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Earlier today, U.S. senator Cory Booker announced the Industrial Agriculture Accountability Act of 2022 (IAA). This groundbreaking piece of federal legislation aims to reform our nation’s food system and address the deep-seated exploitation and cruelty of the factory farming industry.
This is historic news for farmed animals.
The IAA places the responsibility of beginning to solve various problems in the U.S. food system on the corporations that created the current system and seeks to amend the 2023 Farm Bill by addressing some of the cruelest practices in the meat industry:
- Mass on-farm killing of animals in horrifically cruel ways
- Dangerously fast slaughter lines, which put animals at risk of prolonged deaths
- Exposure to extreme heat and cold for hours during transport
- Ineffective stunning that leaves many chickens and turkeys conscious when they enter tanks of scalding water
The IAA is the result of months of tireless work by Mercy For Animals, the ASPCA, and the rest of our powerful coalition.
If implemented, this bill has the potential to reduce suffering for countless farmed animals. Leah Garcés, president and CEO of Mercy For Animals, highlighted the importance of this historic progress:
Since its inception almost 100 years ago, the Farm Bill has become a tool that the industrial animal agriculture industry uses to do little else than maximize its profit—to the detriment of consumers, the environment, food system workers, farmers, and farmed animals.
As a result, we find ourselves at a pivotal moment in U.S. food system reform: The meat industry has created deep-seated problems that exploit and harm the most vulnerable. It must be the industry’s responsibility to solve these problems. The IAA recognizes this responsibility and affords the industry an opportunity to begin to right these wrongs.
Although the bill has a long way to go before it becomes law, today’s announcement of the IAA is a crucial moment. This progress is thanks to animal advocates like you who refuse to stop fighting for change.
Farmed animals will need your voice more than ever to push for the bill’s passage, so stay tuned for more opportunities to speak up!