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For Immediate Release
December, 15 2019, 11:00pm EDT
Contact:
Jackie Filson, Jackie Filson, jfilson@fwwatch.org, 202-683-2538
Sen. Cory Booker Just Dropped a Bill That Includes First-Ever National Factory Farm Moratorium
The Farm System Reform Act of 2019 is the bold approach this country needs.
WASHINGTON
This morning, Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) announced the Farm System Reform Act of 2019 (FSRA). The legislation is made up of a meticulous set of agricultural reforms that uplift independent family farmers, protect rural communities and public health, and overhaul our broken food system. Among the reforms is the first-ever nationwide ban on factory farms.
In May of 2018, Food & Water Watch identified the need for a ban on factory farms and launched the first national campaign dedicated to stopping these destructive facilities. The group applauds Sen. Booker for recognizing the role stopping factory farming must play in fixing our nation's food system.
"Factory farming is at the heart of climate disaster. It fuels toxic air pollution and water contamination, feeds off of dangerous and unfair working conditions, wreaks havoc on independent farmers and rural communities, threatens food safety, and causes unnecessary animal suffering," said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Action. "The Farm System Restoration Act is the bold approach we need."
FSRA bans factory farms by placing an immediate moratorium - or "pause" - on the construction of new or expanding large factory farms while also initiating a phaseout of existing large factory farms by 2040. It includes $100 billion for farmer buyouts and debt forgiveness over the span of 10 years, along with programs for transitioning to alternative and healthy agriculture activities like pasture-based livestock, specialty crop cultivation, or organic commodity production.
Other essential components of FSRA include mechanisms to:
- Hold meat companies responsible for harm caused by the factory farms that raise their animals
- Provide a $100 Billion voluntary buyout program for contract farmers who want to transition away from factory farms
- Strengthen the Packers & Stockyards Act to protect family farmers and ranchers:
- Prohibit the use of unfair tournament or ranking systems for paying contract growers
- Protect livestock and poultry farmers from retaliation if they raise concerns about their contract or join together in grower associations
- Prohibit meatpacker ownership of livestock more than 7 days prior to slaughter
- Prohibit meatpackers from buying livestock for slaughter using unfair forward contracts
- Require meatpackers to acquire at least 50% of their livestock through spot market sales
- Restore mandatory Country of Origin Labeling
- Prohibit USDA from labeling foreign imported meat products as "Product of USA"
"With a transformational bill like FSRA, our nation's food system will finally put public health, independent farmers, and the environment first. This is not just a rural issue - we all need clean water and healthy food to survive," continued Hauter. "As climate change continues to cause chaos, now is the time to make agricultural center stage. FSRA is the sweeping solution we need."
To access our report The Urgent Case for a Ban on Factory Farms, visit: https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/insight/urgent-case-ban-factory-farms
Food & Water Watch mobilizes regular people to build political power to move bold and uncompromised solutions to the most pressing food, water, and climate problems of our time. We work to protect people's health, communities, and democracy from the growing destructive power of the most powerful economic interests.
(202) 683-2500LATEST NEWS
Critics Say RFK's MAHA Report Offers 'Half-Baked Finger-Pointing' Instead of Real Policy Solutions
"To be meaningful, the findings of the report must translate into concrete actions that truly advance a healthier, more sustainable food system for America's farmers and consumers."
May 23, 2025
Hours after Republicans in the U.S. House passed a budget reconciliation package Thursday that would slash hundreds of billions of dollars in healthcare and federal food assistance programs for low-income Americans, the nation's top health agency released a highly anticipated report on chronic diseases in children—one that had nothing to say about the impacts those cuts will have on millions of children and instead offered a litany of complaints about families' lifestyles, vaccines, and "overmedicalization," with few solutions.
Led by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the so-called "Make America Healthy Again" Commission released The MAHA Report, urging the federal government to "act decisively" to reverse "the childhood chronic disease crisis by confronting its root causes—not just its symptoms."
But longtime campaigners in the food safety realm said that while the report's partial focus on the wide use of pesticides, herbicides, and other chemicals—many of which are banned in Europe—is a positive step, the document gave little indication that Kennedy and other Trump administration officials plan to listen to scientists who warn that these chemicals are linked to cancer, birth defects, and immune function.
As Civil Eatsreported in April, dozens of GOP lawmakers wrote to Kennedy and other commission members including Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin, warning that a push to limit pesticides in food was being pushed by "activist groups promoting misguided and sometimes malicious policies masquerading as health solutions."
"Protecting children's health and building a healthy food system must trump pesticide corporations' profits," said George Kimbrell, legal director of Center for Food Safety, in a Thursday statement. "Policy and governance must be based on sound science and reject fearmongering and lobbying influence alleging that these toxins are needed for a healthy food system or agricultural economy."
The report also includes numerous mentions of health guidelines and standards in Europe, but Zeldin was clear in a call with reporters as the document was released that ensuring the health of American children "cannot happen through a European mandate system that stifles growth."
The commission suggested that U.S. farmers will continue to use 300 millions of pounds of glyphosate and 70 million pounds of atrazine per year—herbicides that, respectively, have been the subject of thousands of lawsuits filed by cancer patients and contaminate the drinking water of 40 million Americans.
While the World Health Organization has classified glyphosate as a probable carcinogen and numerous countries have banned the weed-killer, the MAHA Commission said "human studies are limited" regarding glyphosate and similar products. The report allowed that "a selection of research studies... have noted a range of possible health effects."
Even that language was enough to anger agricultural groups and the Republican politicians who are allied with them, with the American Soybean Association accusing the commission of "glaring misinformation and anti-farmer findings" on Friday.
Kimbrell said the report "falls woefully short of providing any next steps in how the government is going to stop this health epidemic from continuing."
"To be meaningful, the findings of the report must translate into concrete actions that truly advance a healthier, more sustainable food system for America's farmers and consumers," he said.
The report also makes no mention of factory farming and its link to antibiotic resistance via corporate farmers' widespread antibiotic use; the leading causes of death for children in the U.S., gun violence and car accidents; and dental cavities, which is one of the most common chronic health problems in children.
Kennedy has spearheaded an effort to remove fluoride from public drinking water, saying in the report that exposure to high levels of fluoride is linked to low IQ in children. Widespread community water fluoridation has been linked to a sharp decrease in tooth decay among children, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hailing the practice, now used in 60% of the country, as a major public health achievement.
Medical organizations have said concerns about fluoridation raised by Kennedy and others are unfounded.
During his confirmation hearings, Kennedy dismissed the idea that healthcare should be a human right—falsely claiming Americans prefer the for-profit health insurance industry to government-run systems that have been shown to be far less costly and have better outcomes. The report also makes no mention of the harms of tying healthcare to profit, even as it compared U.S. life expectancy and healthcare costs unfavorably to those in other wealthy nations.
In a video posted to social media, dietician Jessica Knurick emphasized that Kennedy is right to point out the nation's "chronic disease problem."
"But he gets the causes and the solutions completely wrong," she said. "His causes are not evidence-based and they play into the idea of scientific and regulatory corruption to erode trust in science. And his solutions distract from evidence-based solutions that could actually help while actively undermining public health."
With the MAHA Report focusing heavily on sedentary lifestyles and low-income people's reliance on ultraprocessed, inexpensive food, Food and Water Watch (FWW) senior policy analyst Rebecca Wolf said the document amounts to "half-baked finger-pointing that blames the sick."
"Improving public health in America cannot happen without reigning in corporate control. It is a grave mistake to exclude Big Ag from culpability," said Wolf. "Any administration serious about public health must strictly regulate the corporations putting our food and water supplies at risk."
Policy solutions that went ignored in the report, said Wolf, include:
- Closing the "Generally Recognized as Safe" loophole that allows corporations to self-certify the safety of food additives without Food and Drug Administration approval;
- Canceling plans to roll back existing regulations for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS;
- Fully funding and staffing food safety agencies, which have been slashed by the Trump administration; and
- Stopping state legislatures from passing laws called "Cancer Gag Act legislation" by opponents, which would limit pesticide manufacturer liability in health-related lawsuits.
"The report is right to highlight the health impacts of ultraprocessed foods, microplastics, PFAS, and pesticides," said FWW, "but falls short of directing real policy recommendations capable of reigning in corporate polluters."
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Israeli Strike on Gaza Home Kills at Least 50 Palestinians
Most of the victims are reportedly women and children, including a 1-month-old infant.
May 23, 2025
Gaza officials said Friday that an Israel Defense Forces airstrike targeting a home in the northern part of the Palestinian enclave killed at least 50 people, mostly women and children, while separate IDF strikes killed aid workers and other civilians, and deadly starvation continued.
Local and international media including Al Jazeerareported 50 or more people were massacred when the IDF bombed the home of the Dardouna family in the northern city of Jabalia al-Balad late on Thursday. Victims reportedly include a 1-month-old infant and Dr. Ibrahim Dardouna, a physician at the Al-Shifa and Al-Ahli Baptist hospitals, both of which have been severely damaged by Israeli bombing and other attacks.
Drop Site Newsreported that people who survived the initial bombing but were buried beneath the ruins of the four-story home could be heard pleading for help. Neighbors and other first responders desperately dug through the rubble with their bare hands, as Israeli occupation forces have blocked most heavy equipment from entering Gaza and bombed bulldozers and other vehicles already in the strip.
Warning: The following video contains images of death.
Medical sources told Al Jazeera that a total of 84 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli strikes in recent hours. Victims include six aid workers reportedly slain in an IDF strike in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza.
"These individuals were performing purely humanitarian duties by securing two trucks carrying vital medicines and medical supplies for the health sector, to ensure their delivery to hospitals in devastated areas," Gaza's Government Media Office (GMO) said in a statement reported by Middle East Monitor.
"Targeting them is a full-fledged crime that exposes the true intent of the occupation to disrupt the flow of humanitarian and medical aid and to create chaos and insecurity in line with its plan to starve the population and deny treatment to the sick," GMO added.
On Thursday, Palestinian officials said that more than 300 people have died from malnutrition and lack of medicine caused by Israel's bombing and siege. Israel's blockade was tightened in March at the start of an intensified offensive that has killed or wounded more than 13,000 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Since October 7, 2023—when Israel launched its assault in retaliation for the Hamas-led attack in which more than 1,100 Israelis and others were killed and upward of 250 others were kidnapped—Israeli forces have killed at least 53,822 Palestinians in Gaza, while wounding over 122,000 others. More than 14,000 Gazans are also missing and feared dead and buried beneath rubble.
Israel's conduct in the 595-day war is under investigation by the International Court of Justice as a possible genocide. The ICJ has issued three provisional orders for Israel to stop attacking Gaza and allow entry of humanitarian aid into the strip. Critics accuse Israel of ignoring all three orders.
Almost all of Gaza's more than 2 million people have been forcibly displaced, often multiple times, by invading Israeli forces. IDF troops are currently waging Operation Gideon's Chariots, an effort to conquer, occupy, and ethnically cleanse large swaths of Gaza. Members of fugitive Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Cabinet, the Israeli Knesset, and others have advocated the ethnic cleansing and Jewish recolonization of Gaza.
The latest Israeli attacks came as Steve Witkoff, U.S. President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy, claimed Friday that "great progress" is being made toward a new cease-fire agreement and the release of the 23 hostages still being held by Hamas. Israel unilaterally abrogated a January cease-fire in March.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said Friday that "Palestinians in Gaza are enduring what may be the cruelest phase of this cruel conflict," while chiding the international community for "watching in real time" asr "families are being starved."
Officials in some of Israel's allied countries including the United States have grown increasingly frustrated at Israel's refusal to allow more than a trickle of aid to enter Gaza.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Thursday denounced the recent IDF strikes on Gaza as "unjustifiable and unacceptable" and urged Israel to stop bombing so that food and other humanitarian aid can reach those who need it.
On Friday, Germany—which has been one of Israel's staunchest supporters—reiterated its opposition to Trump's plan to forcibly expel up to 1 million Palestinians from Gaza and send them to Libya.
"The German government's position on this is very clear," German Foreign Ministry spokesperson Christian Wagner
told reporters in Berlin. "There must be no expulsion, direct or indirect, of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. I have also explained this very clearly to our Israeli partners and friends during my visit, and this is the basis of our future policy."
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UN Chief Demands 'Lifesaving Aid for the Long-Suffering People of Gaza'
He also took aim at Israel's aid plan, saying that "we will not take part in any scheme that fails to respect international law and the humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, independence, and neutrality."
May 23, 2025
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Friday stressed the dire need for a major influx of "lifesaving aid for the long-suffering people of Gaza," where Palestinians are dying from not only U.S.-backed Israeli bombings but also malnutrition and lack of medicine.
"Palestinians in Gaza are enduring what may be the cruelest phase of this cruel conflict," Guterres told reporters. "For nearly 80 days, Israel blocked the entry of lifesaving international aid. As the world's leading hunger assessment found, the entire population of Gaza is facing the risk of famine. Families are being starved and denied the very basics. All with the world watching in real time."
"Israel has clear obligations under international humanitarian law," he noted. "It must treat civilians humanely, with respect for their inherent dignity. It must not forcibly transport, deport, or displace the civilian population of an occupied territory. And as the occupying power, it must agree to allow and facilitate the aid that is needed."
"Without rapid, reliable, safe, and sustained aid access, more people will die—and the long-term consequences on the entire population will be profound."
In March, Israel imposed a total blockade on Gaza, then ditched a fragile cease-fire with Hamas, which governed the coastal enclave for nearly two decades. In recent days, Israeli officials have finally allowed "a trickle of aid" into the territory, Guterres acknowledged, explaining that while almost 400 trucks were cleared for entry through the Karem Abu Salem crossing, supplies from only 115 trucks have been able to be collected "and nothing has reached the besieged north."
In a Friday statement, the U.N.'s World Food Program announced that 15 of its trucks transporting critical food supplies "were looted late last night in southern Gaza, while en route to WFP-supported bakeries."
"Hunger, desperation, and anxiety over whether more food aid is coming, is contributing to rising insecurity," WFP said. "We need support from the Israeli authorities to get far greater volumes of food assistance into Gaza faster, more consistently, and transported along safer routes, as was done during the cease-fire."
"WFP cannot safely operate under a distribution system that limits the number of bakeries and sites where Gaza's population can access food," the program added. "WFP and its partners must also be allowed to distribute wheat flour and food parcels directly to families—the most effective way to prevent widespread starvation."
Guterres similarly emphasized that "all the aid authorized until now amounts to a teaspoon of aid when a flood of assistance is required," and called out "staggering" obstacles imposed by Israeli officials, from "strict quotas" on goods the U.N. distributes to prohibitions on "other essentials—including fuel, shelter, cooking gas, and water purification supplies."
He said that without safety and security mitigation measures for U.N. convoys, "and in the absence of the rule of law and a desperate population after months of blockade, and totally insufficient supply entering, the risk of security incidents and looting remains high. Meanwhile, the Israeli military offensive is intensifying with atrocious levels of death and destruction."
Due to Israeli military actions, "four-fifths of the territory of Gaza is a no-go zone" for the enclave's Palestinian residents," Guterres noted. "And so, beyond questions about the particular number of trucks at any particular moment, it is important to stay fixed on the big picture. And the big picture is that without rapid, reliable, safe, and sustained aid access, more people will die—and the long-term consequences on the entire population will be profound."
Already, Gaza officials put the death toll at 53,822 Palestinians since October 7, 2023, though thousands more are presumed dead and buried beneath the rubble.
The U.N. chief also took aim at Israel's U.S.-supported aid plan, saying that "we will not take part in any scheme that fails to respect international law and the humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, independence, and neutrality."
As Reutersreported Friday:
Israel has allowed aid deliveries by the U.N. and other aid groups to briefly resume until a new U.S.-backed distribution model—run by the newly created Gaza Humanitarian Foundation—is up and running by the end of the month...
Israel said its blockade had been aimed in part at stopping Palestinian militants Hamas from diverting and seizing aid supplies. Hamas has denied stealing aid. The GHF plan involves using private security contractors to transport aid to so-called secure hubs for distribution by civilian humanitarian teams.
"The United Nations and our partners have a detailed, principled, operationally sound five-stage plan—supported by member states—to get aid to a desperate population," Guterres highlighted. "We have the personnel, the distribution networks, the systems, and community relationships in place to act. The supplies—160,000 pallets, enough to fill nearly 9,000 trucks—are waiting."
In addition to demanding "full humanitarian access," the U.N. leader reiterated his call for "the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages" and a "permanent cease-fire" in Gaza.
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