The following statement on the USDA’s $1 billion plan to address egg prices may be attributed to Frances Chrzan, Senior Federal Policy Manager at Mercy For Animals:
As the current bird flu outbreak continues to drive up the cost of eggs, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has released a $1 billion plan to address the issue. This plan is simply another bailout of Big Ag paid for with taxpayer dollars. Rather than addressing the problem at the root and requiring meaningful corporate accountability for the pandemic risks caused by industrial animal agriculture, the USDA wants to use federal funds to try to control egg prices.
Mercy For Animals calls on Congress to pass the Industrial Agriculture Accountability Act (IAA), a real solution to this problem. The IAA would establish a disaster-mitigation fund and require high-risk factory farms to register with the USDA and submit disaster-preparedness plans. Further, the bill would hold big agribusinesses liable for costs resulting from disaster events and limit the use of certain methods of ‘depopulation,’ or mass on-farm killing of animals. The federal government should mitigate the risk of disease outbreaks instead of responding to them by deferring costs onto taxpayers.
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