Our Monthly Accomplishments and Update
The Center for a Humane Economy
January-February 2024
Summary
- Nike and Puma officially stopped sourcing kangaroo skins for shoe offerings. These two global brands are showing the way to a kangaroo-free-future for soccer shoes worldwide.
- Key lawmakers in Congress introduced the FDA Modernization 3.0 to build on our work to eliminate an animal-testing mandate in federal law for drug development. The new measure, right out of the gate, has momentum in Congress.
- Prop 12 in California (restricting pork and egg sales from extreme confinement housing) and a McDonald’s nationwide policy to halt sale of eggs from caged hens are in full effect, underscoring why the EATS Act (to overturn Prop 12) turns back the clock for no good reason.
- We are stirring unprecedented action against cockfighting and dogfighting, with the shutdown of fighting pits across the nation, a steady drumbeat of arrests of perpetrators, and a torrent of national and state legislation to toughen penalties and enhance enforcement tools.
- More than half of the U.S. House favors a ban on live exports of horses for slaughter for consumption, underscoring the overwhelming support among lawmakers for a national policy.
- With our partner GREY2K USA, we are soon to close out the century-long era of gambling on greyhound racing.
KANGAROOS ARE NOT SHOES
Nike and Puma officially stop sourcing kangaroo skins for shoes
Puma and Nike put into practice their March 2023 pledges to halt sourcing of kangaroo skins for their multiple models of soccer cleats, cutting global demand for the skins and sparing hundreds of thousands of kangaroos. Responding to demands from our Kangaroos Are Not Shoes campaign, both companies announced pledges to go into effect in January 2024. New Balance is set to put its policy into effect sometime in 2024.
Since the launch of our Kangaroos Are Not Shoes campaign three years ago, the annual slaughter of kangaroos may have declined from 2 million to 1.3 million, saving up to 700,000 kangaroos a year. With these key market closures, and our building of a global movement against this mass commercial slaughter, we are on the path to drive that number down further.
Our primary focus is on Adidas, which remains the major outlier among the world’s top five athletic shoe brands in using kangaroo skins. We are working with partners all over the world to pressure the company that’s long been the biggest apologist for commercial kangaroo killing.
CAGE-FREE FUTURE
Prop 12 takes full effect, as does national cage-free policy from McDonald’s
Prop 12 in California and a national policy by McDonald’s to halt sale of eggs from hens kept in cages are now in effect. The state of California announced that 1,250 producers and distributors are signed up to supply that massive state market, with officials there certifying producers to meet the new humane-housing standards. Meanwhile, McDonald’s announced it has completed its transition to cage-free eggs at all 14,000-plus restaurants in the United States. The company annually sells 2 billion eggs, out of 91 billion sold in the nation. The share of animals in cage- and crate-free housing is growing by the day. (Question 3 in Massachusetts, an antecedent to Prop 12, has been in full effect since late August 2023.).
Meanwhile, we continue to work to fend off the EATS Act in Congress and pork-industry lawsuits. The EATS Act came after the National Pork Producers Council lost a highly consequential challenge to Prop 12 before the U.S. Supreme Court. We continue to grow opposition to EATS in Congress.
The EATS Act is an attack on American elections and it will hurt thousands of farmers who have invested in more animal-housing systems and planned on accessing the revamped markets. China will be the biggest beneficiary if EATS were to pass, given that the Communist government controls more than a quarter of the U.S. pig industry. China has already built several massive high-rise factory farms in that country and may try the same here if EATS passes.
MODERNIZE TESTING
FDA Modernization Act 3.0 launched
We worked with key lawmakers from both parties to introduce the FDA Modernization Act 3.0 in February to accelerate the move away from animal testing. Within two weeks of introduction, a powerful House Energy & Commerce subcommittee conducted a hearing on the measure, signaling keen interest. H.R. 7248 will direct the FDA to create a credible qualification program of non-animal testing methods, hastening the use of these alternative methods in drug development (which drives perhaps 75% of animal testing).
H.R. 7248, led by U.S. Reps. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., Nanette Barragán, D-Cal., Diana Harshbarger, R-Tenn., Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., and Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., will also require FDA to align its regulations with our prior amendments to the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act that eliminated a Depression-era mandate for animal testing for new drugs. Senate legislation is forthcoming.
The animal-testing mandate has been catastrophically bad in forecasting the human reaction to experimental drugs, with a documented 90-95 percent failure rate. The cost of repeated failures in preclinical testing delays drugs getting to market, impedes the development of treatments and cures for millions of patients, and drives up drug prices to make them unaffordable for many Americans. We are committed to seeing the vigorous, unencumbered implementation of the original concept of the FDA Modernization Act we introduced in 2021 and made national law in 2022. Learn more here at our dedicated information site.
ANIMAL FIGHTING IS THE PITS
Cockfighting pits shuttered, arrests made, legislation on the march
There’s never been more activity against animal fighting, with our groups partnering with Showing Animals Respect and Kindness (SHARK) and relentlessly targeting cockfighting.
In Oklahoma, where cockfighters formed a political action committee and donated lavishly to lawmakers, it appears their legislation to weaken penalties for animal-fighting has no likely pathway. Meanwhile, we are on the offense with state legislative proposals against cockfighting in Georgia, Maryland, and Kentucky.
We are shutting down or exposing cockfighting venues with field investigations where we partner with SHARK, including in Adair County, Oklahoma, throughout Kentucky, and in northern Mississippi. In Santa Barbara County in California, we passed legislation to severely restrict private ownership of roosters, working now to enforce it and take the policy statewide.
We continue to push the FIGHT Act in Congress and to work with law enforcement to interdict illicit animal fighting operations. The FIGHT Act has more Republican cosponsors than any other animal welfare bill in Congress and creates a private right of action against animal fighters, enhances forfeiture of property for convicted animal fighters, and bans shipping roosters through the U.S. mail. The FIGHT Act has nearly 500 endorsing agencies and organizations
IN THE STABLE, NOT ON THE TABLE
Half of U.S. House now on board with live horse-slaughter export ban
Just past the mid-way point of this 118th Congress, we continue to pile on support for national legislation to halt live exports of horses for slaughter, with more than half of all House Members publicly signed on to legislation to ban horse slaughter for consumption. The SAFE Act, led by Reps. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla, and Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., would ban the slaughter of American horses for human consumption, including live exports to Mexico and Canada. The companion bill, S. 2037, led by Senators Robert Menendez, D-N.J., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., also has strong bipartisan support.
Pressure for passage of the SAFE Act is mounting just as recently released USDA export data reveals that kill buyers shipped 17,997 horses from Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas to slaughter plants in Mexico in 2023. (Final numbers are not yet available for live exports to Canada.) A year ago, an investigation by the Center for a Humane Economy and Animals’ Angels revealed immense suffering of horses and other equids during transportation, holding, and slaughter, with results showing a lack of care, deficient delivery of food or water, and transport in cramped, dangerous, and unsanitary conditions.
END GREYHOUND RACING
Retreat of simulcasting of greyhound racing in the U.S.
With just two live-racing venues in the United States—both in West Virginia—we are seeing major gambling companies stop broadcasting simulcasts of races from other nations, cutting off profits to these foreign tracks. With our Greyhound Protection Act building bipartisan support—which bans live racing and simulcasting—the legislation may just punctuate the end of greyhound racing in the U.S. We are grateful for the opportunity to work with GREY2K USA to end this century-long era of putting greyhounds at risk for racing purposes.
For the animals,
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Wayne Pacelle
President
Center for a Humane Economy
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