Just when you thought the meat and dairy industries couldn’t get any more heartless, they go and lobby SB 711, a North Carolina bill that would block North Carolinians from filing nuisance lawsuits against polluting hog farms and create plans to confiscate plant-based products labeled with the term “milk.
The measure was fast-tracked through the North Carolina legislature over the past few weeks through secret late-night hearings. Thankfully, after an outcry from animal protection, civil rights, and environmental groups, Governor Roy Cooper vetoed this dangerous legislation on Monday. Now factory farmers are lobbying their lawmakers to override the governor’s veto.
For decades, rural residents in the Tar Heel State have suffered a public health crisis as a result of the pork industry’s hazardous practices, such as spraying hog manure into the air, which often lands on people’s property. The waste is so toxic that many people can’t even sit outside on their porch, reporting difficulty breathing and swarms of flies. One provision of the vetoed legislation—which would’ve blocked residents from filing nuisance lawsuits against factory farms—was a direct response to pending nuisance lawsuits filed on behalf of more than 4,000 plaintiffs against Smithfield Foods for widespread hog-waste pollution. Rather than willingly paying up for the havoc they’ve wreaked on rural communities, the industry persuaded lawmakers to do their bidding to avoid accountability.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know plant-based milk is taking over the dairy aisle—much to the chagrin of cow-abusing milk producers. Rather than embrace change and get on the plant-based milk bandwagon, another provision of North Carolina’s Farm Act aims to ban food companies from using the word “milk on plant-based milk packaging. The legislation would have created the framework for a 12-state Southern “embargo on any soy, almond, or other plant-based milk labeled as such in those states. The measure itself is explicit about its goal to “assure the continued viability of dairy farming in the face of declining profits due to competition from the $2 billion plant-based milk industry. Like recent efforts to ban the word “meat on labels of plant-based and clean meat, the dairy industry is seeking an unfair marketing advantage.
Thanks go to our supporters who called on Governor Cooper not to cave in to factory farming interests that seek to harm both people and animals. But this fight isn’t over yet.
North Carolina lawmakers are expected to push for an override of the governor’s veto. If you live in North Carolina, please click here to quickly tell your state representative to honor the veto and reject SB 711.
We can also fight against the heartless meat and dairy industries three times a day by opting for healthy, compassionate plant-based foods. Visit ChooseVeg.com for free recipes and nutritional consultation today.
