Tell Congress to Reject the Controversial EATS Act
Dear John,
Recently, the US Supreme Court upheld California's Proposition 12, which prohibits the sale of animal products from animals cruelly confined to battery cages, gestation crates, or veal crates. In doing so, the court affirmed that the constitution does not bar state and local governments and their citizens from passing laws to protect public health, food safety, and animal welfare--even if those laws have effects outside of the locality.
In response to this animal welfare victory, the Ending Agricultural Trade Suppression (EATS) Act (H.R. 4417/S. 2019) has been introduced in the US House of Representatives and Senate in an attempt to preempt laws like Prop 12. This bill would prohibit states and local governments from creating laws or regulations that restrict sale of products based on "preharvest production" methods, even those sold within their own borders.
Because of its broad and all-encompassing language, the detrimental impacts of the EATS Act would extend far beyond animal welfare, jeopardizing state laws that cover everything from pesticide use to pollution controls to food quality standards. This bill would set a dangerous precedent, allowing the least responsible corporations to chip away at hard-won laws and regulations that protect people and animals.