friday night for his authoritarian leadership during an event at Mar-a-Lago in Florida.
"There's nobody that's better, smarter or a better leader than Viktor Orbán, who's fantastic," said Trump from a stage as he introduced his guest to the crowd. "He's a non-controversial figure, because he says, 'This is the way it's gonna be and that's the end of it,' right? He's the boss."
Trump went on to call him a "great leader" and a "fantastic leader."
Trump honors Viktor Orban for being an autocrat: “There’s nobody that’s better, smarter or a better leader than Viktor Orban. He says, ‘This is the way it’s gonna be,’ and that’s the end of it. He’s the boss.” pic.twitter.com/Fz91sbsHi1
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) March 9, 2024
"How many different ways does Trump need to tell you he's going to rule as a dictator before you believe him?" asked political columnist Will Bunch in response to the remarks. In December, Trump admitted he would act like a dictator if elected in 2024, but only on "day one."
Prior to his trip to down to Florida, Orbán—who has ruled Hungary as an "illiberal state" (his term) since coming to power in 2010—stopped in Washington, D.C. where he met with leaders of the far-right Heritage Foundation, a key ally of Trump's and the architect of Project 2025, a "battle plan" for "authoritarianism" in the United States if the former president is able to win a second term.
President Joe Biden was asked Friday if was concerned that Orbán was meeting with Trump and he responded: "If I'm not, you should be."
Reporter: Are you concerned that Trump is meeting with Orbán?
Biden: If I’m not, you should be pic.twitter.com/Gw4SWXAeVB
— Acyn (@Acyn) March 8, 2024
During a campaign stop later in the day, Biden told attendees, "Do you know who [Trump's] meeting with today down in Mar-a-Lago? Orbán of Hungary, who's stated flatly that he doesn't thinks democracy works, he’s looking for dictatorship."
Biden added that he's fighting for a future "where we defend democracy, not diminish it."
Writing in The Conversation on Thursday, Gábor Scheirin, a former Green party member of the Hungarian Parliament from 2010 to 2014 and now a visiting fellow at Harvard University, described the ascent of Orbán.
Scheirin explains in his piece how Orbán, a "strongman" who benefited greatly from a "nationwide right-wing media network" that could echo his agenda, was able to "subvert democracy from the inside" in ways that have troubling parallels in the United States.
With the help of a pliant judiciary, gerrymandered voting districts, a party stacked with hard-core loyalists, and a right-wing media echo chamber, writes Scheirin, this "authoritarianism from within creates chokepoints, where the opposition isn't crushed" entirely, but "has a hard time breathing."
The biggest threat to a democracy targeted by authoritarians like Orbán and Trump, argues Scheirin, is the neglect of those people susceptible to their inducement due to the economic pain they suffer under neoliberal capitalism and globalization. He writes:
If there is one lesson from Hungary, it is this: Democracy is not sustainable in a divided society where many are left behind economically.
The real power of authoritarian populists like Trump and Orban lies not in the institutions they hijack but in the novel electoral support coalition they create.
They bring together two types of supporters. Some hardcore, authoritarian-right voters are motivated by bigotry and hatred rooted in their fear of globalization’s cultural threats. However, the most successful right-wing populist forces integrate an outer layer of primarily working-class voters hurt by globalization’s economic threats.
"If the liberal center appears uncaring, authoritarian populists can mobilize voters against both the cultural and economic threats posed by globalization," Scheirin continues. "Neglecting this suffering" felt by many voters, he warns, "was the democratic center's politically lethal failure" in Hungary as Orbán rose to power.
As Common Dreamsreported earlier this week, the Trump-Orbán get-together was seen broadly by progressive critics as a chance for the Hungarian to school his American friend on "how to destroy democracy" more effectively than he was able to the first time around.
"I mean this sincerely," said Democratic strategist and pundit Cliff Schechter in response to the latest praise of Orbán, Trump would "need to start choosing random people to torture or execute on that stage to make his intentions any more obvious if elected."
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Canada, Sweden Restore UNRWA Funds as Report Accuses Israel of Torturing Agency Staff
"The work that UNWRA does cannot be overstated," said Canadian lawmaker Salma Zahid. "It will save lives as we have seen the visuals of children dying of hunger in Gaza. The need for immediate aid is non-negotiable."
Mar 09, 2024
The governments of Canada and Sweden have announced they will resume funding for the United Nation's agency that provides humanitarian aide and protection to Palestinians living in Gaza and elsewhere—a move that other powerful nations, including Israel's most powerful ally the United States, continue to refuse.
Calling the lack of humanitarian relief inside Gaza "catastrophic," Canadian Minister of International Development Ahmed Hussen said Friday his nation would restore funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in order to help address the "dire" situation on the ground living.
Sweden made its announcement Saturday and said a $20 million disbursement would be made to help UNRWA regain its financial footing.
The restoration of funds follows weeks of global criticism and protest for the decision by many Western nations to withhold UNRWA funds after Israel claimed, without presenting evidence, that a few members of the agency—the largest employer in the Gaza Strip—had participated in the Hamas-led attacks of October 7.
As a result, UNRWA has said it's ability to provide aid and services to Gaza—where over 100,000 people have been killed or wounded in five months of constant bombardment and blockade by the Israeli military—has been pushed to the "breaking point" as malnutrition and starvation has been documented among the displaced population of over 2 million people.
"Canada is resuming its funding to UNRWA so more can be done to respond to the urgent needs of Palestinian civilians," Hussen said. "Canada will continue to take the allegations against some of UNRWA's staff extremely seriously and we will remain closely engaged with UNRWA and the UN to pursue accountability and reforms."
"I welcome Canada lifting the pause on funding for UNWRA," said Canadian MP Salma Zahid, a member of the Liberal party representing Scarborough Centre in the House of Commons. "The work that UNWRA does cannot be overstated. It will save lives as we have seen the visuals of children dying of hunger in Gaza. The need for immediate aid is non-negotiable."
Earlier this week, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini told a special meeting of the U.N. General Assembly the agency was "facing a deliberate and concerted campaign" by Israel "to undermine its operations, and ultimately end them."
On Friday, Reutersreported on an internal UNRWA report that included testimony of employees who said they were tortured by Israeli officers while in detention to make false admissions about involvement in the October 7 attack.
According to the reporting:
UNRWA communications director Juliette Touma said the agency planned to hand the information in the 11-page, unpublished report to agencies inside and outside the U.N. specialised in documenting potential human rights abuses.
"When the war comes to an end there needs to be a series of inquiries to look into all violations of human rights," she said.
The document said several UNRWA Palestinian staffers had been detained by the Israeli army, and added that the ill-treatment and abuse they said they had experienced included severe physical beatings, waterboarding, and threats of harm to family members.
Michael Bueckert vice president of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East, said the new report was "more evidence that Canada's political decision to suspend UNRWA funding was based on false allegations obtained through torture."
"While the resumption of UNRWA aid is certainly welcome," said Bueckert, "there needs to be accountability for the harm that Canada's actions have caused."
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